Second Sunday in Advent

Our readings for the Second Sunday in Advent are:

1. Isaiah 11: 1-10
   
2. Psalms 72: 1-2, 78, 12-13, 17
   
3. Romans 15: 4-9
   
4. Matthew 3: 1-12
   

• Transformation, not starting over
  
• Time, ultimately, is on God's side.  If He builds something and it doesn't turn out the way that he planned, he could just start over.  But He never does.  Several of the kings who were the descendants of David were pretty miserable, but God chose to bring Jesus forth from the house and lineage of David.
• Think of a time in your life that you felt as though you had failed.  Was there any good that came out of that?
• Do you think that there might yet be more good to come from that experience?
• So, was it really a failure?
• Do we always have to succeed as Christians?
  

• Celebrating Justice
  
• Justice is all about making sure that everyone receives what is due them.  Fair enough, but how do we tell what is due someone?  In the University setting that I live in, an affordable, quality education is considered everyone's due.  A mere hundred years ago, that would have been considered abject nonsense.  Does justice evolve?
• Think back to a time when you were treated unjustly.  How did that make you feel - fearful, angry, outraged, depressed, ...?
• Once you had suffered that injustice, what should have happened to right that wrong?
• Ultimately, who is it that should be righting that wrong, even today?
• Coming out of that experience, do you feel any kinship with others who are unjustly treated?
  

• Welcoming one another
  
• One problem with getting old is painful memories.  Some years back we had a young lady in RCIA who was making minimum wage, barely getting by on her income and permanent disability from her live-in boyfriend.  He was abusive, but she loved him anyway, and he helped pay the rent.  To this day, I still don't know how we as a church should have welcomed that young seeker into our midst.
• When/where have you been welcomed?
• How did that make you feel?
• What are some tangible ways that you are welcoming?
• What would disqualify someone from being welcome here?
  

• Resting on your laurels
  
• Sometimes, living a life of faith can get harder with time.  Your faith life becomes almost like the air you breathe, taken for granted, invisible, hardly thought about.
• How do you celebrate your relationship with Jesus?
• How has that changed through the years?
• How do you hope that relationship will sustain you in the years ahead?
• What are you doing to make that relationship stronger/deeper?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
  

1. Where/what is God transforming my life lately?
   
2. Where can I help make justice emerge?
3. Who are the lost in my world who need a warm welcome?
   
4. Where is God inviting me to go deeper with Him?

Shalom!

First Sunday in Advent

Our readings for the first Sunday of Advent are:

1. Isaiah 2: 1-5
   
2. Psalms 122: 1-2, 3-4, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
   
3. Romans 13: 11-14
   
4. Matthew 24: 36-44
   

• Peace in our time?
  
• Peace between nations, tribes, communities, families seems so distant.  One party takes advantage of the other, threatens them in some way, and conflict breaks out.
• How would you define true peace?
• Can we rationally expect to see true peace in this life?
• Who are some peace heroes in your life?
• How did they accomplish what they did?
• Is any of their lives something that you can emulate?
  

• Bring a friend.  Better yet, bring two.
  
• Evangelizing comes in many forms.  You belong to a reading group, and you bring a friend.  You know someone who has nowhere to go for the holidays, and you invite them to Thanksgiving with you.  You know someone curious about the Catholic faith, and you offer to sponsor them in RCIA.
• Think of a time when you evangelized.
• What gave you the courage to offer?
• Was that person that you brought warmly received and welcomed?
• Is there anything keeping you from inviting others today?
  

• Waking up
  
• It's easy to get so caught up in the day to day that we lose track of the larger picture, essentially to be unaware of, asleep to the greater shifts in our world.
• How do you find the broader meaning in your life?
• Why do you bother?
• How do you think Jesus makes your life more full of meaning?
  

• Being ready
  
• Each of us has responsibilities in this life that are particular to us, things that no one else can do or say.
• How have you gone about finding out what those things are that God is calling you to in life?
• Did His call in your life ever change?
• How did you figure that out?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
  

1. Where is my faith journey taking me today?
   
2. How can my community, my family, my very heart be more welcoming?
3. Who are the prophets that I'm listening to today?
   
