SCRIPTURE
REFLECTIONS
He's not so much in what the word on the street is about him--
when the apostles mention that other people say Jesus is a prophet reborn,
he focuses on them and their opinions.
He still asks us that same question, today, two thousand years later,
since our answer guides our lives.
Who IS Jesus to each of us--
and how are our lives different, given our answers?
21st Sunday of
Ordinary Time
The great feast of the Holy Spirit . . . .
the birthday of the Church . . . .
the moment in whicih we all find the Spirit's inspiration
to move to new life in Jesus and the Father . . . .
Pentecost is all this, and more.
It's our feast of new life in that Spirit . . . .
courage, faith, fortitude, power . . . .
God's grace dwelling among us,
then and now . . . .
Come, Holy Ghost!!!
his few weeks between Christmas and Lent
gives us a little pause to reflect on Jesus.
After his birth, and revelation to the world,
he lives for 30 years beneath our radar. . .
without being noticed . . .
The only event recorded in the gospels from that time
is his being found in the Temple.
Other than that . . .
silence.
After his growth to maturity,
he begins his public ministry.
These weeks' gospels recount the transition of focus
from John the Baptist to this new Lamb of God. . .
the calling of his early followers. . .
and some of his early preaching.
His public ministry has begun in earnest.
Soon, we will break off that story to begin
our Lenten preparations for the Easter mysteries.
But until then, we reflect quietly on the early stories
of the adult Savior,
knowing with our hindsight that his life is leading
to his suffering and death and rising to new life . . .
the pattern he calls us to follow in our own lives.
Let us make the most of this calm pause
to reflect on those stories and that pattern . . .
for therein lies our salvation.
So now we are in Advent.
Now we look forward . . .
to the day,
a few weeks from now,
when we will remember
the birth at Bethlehem--
and the other day,
perhaps farther in the future,
when we will see fulfilled
this week's words
from John the Baptizer . . .
the words of the one crying out
"in the desert, prepare the way of the Lord."
Our Lord is coming, John reminds us . . .
and on that day, Isaiah says,
our God will judge the poor with justice,
and leopards will lie down with lambs.
"There will be no harm or ruin
on all my holy mountain," says the Lord,
"for the earth shall be filled
with knowledge of the Lord,
as water covers the sea . . ."
Let us look to both those days
with anticipation,
and joy,
and wonder . . .
This Sunday sees the end of Ordinary Time.
Before we move to Advent,
the time of preparation to celebrate
the birth of Jesus at Bethlehem,
we take a moment to acknowledge Christ
as the Lord of our universe.
He is the Lord of all,
the ruler whose return will mark
the end of time as we know it.
Are we ready to own him
as our personal God?
Are we ready to proclaim him
the center of our lives?
That is why we pause for a moment--
to remind ourselves of the proper order
of the universe.
Before we move into what is so often
a narrowly-focused season,
caught up in preparing for our partying
and our all-pervading gift-giving,
let us take a breath and remind ourselves
of the balance we need in our lives.
Let us pray for the right perspective--
one which sees Christ
as the center and the goal of our lives--
now, and forever.
This Sunday sees the end of Ordinary Time.
Before we move to Advent,
the time of preparation to celebrate
the birth of Jesus at Bethlehem,
we take a moment to acknowledge Christ
as the Lord of our universe.
He is the Lord of all,
the ruler whose return will mark
the end of time as we know it.
Are we ready to own him
as our personal God?
Are we ready to proclaim him
the center of our lives?
That is why we pause for a moment--
to remind ourselves of the proper order
of the universe.
Before we move into what is so often
a narrowly-focused season,
caught up in preparing for our partying
and our all-pervading gift-giving,
let us take a breath and remind ourselves
of the balance we need in our lives.
Let us pray for the right perspective--
one which sees Christ
as the center and the goal of our lives--
now, and forever.
counts
how the visiting court official from Syria, Naaman, is cured
of his leprosy by the intervention of the Israelite prophet Elisha.
In response, Naaman declares that he will only worship
the powerful God of Israel.
The gospel tells the story of how Jesus cures ten lepers,
and only one, a Samaritan, returns to thank him.
Jesus rewards him with forgiveness and salvation.
At one level, this seems a simple message for the week;
cures should be followed by gratitude.
But maybe there's another layer of meaning.
Notice what the two cured and thankful people have in common?
They're outsiders.
Naaman is an official of one of the neighboring countries who chronically threaten Israel's very existence.
And the Jews of Jesus' day despised the Samaritans
because they saw them as foreigners, the mixed-race descendants
of what was left of the northern ten tribes conquered and dispersed
as punishment for their infidelity.
