5th Sunday of Lent

Our readings for the 5th Sunday in Lent are:

1. Isaiah 43: 16-21
   
2. Psalms 126: 1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6
3. Philippians 3: 8-14
   
4. John 8: 1-11
   

• What's new with you?
  
• One of the hardest things to learn as a disciple of Jesus is to be nimble.  Just when we think that we have God figured out, He does something new in our lives and we wonder why we never saw that coming.
• What are some of the things that you have had to leave behind so that you could move into something new?  Maybe it was a new job, a new role, children moving out, ...
• How did that transition make you feel?  Were you excited, stressed, sad for the loss of something well known, ...
• What make it worthwhile for you to make that change?
• Where was your prayer life in all of that?
  

• Live long and prosper
  
• For those of you who never followed Star Trek, that was the Vulcan version of Shalom.  Some Christians believe that prosperity is a sure sign that God is with you and that you are living in His will.
• If you were to tell someone that you could not imagine living without Jesus, and they asked you why?  What would you say?

Why do you think that would be a "hard sell" for most of your friends?

• Have you always felt that way about your faith?
• How would you propose that we make faith more appealing to today's young?
  

• Stepping into Eternity one day at a time
  
• A member of a faith sharing group that I facilitate asked an important question: Jesus suffered for all of us.  Why should I have to suffer as well?
• Do you think that God should make things easy for us?
• How easy?
• What do you think are going to be the biggest differences between your life today, and your life with God in Eternity?
• Admittedly, you'll have a long time to get used to all of those changes once you get into Eternity, but if you could make yourself more ready for that chapter in your life, what would you do?
  

• Act of contrition
• The Gospel writers always amaze me at how economical they are with their words.  We have no idea what the woman caught in adultery's back story was, how she ended up in front of Jesus on that fateful day, what happened to her afterwards.  I can only surmise that all of those things are unimportant in God's view.
• Think about the last time you did or said something that you regretted later.
• Now, imagine that right in the middle of all that, a huge spotlight flicks on, with you at the very center of it, and you hear a deep rumbling voice saying "so, here you are, sinning.  What do you have to say for yourself?"
• How do you imagine God looking at you?
• How does God reveal His great mercy for you?
• How does that mercy change you?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation

1. Where is God inviting me to leave behind?
2. Why am I following Jesus?  Is that enough for me?  For Him?
   
3. How is God readying me for Eternity today?
4. Where is God's mercy making me a better person today?

The Stone not Thrown

 I was there you know,
When they dragged that poor young woman in front of Jesus.
I was just a young boy, barely able to understand what was going on.

When they had all left, I found a smallish stone and took it home.
There was nothing special about the stone itself,
But I thought it significant that it almost was used to kill someone.

The thing about a stoning is that no one person kills the victim.
They die from multiple lacerations, compounded concussions,
Accumulated loss of blood.

In a way, we all become a corrupted community of death,
Collectively ridding ourselves of a perceived evil influence.
No one of us having to take responsibility.

My friends ask me why I still have this old stone in my office.
They think that it's just a paper weight.
I use it that way, sure.  But it has other properties.

It reminds me that we are all in this together,
That punishing someone else doesn't take away the fact that we are related.
And that punishing another is punishing all of us by proxy.

Jesus has been gone for years now, but I remember.
I pick that stone up, heft it, smell the dust of the Temple on it,
And remind myself that God is, above all, merciful.

And I remind myself how easy it is to let my fear drive me.
The hope that excluding those who are not good enough will make the rest of us better.
But that only makes us more fearful, more constricted, less open.

And I pray that in some way, this stone and the memories it conjures,
Will bring out the best, the most loving, the most courageous from me.
So that I can be just a little more like Jesus.

Shalom and a blessed Lent to you!

4th Sunday of Lent

Our readings for the 4th Sunday in Lent are:

1. Joshua 5: 9a, 10-12
   
2. Psalms 34: 2-3, 4-5, 6-7
3. 2nd Corinthians 5: 17-21
   
4. Luke 15: 1-3, 11-32

• Slavery comes in many forms
• Last week we heard God speaking to Moses through the burning bush that God had heard the cries of His people, how they were being oppressed and afflicted, and He was coming to rescue them from the slavery.  Maybe Pharaoh's taskmasters were the least of their worries.
• What are some things that someone could be a slave to: money, fame, power, appreciation, security, ...?
• Are all of these things intrinsically good, bad, neither, both, ...?
•  How do you know that you're a slave to something?
• How do you break those chains?
• Who do you need to be helping you break those chains?
  