4. Am I doing what's important?

Doing God's Work

Most of us look incredibly ordinary.
We get up each morning, get dressed, get breakfast, commute to work.
Then we spend the day fighting entropy - that constant force
That wears everything down, promotes the path of least resistance,
Gradually, inexorably, reduces the finest buildings to rubble.

Or is there more to life?

Is it possible that the mere fact that we are, where we are,
As Christ's advance men and women here in this world,
Doing our best to put skin on Christ's presence in this world,
That we are making a witness, a proclamation,
That holiness can be found in the strangest places.

The question is, do you feel holy?

What moves you, stirs you, energizes you each day?
Is it just about success, recognition, appreciation, even a paycheck,
Or is there something more?
Do you step into your work with anticipation,
Knowing that you are making the world a better place to live?

Are you doing what you were born to do today?

What would that feel like?
Would you be proud of what you are doing,
How you are doing it
Why you are doing it,
What the doing has done to you?

Or will you hang your head in tears of shame for wasting your life?

What's holding you back from the holiness that God has for you?
Is it fear of being alone, not getting the support you need, failure in the end?
Do you fear that this next chapter in your life will not be enough to sustain you?
Do you fear that you will not have the ability to do your dream boldly and well?
How will you know until you try?

What would it feel like to live the dream, to be fully alive, to be holy before God?

Shalom!

Christ the King Sunday

Our readings for the solemnity of Christ the King are:

1. II Samuel 5: 1-3
   
2. Psalms 122: 1-2, 3-4, 4-5
   
3. Colossians 1: 12-20
   
4. Luke 23: 35-43

• Heeding the call
  
• In large corporations like Boeing, there is a distinction between management and leadership.  Management makes the best use possible of limited resources to accomplish necessary tasks on time and within budget.  Leadership, by contrast, inspires the rank and file to bring their their very best to whatever task is at hand, fully committing themselves to giving their all consistently.
• Which do you think that we as a community need more of: management or leadership?
• Where is that next generation of leaders and managers going to come from?
• What can we do to make sure that God's work continues when we are gone?
• How do we know what that work will be by that time?
  

• On the road again
  
• Apparently Lao Tzu, a Chinese philosopher once said "The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step."  Maybe today he would have said "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a call to Uber."
• No one knows what the future will bring in terms of what might happen to us, what twists and turns our career might take, what the kids are going to name your next grand baby, but we should have a goal of where we want those events to take us.
• What kind of a person do you hope to be in five years?
• How does God seem to be taking you there?
• What are you doing to help?
  

• Peace - how and when
  
• One perspective is that this life, corrupted by sin, is never going to be what God intended for us.  At best, it's a spiritual boot camp where we learn endurance, perseverance, and fortitude to get through this life.  Sounds rather grim.
• Can we expect peace of any sort in this life?
• Why is that?
• What can we do, at our level, to help make that peace?
• How does making, and enjoying, peace in this life prepare us for the next life?
  

• Being awake
  
• By all accounts, crucifixion is perhaps the most agonizing way to go that mankind has devised.  Yet in the midst of that, St. Dismus, the penitent thief, found the grace to see the bigger picture, realize what was going on in his life at the moment, and pray.
• In times of stress and hardship in your life, how did that affect your prayer?
• Do you think that God understood?
• What does that tell you about your relationship to God?
• What does that tell you about God's relationship to you?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
  

1. Where can I be a force for transformation in my community, family, household?
   
2. Am I open to the graces that God has for me today?
3. Would anyone who knows me characterize me as a peace-filled presence?
   
4. Do I believe that God is with me right now?

Hangin' With Jesus

 I looked out over the sacred hills of Jerusalem.

And tried to remember that they would be there long after I am gone.

I looked this way and that, taking in the golden sunlight of that day,

Just one last time before the inevitable blackness of death.

I hoped that there was some small shred of my life,

That would benefit those coming after me,

Some reason for my shameful existence,

Some meaning in my life, even now getting cut short.

Even raised up, and exposed this horrifying way,

I enjoyed a certain anonymity here on this cross.

