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Connecting
with the Sunday Readings
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Twenty-third
Sunday in Ordinary Time -
September 5, 2010
Not included
in the bulletin this week.
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Twenty-second
Sunday in Ordinary Time -
August 29, 2010
There was a time
when social graces were highly valued. The name Emily Post was well
known to
many because of her book on etiquette. She described what would be
considered
good manners in public society. In today’s Gospel reading Jesus
was not
teaching etiquette about what to do when you attend a wedding banquet,
which
for him was a very important image for describing life in God’s
Kingdom. On one
level, it seems that he was simply offering some practical advice on
good
manners. In those days where one sat at the table mirrored one’s
social status.
Higher places were for top elected officials, Hollywood stars, and the
“well-to-do.” The rest were assigned to “lower
places.”
How embarrassing
would it be if you took a high place and were then told to go to the
lower
seat? That’s the practical side. But, as is usual, Jesus was
really telling us
something important about how things are with God. God has favorites
too, but
they may be different from the people we think are his favorites. Jesus
always
has a way of turning things upside down, as he does here.
A Gospel Word for the Home - Luke
14:1, 7–14
In family life, we
seek to make present the ideas and values of Jesus. We love each other
because
we are members of the same family and because we are sisters and
brothers in
Christ. What Jesus proposes in today’s Gospel reading is that
when we enter the
Kingdom, we need to wait for the “master of the feast” to
assign us our
positions and know that God will keep the feast open to everyone.
There’s also an
important family message. We are all equal in God’s eyes. Wives
are equal to
husbands, and children to their parents. That’s part of the
radical teaching of
the Gospel. God equally loves us all, no matter what our social
standing, our
background, our condition, or our gifts and talents. This is hard for a
society
built on individualism and personal accomplishment to understand. But
that’s
what you see in good families: a profound acceptance and love for all
family
members, along with a spreading of a similar attitude outside the
family. All
are welcomed and all are loved, no matter what their place in society.
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Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary
Time - August
22, 2010
The
Gospel of Luke
often uses images associated with healing. There is a tradition that
Luke
himself was engaged in the healing arts of his day. He was familiar
with health
and sickness. Thus his Gospel (more than the others) often brings forth
questions concerning salvation. The concept “salvation”
relates both to healing
and being “saved” by God. Thus, this Sunday, we hear the
story of someone who
wants to know about how many are going to be saved. Will it be just a
few, or
many? Jesus could have responded that only God knows the answer to that
question but he took the occasion to make another point: whoever is
saved and
is spiritually healthy will be those who have focused on living the
journey to
the Kingdom, and not so much on what’s on the other side.
They
will have to
get to know Jesus and his message and seek to put his teachings into
practice,
day by day. Doing all that requires attention and discipline, a refined
focus,
because the doorway to the Kingdom of God is narrow. Just belonging to
a group
or being first in line won’t work. It’s about being a good
disciple. Being a
good disciple means loving in the same way that Jesus does. For some
that may
be too difficult.
A Gospel Word for
the Home - Luke 13:22–30
Also
in this Gospel
is the important idea that those who seek salvation will be coming from
all
directions. This is an important point to make to those who think that
it’s
just one kind of person or group that will be saved. No, those who will
be
seeking “the way” and eventually be included in the Great
Banquet of Heaven
will be of all kinds, the full spectrum of personality types, from all
social
classes, from all cultures, all religions, all parts of the world. So
there’s
an interesting tension in today’s Gospel: narrowness on the one
hand and
broadness on the other.
This
reminds us of other
parts of the Gospel that offer a very inclusive invitation attracting
disciples
to Jesus. It could be anyone! The Gospels indicate that Jesus seems
especially
close to the poor, the needy, the marginal, and even
“sinners.” Such openness
strengthens the impression that we might be surprised as to who will
enter
God’s Kingdom. We also have to keep in mind who’s in
charge: God who has
created and loves everyone. If each of us can have a similar
orientation to
others, we may have found “the narrow gate.”
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Solemnity
of the Assumption of the Blessed
Virgin Mary - August 15, 2010
Occasionally a Feast
of Mary interrupts the flow of Sundays, which is what happens this
week. The
Feast of the Assumption contains wonderful aspects of our faith. Mary,
a human
like all of us, precedes us into heavenly glory in a way that goes
beyond all
that we know “on this side.” For she is taken into heaven
as she lived on
earth, body, and soul. After Jesus, she is the first to experience the
resurrection of the body, which is proclaimed at the end of the Nicene
Creed.
The early
theologians of the Church have pointed to the parallel between Mary
giving
Christ his body and then Jesus returning this favor by bringing Mary
into life
eternal, a gift that encompassed both her body and her soul. Most
fittingly, we
celebrate this feast as an affirmation of the importance of the body of
humans
in an age that often disregards the sacredness of bodily life.