• A beacon of hope
  
• What kind of an audience would find your life story encouraging?
• Do you think that God has been pretty good to you?
  
• Based on your experience, what would you tell someone who is truly needy, oppressed, marginalized about God that would encourage them?
  

• Reconciliation revealed
  
• Reconciliation is probably a rather fluffy term for most of us.  Particularly when it comes to God.
• When you are unreconciled to God, what is going on in your life.
• What does that feel like?
• How do you reconcile with/to God when that happens?
• Is that reconciliation strictly an act engaged in by you & God, you and the person/people that you wronged, you and a priest, you and everyone that the priest stands for, you and the rest of the cosmos, ...?
• How do you know when your done?
• What makes you think that reconciliation has an end?
  

• Act of contrition
• Supporting another person is not easy.  Being a supportive parent can be agonizing.  A colleague of mine asked me today "is 11 years old too young for a girl to be wearing makeup?"  His wife had texted him a picture of their daughter in makeup, and my colleague was shocked, alarmed, and disoriented all at once, and wondering what to do next.  I didn't have a good answer.  It made me wonder how God reacts to some of my actions.
• Think of a time when you needed to show someone real love, and you had no idea how.
• How did you decide what to do?
• How did it turn out?
• Would you do things any differently if you were in that situation again?
• How do you think God makes such decisions?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation

1. Where is God inviting me into greater freedom this Lent?
2. How can I encourage even one oppressed person  today?
3. How can I help others to embrace the reconciliation that is already theirs?
4. Where is God calling me to love someone impossible?

Shalom and a blessed Lent to you!

3rd Sunday of Lent

Our readings for the 3rd Sunday in Lent are:

1. Exodus 3: 1-8a, 13-15
   
2. Psalms Psalms 103: 1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8, 11
3. 1 Corinthians 10: 1-6, 10-12
   
4. Luke 13: 1-9

• Fighting for your milk and honey
•  The promises of God seem to conveniently leave out key items.  Like "I will be with you when you enter the Red Sea, but you have to take the first step."  Or "I will cure your blindness, but first, wash in the pool of Siloam."  or "I will cure your leprosy, but you have to show yourself to the priest, even though you are clearly very ill."
• How has God partnered with you in bringing about His promises in your life and the lives of others?
• Why do you think that an omnipotent God needs you to be involved at all?
• How did your involvement change/heal/resurrect you?
  

• The rights of the oppressed
  
• We all agree that the children of Israel were oppressed in Egypt.  We all agree that they were oppressed during World War II.  Nowadays, oppression of  various kinds are going on all around us.  Enough to make it hard to keep track of them all.
  
• What is oppression?
• By that definition, is oppression going on in your neighborhood, your family, your life?
• What would God want to have happen in those oppressive circumstances?
• How can you become part of the solution?
  

• We're all in this together
  
• Getting along with each other can be tough.  One guy apparently could not even get along with himself.  Read his story here.
• Does God save us as individuals, or as a community?
• Why do you think that we worship God and serve Him in community?
• We we not all be more serene if we did not have each other to contend with?
  

• What fruit are you bearing?
• What is your life's work?
• Do you enjoy doing it?
• Do you feel called of God to that labor?
• How did God get you into this work?
• What does that tell you about God?
• What does that tell you about yourself?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Where is God inviting me into partnership with Him this Lent?
2. How can I defend even one oppressed person  today?
3. How can I build God's community/God's family/God's Church?
4. Am I bearing what God put me here on earth to bear?

Shalom and a blessed Lent to you!

2nd Sunday of Lent

Our readings for the 2nd Sunday in Lent are:

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

• Children of Promise
  
• Scripture is full of promises that God has made to His people.  It's hard to take those promises seriously in a world that is so uncertain, so fraught with unexpected and hard to understand change.
• Are there any promises of God that you think of on a regular basis?
• Do you feel that God has been faithful, that He has delivered on His promises to you and your various communities?
• If you don't feel that God has been faithful, have you talked with him about that?
• What did He say?
  

• God's bounty
  
• Our God is a bounteous God.  His blessings to us are always abundant.  But sometimes, those blessings are hard to see.
• What are you grateful to God for?
• Were you always grateful to Him for those blessings?
• Were they necessarily what you were looking for when He gave them to you?
• Would you be more open to those same blessings today?
• How have those blessings helped you grow?
  