The usual onlookers were focused on the one they call Messiah,

I and the other reprobate were just backup.

I had heard of this Jesus before, wanted to meet Him,

But knew that I was unworthy, beneath His consideration.

Somehow, despite His humble origins, His simple ways,

I knew Him to be special, a beacon of hope for the lost.

But I always thought that even Jesus had to have standards,

Depths to which even He would not go.

But seeing Him there, accepting this horrifying punishment,

I realized how wrong I was about Him.

His mercy has no limits, His love no frontiers.

His empathy for those on the edges has no edge.

I was so ashamed to hear my fellow prisoner jeer at Him,

I lost my temper with him, and immediately regretted it.

But I locked eyes with Jesus, saw pools of mercy there.

And I took the plunge, one last moment of prayer,

And I asked Him to remember me,

So that I would at least have one human being to recall my name.

He took that feeble request, that humble plea,

And gave me so much more than I ever imagined.

I knew peace in that moment.  All the rest fell into place.

The pain, still just as searing, was bearable now.

And I knew that the end was just a beginning.

Shalom!

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time are:

1. Malachi 3: 19-20a
   
2. Psalms 98: 5-6, 7-8, 9
   
3. 2nd Thessalonians 3: 7-12
   
4. Luke 21: 5-19

• What continues, what doesn't
  
• When we suffer loss, whether it's a loved one, a ministry that we have devoted ourselves to for years, someone special in our lives moves on, we wonder whether there is any part of what is gone that we can still benefit from.  By contrast, evil, in all of its manifestations, always comes to a complete end.  Just maybe not soon enough for us.
  
• What is an evil that you wish could end today?
• Are there evils that in one way or another contribute to that?
• Are any of those root causes anything that you can do about?
• If not you, then who?  If not now, when?
  

• Ruling the world with justice
  
• Politics is the second oldest profession.  That doesn't say much for prostitution.  Just rule seems like a distant possibility, a fantasy even for some.
• Why is just rule so difficult?
• When was the last time that you prayed for a politician?
• How can we contribute more as a community to just rule?
• Do you have to be an activist to effect change?
  

• Earning your bread
  
• All work is essentially creative, bringing to life something new, building a new tomorrow that was only an idea before.  As such, all of us are called to work in this life, to join our hands with God's in the ongoing work of emerging creation.  It doesn't really matter whether you get paid for it.
• How has your work made the world a better place?
• Do you have any regrets about how you spent your career?
• How did you get into that work in the first place?
• How has that work changed you?
  

• What matters
  
• Long Beach State lately banished the statue of the 49er to an obscure part of campus because he had become an embarrassment.  The 1849 gold rush brought fortune seekers to California in droves, and they stopped at nothing to wrest the precious gold from the land, often trampling the ecology and the indigenous peoples.
• A monument doesn't have to be a statue.  It could be an institution, a way of doing things, even a person.  In each case, it stands for something that endures, or that we hope will endure.
• What are some monuments in your life?
• If one or another of them disappeared, what would that do to you?
• How would you mourn their loss?
• Do they really have eternal value, or is it something that the monument points to that has eternal value?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
  

1. Where is God offering me the courage to combat an evil?
   
2. How can these two hands of mine bring some measure of justice to the world I live in?
3. In what sense is my work sacred/holy?
   
4. Do I worship anything that is not enduring, not eternal?

When it ends

We like to think that things that matter, the really important, the good

Will last forever.

And when it doesn't we wonder -

Was it as good, life-giving, holy as I thought?

Was it just time to move on?

Had I gotten too attached, and God granted me freedom?

Mourning a loss is therapeutic,

Reflecting on the good times, being thankful for the blessings,

Stoking the embers of hope that tomorrow has blessings all its own,

Waiting for me to step into them.

But still, you have to wonder -

Do things have to change so much, so often, so violently at times?

Why couldn't God just leave well enough alone,

And grant some comfort once in awhile?

Is that asking too much?

 

Shalom!