Maybe, in his wisdom, God casts a little broader net
for healing and forgiveness than we do.
Maybe enemies and foreigners are just as worthy of God's mercy
as are those of us who see ourselves as righteous people.
And maybe these readings can give us a little better chance
to see ourselves--and others--through the eyes of mercy--
as God sees us.
31st OT
This Sunday, our readings talk about resurrection to new life.
The Old Testament reading recalls the death
of the seven Maccabee brothers
who died rather than betray their faith in God.
In the gospel, Jesus turns away his crowd's focus
from a technical discussion of marriage in heaven.
He changes their focus to considering what it means
that God is the Lord of the resurrection,
the God of the new life of the heavenly kingdom.
At this time of the year,
we observe the dying of the foliage around us
and the harvested fields lying empty.
Our thoughts easily turn to death.
These readings remind us to keep our focus on LIFE,
the new life to which the resurrected Jesus leads us.
Heaven is there waiting for us, through the veil of death.
What grace Jesus brings us in his invitation to that kingdom.
New life--that promise should sustain us through this fall--
and for the rest of our earthly lives!
He says that He has come to bring not peace, but division.
His message will divide mothers from their daughters, sons from their fathers.
The prophet Jeremiah found that God's message had divided the people of his day.
But the tough message with which Jesus challenges us can be the source of our strength.
The letter to Hebrews says Jesus endured His cross "for the sake of the joy that lay before him."
We can rid ourselves of our burdens and sin and persevere in our work for the gospel "while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus."
As we start the semester, perhaps we can commit ourselves to working for God even in tough times "while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus."
Welcome back!!! And God bless!!
Pentecost Sunday
May 11, 2008
the
SUNDAYS
OF
ORDINARY
TIME
May 11, FEBRUARY,
2008
the feast of Christ the king
the final
Sunday of
ordinary
time
n this week's gospel, Jesus talks about finding what we've lost.
A shepherd loses one sheep out of his flock of a hundred. He leaves the ninety-nine
to fend for themselves while he searches far and wide for the one lost sheep.
A homemaker loses one coin out of ten, then turns her house upside down
searching for it.
A loving father loses a son to the wild life of a playboy, until the son's inherited money runs out and he comes crawling home to beg his father's forgiveness.
In each case, Jesus directs our attention not so much to the LOSS
felt by each character,
but to the JOY when the loss is made good.
The ecstasy of the reuniting overwhelms the pain of the loss.
What a comfort for us sinners!
No matter how much we may cause God and ourselves a sense of loss
when we stray . . .
there's always the promise of a welcoming Father, waiting to share his joy
at our eventual return.
What more could we possibly ask for?
This Sunday's readings give us a serious wake-up call.
The prophet Amos cries "Woe to the complacent in Zion!"
Lounging around partying and drinking,
they ignore their responsibilities to the poor and the needy.
And Amos warns that these complacent ones will be
"the first to go into exile" when their time is up.
The story Jesus tells in the gospel is about just such a man
whose party time has ended.
When the rich man dies unexpectedly, he finds himself in torment;
across a gulf, he sees resting in peace
a poor man whom he had ignored when they were both alive.
The rich man is reminded that he and his kin have been warned
by Moses and the prophets to clean up their acts.
They were warned; and they were told the consequences
of ignoring the message.
For this rich man, it's too late; he has doomed himself to eternal pain,
the permanent exile of eternal death.
But we have another chance.
His fate does NOT have to be ours.
We can do better.
But only if we lose our complacency
and make up our minds and hearts to do more for each other
while we still have the time.
This week is the Second Sunday of Easter, now officially called Divine Mercy Sunday.
A few years ago, Pope John Paul II extended to the whole Church around the world
a devotion from his old neighborhood in Poland.
During the 1930's, a nun named Sr. Faustina said she had a series of visions in which Jesus told her to pray in particular ways to invoke His great Divine Mercy upon us sinful people.
By following certain prayers, we can obtain
special access to the fruits of Jesus' mercy.
This is why many parishes will hold special services on the afternoon of April 15,
the Second Sunday of Easter.
The gospel for the day is the familiar story of "doubting Thomas," the apostle who misses a miraculous appearance by Jesus after His resurrection, and refuses to believe the other apostles when they describe the visit
. It's not until Jesus appears again,
and invites Thomas to feel His wounds,
that Thomas believes.
How often do we hang back and wait for further proof, rather than acting on what our faith tells us?
Maybe we can use this week praying for a deeper faith, and more courage to act on our beliefs.
Maybe we could pray with a little more fervor the prayer which St. Faustina popularized:
"My Jesus, I trust in You!"
"Divine Mercy" Sunday
and
"Doubting Thomas"