• A model Christian
• None of us would ever tell anyone else "live your life just the way that I do."  We know that each person has their own destiny, their own path to greatness, their own genius given them by God, and they need to find, celebrate, and give those gifts away in their own way.
• If you were able to go back in time to an earlier day, and sit down with that younger version of yourself, what would you want to tell them?
• Do you think that that younger version of you would listen?
• If you were to write an autobiography, what lessons from your life would you want to impart to your readers?  How would you present your story, your life, yourself?
• If someone came to you and said "I admire you as a person, you have been such an influence for good in my life and the lives of others that I've seen.  How do you do it?"  What would you say?
• Where has God been in that narrative?
  

• Who are you?
  
• Last week's Gospel showed Satan attempting to temp Jesus in the wilderness.  Part of Satan's ploy was to acknowledge who Jesus is, but then try to lead Jesus into taking advantage of his position.  This week, Jesus parts the curtains of His incarnation just a little and we get a different perspective on who He is.
• Athletes train, musicians practice, doctors constantly learn new techniques, medicines, all of these order their lives around their chosen vocation.  What is your vocation?  What do you organize your life around?
• How does that vocation help you make decisions in your life?
• Does that discipline make you feel constricted, hemmed in, or liberated?
• How long have you felt that way about your destiny?
• Are you sure that what you are doing is your destiny?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Where are God's promises inviting me this Lent?
2. Where is God's bounty inviting me today?
3. Where can I be a better model for others?
4. Am I fulfilling God's destiny for me?

Shalom and a blessed Lent to you!

1st Sunday in Lent

Our readings for the 1st Sunday in Lent are:

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

• Grateful for Lent
  
• Even in Southern California we have seasons.  Those changes in the length of days, the temperature of the air, the plants and animals around us remind us that we are all part of a rhythm of life that includes us, but doesn't necessarily revolve around us.
• What do you bring to this Lent that you have never entered Lent with before?
• Where would you like to be at the end of this Lent?
• How does Lent fit into the larger journey of your life as a whole?
• How has God prepared you for this Lent?
  

• Wingman
  
• My mother-in-law inhabited a world graced with angels of every kind.  I think that she drew comfort knowing that the members of her family were looked over by angels when she could not be there herself.  She trusted those guardians and doubtless prayed that her family members would never stray from their protection.
• What do you hope that God and His angels are sheltering you from?
• What do you think your guardian angel's face looks like when they gaze on you?  Haggard from all the work that you give them, fondness because they have grown to love you through all of your ups and downs, or maybe cheering you on as you struggle to step into the destiny that God is setting before you?
• What might you do to make life a little easier for your angelic wingman?
  

• Where do you find shame
  
• Shame is a powerful emotion - the realization that your behavior/words demonstrate that you are not the person that you thought yourself to be.  Shame comes to us when we see the gulf between the gifts that God has given us, and our use of those gifts.  The world around us tries to saddle us with a very different sort of shame, a shame at not achieving what others think we ought to be capable, not acquiring what should be our due.
• Think about something that you may have been actively ashamed of, or maybe still are ashamed of.
• Why did/do you feel that way?
• Who did you fail in that event of your life?
• Can you see any good come from that experience?
  

• Who are you?
  
• Each temptation in Luke's gospel begins with "If you are the son of God."  Satan never questions Jesus' identity.  What he does question is how Jesus is going to live that identity out in his life of ministry.
• Who would you say you are as a Christian, a professional/retired person, a member of your family?
• What do all of those identities have in common?
• How do those various identities support, illuminate, and inform each other?
• Do you feel that you are being faithful to who you ultimately are in each of those identities?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Where is God taking me this Lent?
2. How is God sustaining and nurturing me today?
3. Where is God offering me healing in shame?
4. Who is God calling me to be today?

Shalom and a blessed Lent to you!

8th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 8th Sunday in Ordinary Time are:

1. Sirach 27: 4-7
2. Psalms 92: 2-3, 13-14, 15-16
3. 1 Corinthians 15: 54-58
4. Luke 6: 39-45

• Revelation -
• All of us have had the experience of discovering something of ourselves in the course of expressing ourselves.  Somehow, speaking something out loud to someone who really cares about us gives us a different perspective on what we are saying, what we are going through.  God is, perhaps, the best listener in the cosmos.
• Do you feel that you can be honest with God in your prayer?
• Do you ever worry that you might offend God with your prayer?
• Do you ever feel that you have to be formal with God?
• How do you think that God feels about all of that? 