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 32th Sunday in Ordinary Time are:

1. 2 Maccabees 7: 1-2, 9-14
   
2. Psalms 17: 1, 5-6, 8, 15
3. 2nd Thessalonians 2: 16-3: 5
   
4. Luke 20: 27-38

• Trust beyond knowing
  
• In Jesuit theology, the third degree of humility, the most perfect, comes as we seek closeness to God so deeply that we welcome poverty and marginalization that we may live as Christ lived.  With that mindset, trust boils down to believing that God can use anything to bring us closer, if we are willing.
• When have you trusted God for something big?
• How did that turn out?
• What makes you think that the results of that trust are completely evident?  Is it possible that your trust is still bearing fruit?
• What advice would you give you former self when you were going through that time in your life when you needed to trust God?
  

• Waking up
  
• What is the first thing that comes to mind when you wake up in the morning (besides how much it's going to hurt when your feet hit the floor)?
• What does that say about you?
• What does that say about your relationship to God?
• Do you think that you can train yourself to start the day better?
  

• Some protector God is
  
• The first reading for this week is pretty grim in some respects.  Yet these brothers who were persecuted for their faith were under God's protection.  Just what was it that God protected them from?
  

• Fearful intimacy
  
• I have a theory that over the decades of marriage, old married couples gradually go from not noticing each others foibles and annoying habits because they are infatuated with each other to learning to live with said foibles, to finding them endearing, to eventually realizing that those very foibles are almost sacramental: a gateway into the vastness of that other person.
• How has your marriage and the marriages of others taught you how to be intimate?
• How has your intimacy with others gradually changed you?
• How might you be more open to those changes?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
  

1. Are those things/people that I trust truly worthy of that trust?
   
2. What do I want to wake up praying tomorrow?
3. Am I letting God protect me enough?
   
4. Where is God calling me to greater intimacy?

Put Your Hand in Mine

The local memory care facility has a sign showing an old, liver-spotted hand in a young one.

At first, I thought it a wonderful image of that elder putting their trust in someone else's hands.

But what if, in addition, the agreement from that young helper went something like this:

I trust you to be honest with me,

To trust me to care, even if I cannot solve what you're going through,

To trust me to be here, day in, and day out,

Bringing what I have to offer that day, no matter how fragile or broken it might be,

Into our time together.

I trust you to be patient with me,

As I do the slow, steady work of relating to you,

Learning what motivates you,

What moves you,

What makes your heart sing.

That together, we can be healing for each other.

How many people on this earth can you say that to?

Shalom!

31st Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 31th Sunday in Ordinary Time are:

1. Wisdom 11:22 - 12:2
   
2. Psalms 145: 1-2, 8-9, 10-11,13, 14
   
3. 2nd Thessalonians 1:11 - 2:2
   
4. Luke 19: 1-10

• Finding God in the little by little
  
• Perhaps God's greatest show of mercy is patience.  Instead of hitting each of us full on with all the things that we should be doing/praying/saying, He nudges us.  Maybe we would appreciate that more if we took stock of where that nudging has gotten us.
• Can you think of a time when you felt that everything was OK, and God opened your eyes just a little to see otherwise?
• How did you respond?
• Do you think that God was able to build on that response?
• Where do you think God is taking you?
  

• Land acknowledgement
  
• The land that we occupy had people before us, and maybe yet other people before them.  I ask myself when someone makes a formal acknowledgement of that  fact: "great, my ancestors ripped this land from the hands of others.  Now what?"
• If God has mercy for all his works, how can we reflect that mercy?
• Do you know anyone in need of mercy?
• What do you think God would have you do?
  

• Worthy of the calling
  
• I remember Kelly Evans sharing once that it suddenly hit her while she was teaching that she was, that moment, doing what she had been born to do.
• Do we have to earn that sort of realization/recognition?
• What does it take to get to that place in life, courage, determination, blind luck, contemplation, ...?
• Do you think that destiny changes for us over time?
  

• Touching the untouchable
  
• Jesus seems determined to surprise, perplex, and scandalize those around Him.  Zacchaeus had something worse than leprosy, he collaborated with the Romans.
• Who are the untouchables today?
• Do they deserve that status?
• How can we convince them that they are worthy?
• What is it that they are worthy of anyway?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
  

1. Where has God been leading me through the years?
   
2. Where are some unexpected places that I can be God's mercy?
3. Am I fulfilling my destiny?
   
4. Who are the untouchables in my life?

Pity Jesus' Agent

Every great celebrity needs an agent to look out for them,

Make sure that they get proper treatment, proper notoriety. 

 

It's all about connections, knowing the right people,

Being seen in the right places, showing what you got.

 

This Jesus is an amazing man, full of courage, compassion, wisdom.

All He has to do is get the Word out the right way, use proper channels.

 

Otherwise, well otherwise He'll join thousands of other noble men

In total obscurity, hidden by the ashes of time and forgetfulness.

 

Jesus could make a difference in a lot more lives if He's just listen.

Listen to reason that is.

 

No one will know what He does for the poor, the lame, the leper,

The outcast, the trodden upon if He just becomes one of them.

 

Disappearing into the anonymity of  the downtrodden.

You cannot rescue someone from a plight that you share.

Can you?

Shalom!

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time are:

1. Sirach 4: 6-8, 16-18
   
2. Psalms 34: 2-3, 17-18, 19, 23
   
3. 2nd Timothy 4: 6-8, 16-18
   
4. Luke 18: 9-14

• Finding the willingness
  
• Serving God willingly can be hard.  God seems to have a knack for nudging us out of our comfort zone, challenging us to go where we might not have even though was a real destination.
• Think of a time when your faith led you to some new place in your life.
• Would you say that you were led, nudged, pushed, abducted by the experience?
• How did you come to terms with your discomfort in that transition?
• How did that transition change you?
• Why did it have to be so hard?
  

• Legacy planning
  
• Deep down, we all want to be remembered.  Maybe we ought to be a little more specific and spell out what we'd like to be remembered for.  I can think of any number of cringe-worth deeds and actions in my life that I can only hope no one will remember.
• What do you want to be remembered for?
• Who would you like to have those memories of you?
• What do you think the chances are that those will be what you are remembered for?
• Does it really matter?
  

• Appreciation
• We all want to be appreciated.  Honest appreciation tells us that we are doing the right things with our life, that we have made wise decisions, that what we have been doing matters.  But is appreciation really necessary?
• OK, so maybe you can get along without human adulation and the occasional recognition dinner held in your honor, but what of God.  Should He at least express some appreciation for your service?
• What would you think that appreciation would look like?
• If you did not feel any appreciation, what would that mean to you?
• Does appreciation make you a better person?
  

• Praying to yourself
  
• Authenticity can be hard.  We might have the most honorable of intentions, and still end up "faking it" because our heart is not in what we are doing, we are superficial about our actions or speech, we are not fully invested in what we say or do.
• You may have heard the aphorism "fake it 'til you make it" which suggests that action can lead the heart in some cases.  Can we do that in prayer?
• If it is possible for us to pray our way into the right attitude/mindset/paradigm, is there really such a thing as dishonest prayer?
• How do you know that you are honestly praying to God and not yourself?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
  

1. How can I be more honest in my prayer?
   
2. Where do I need rescuing?
3. How can I be more humble?
   
4. Am I praying about what really matters?

Prayer of the woebegone

Hey God, me again.
Sorry that it's been so long.
I'm past busy.  Now I'm just in survival mode.
So many demands on me, I have no idea where to start.

I'm finally past asking you for advice.
Wisdom to help me prioritize
Discernment to make right decisions
Strength to carry on ...

I could pray for all of those.  But I won't.
Today, I just have one simple request:
Give me rest from all the demands on me,
Help me find my rest in you.

Help me put my hand in yours,
Feel the soft warmth of your love in my flesh,
Breathe in your Presence
And just be with you a spell.

I don't know if that will make it all better.
But it will make me better.
More centered, less distracted,
More in touch.  Maybe even holy.

This is me putting down all the balls
That I have been juggling lately.
Maybe I'll pick them up again,
Maybe I won't.  I'll have to see. 

For now, it's more than enough
To just be in the now,
And let the rest of the moments
Before and after, go their own way. 

How are you doing today? 

 Shalom!