• Finding your gratitude
• I don't know about you, but any time I hear a sentence start with "Well, at least ..." because I know the speaker is going to try to lift my spirits by telling me how glad I should be that things are not even worse.  But there are legitimate ways to change our attitude.
• Think of something that has been a challenge for you. Maybe a colleague at work who is difficult to work with, maybe someone in your own home who is hard to live with, a circumstance that you know could be better.
• Now, pray to God and ask Him to help you be grateful for that.
• And pray that prayer of thanks out loud.
• Does that change your attitude?

• Triumph over indifference
• Most of us want to triumph over sin, at least the sin in our lives.  I've lowered my expectations.  I would be happy just to be less indifferent to my sin.  Hopefully, once I see it, Jesus & I can triumph over it.
• Do you ever get a chance to take inventory of what you have been through over the past day, and discern where God was in your life, and where you may have missed God's presence and leading?
• How do you think a practice like that would change you if you did it regularly?

• Finding your fruits
• All of us want to leave a legacy.
• If you were to die tonight in your sleep, aside from the dirty laundry and the dishes in the sink, what would your legacy be?
• If you were to write a spiritual resume for yourself, what would you cite as your spiritual experience to date?
• What do you think that experience has equipped you for?
• What would you like for your legacy to be by the time you die?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. What does God want me to be honest with Him about?
2. Where is God challenging my gratitude?
3. Where is God offering me greater humility?
4. What fruit is God growing in me today?

Shalom!

7th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time are:

1. 1 Samuel 26: 2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23
2. Psalms 103: 1-2, 3-4, 8, 10, 12-13
3. 1 Corinthians 15: 45-49
4. Luke 6: 27-38

• Timing is everything
• Teilhard de Cardin was an extraordinary Jesuit priest, scientist, paleontologist, philosopher, theologian, and teacher.  In a letter of his to one of many who sought his advice, he counsels patience with the gradual unfolding of God's creation in each of us.  His advice/prayer to this person can be found here.
• Think of some of the really big changes in your life.  Maybe getting married, that first job, your first child, losing your parents, ... were you ready for those experiences?
• How would you know if you are ever truly ready for a change in your life?
• In those cases that you were just thinking about, what would you have done differently to be more prepared?
• How long would that have taken?
• How do you usually tell when it's time to step into the promise that God has set before you?
• In general, do you see yourself as a victim of circumstances, riding the chaos wave, or resolutely forging your future for yourself?
• Which of those do you think God wants for you?

• Are you a disappointment?
• I believe that all of us want to make our parents proud.  Those of us who are lucky have parents who unabashedly want what's best for us, regardless of where that might take us, no matter how different that might be from the expected path for our lives.
• Do you think that God is proud of you?
• Imagine yourself the last time that you blew it big time.  Maybe you said something that you should not have, maybe you said something that was perfectly true, but somehow it came out hurtful or blaming, maybe you had a crisis of courage and took the easy way out rather than do what you knew was right.  Imagine that right after you do that, you look up, and there's Jesus, just standing and watching.
• What do you see in Jesus's eyes?  Is it sorrow, disappointment, anger, judgment, ...?
• He begins speaking to you.  What does He have to say?
• How does His touch in your life at that moment change you?

• Embracing your dust
• I think it's common to somehow feel that we are of no account because we were formed from the dust.  Consider this.  That dust that God gathered in the garden of Eden was from the Earth, which cosmologists think started out as a fragment from our sun, which is but one tiny star in a vast galaxy, part of a much vaster universe.  We are, all of us, made of stardust, lovingly gathered, bearing God's breath gifted us individually, so that we might take our place in and through the cosmos.  We are dust indeed.  All of us.
• Where/what/who are you from?  If you were to describe your most important parts and features to someone that you had just met, what would you say?
• How much of that origin has been helpful to you, how much of it has made you the person that you are today?
• How much of that origin do you think that God can transform into something that can heal others, transform those around you, show God's glory?
• Where can you start?

• Getting your generous on
• St. Ignatius of Loyola had a manifesto that you can read here.  It's very simple, yet profoundly challenging.  Everything in this life is just a means to an end.
• Where are you giving yourself away these days?
• Is it possible to be generous in your career?  After all, you're getting paid for that, so where is there any room for generosity on your part?
• Do you think that it's better to die with plenty of "gas left in your tank", or go to your grave, completely "used up"?
• What would you like to give away during the rest of your life?
• Do you think you have the time?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Where is God getting me ready for the next big thing?
2. Where is God showing me mercy?
3. Where is God performing a miracle in my life?
4. Where might God be calling me to more radical giving?

Shalom!