Mary’s
Assumption is a feast of “the culture of life” that was a
major concern of the
late Pope John Paul II.
A Gospel Word for the Home
Luke
1:39–56
Two women are the
focus for today’s Gospel: Mary and Elizabeth. Mary has recently
been visited by
an angel and invited to take part in the most important moment in human
history, the Incarnation of the Son of God as a human being. And yet
she
travels quite a distance to share her experience with her cousin who
was also
pregnant and probably because of her age in need of some help! She may
have
been preoccupied by her “yes” to God, but she persisted in
faith and trust, and
in this Gospel sings her great prayer of praise.
There are two themes
highlighted in the Magnificat: God’s actions, and Mary’s
praise. Mary is
exuberant about what God has done in her life. She does not see herself
as
worthy, but realizes that through God’s goodness she has been
lifted up and
exalted. This good God affirms the humble. To affirm them, God defeats
rulers,
and empties the pockets of the rich and exalts the poor and feeds the
hungry.
It is a very personal song of praise and thanksgiving for God’s
goodness in her
life.
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Nineteenth
Sunday in Ordinary Time - August
8, 2010
At the onset of the
21st century, there was a heightened sense of time. Television cameras
were
positioned around the world to record the exact moment when here or
there it
became January 1, 2000! There was rejoicing and there was anxiety.
There was
widespread concern about possible computer failure, a fear that proved
groundless. There were some that were quite grateful to be passing out
of what
was for many the most destructive century in human history. Perhaps a
new kind
of peace would enter human history. It didn’t take long for that
idea to suffer
its collapse on 9/11. As humans, we are time-rooted and time-obsessed.
One
interesting question to think about is: How much does a specific time
influence
what is? Or is all time equally valuable?
In today’s Gospel
reading the answer would seem to be that all time is important to God.
God has
given us all we need through the coming of Jesus. God’s Spirit
doesn’t come and
go like an occasional visitor or on a pre-determined schedule. God is
not a
Sunday-only God, but a God of all times. For us this means be
constantly ready,
be prepared at all times to awaken to the reality of God’s
presence. It could
surface for you at any time, or as the Bible says, at a time you might
least
expect. But take this message as a positive. God is good and loving. We
are
already gifted. You have been touched and blessed by God and more can
be given
at any time. You can connect with God at any time.
A Gospel Word for the Home - Luke
12:32–48
The boss is coming,
look busy. We all know what this means. Part of the role of managers is
to make
sure that those under them are doing their job. The workers need to be
vigilant. If they are seen as wasting time according to the
company’s
definition of what that is, they could be sacked or penalized.
Today’s Gospel
speaks of masters and servants. Think of God as the master and us as
God’s
servants. How does the contemporary image of bosses and employees help
you see
what Jesus is talking about in the Gospel? What changes when we pass
from a
secular view of this relationship to the one between God and us?
Everything. We live
to receive all that the master (God) has given us. And to respond by
using
those gifts in service to the Kingdom of God in all the opportunities
that come
to us each day. We can enjoy round the clock involvement in the work of
the
Kingdom. Every place is blessed and every moment is holy. Whether we
are in a
formal religious setting, like Sunday Mass, or someplace else, like
home or
work, God’s grace and call are there. Our job is to give thanks
to God, and
pass it on to others; to practice our Christianity in big and small
things; not
to let up. Living in God’s Kingdom right now is possible. We need
to pay
attention at all times because we do not know when the Master will
return but
if we are responding daily to God’s presence, and sharing our
gifts and talents
in the service of others, when the Master returns, the Kingdom will be
ours.
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Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
- August
1, 2010
In
today’s Gospel,
Jesus is asked to become a negotiator in a family feud. As he often
does, Jesus
uses the family situation as the springboard to invite his listeners to
reflect
more deeply about universal experiences. Here it is self-centeredness
and greed.
Notice that in the parable of the Rich Fool that in the space of the
three
verses where he thinks about his future (vv. 16-19), the wealthy man
refers to
himself ten times without ever mentioning any other person, much less
God. In
introducing this parable, Jesus warned against “greed.” The
Greek word he used
for “greed” has the implication not just of a desire for
more, but of basing
one’s security on one’s material possessions. A parable for
today!
Over
the last few
years, it seems that there have been more conversations about the
economy than
anything else. For many, the condition of the economy, all the way from
its
global to its personal dimensions, has filled us with concern and
questions. At
the heart of these conversations and discussions there’s a huge
and difficult
question that we all seem to ask, “Why?” What has caused
this fiscal mess? One
of the answers often given is greed and of course self-centeredness.
The human
tendencies to greed and self-centeredness go as far back as the first
humans!
Thousands of years and greed shows no signs of going away. If anyone
thinks
that the Gospels are out-dated, they haven’t read this one.
A Gospel Word for
the Home
Luke
12:13–21
Guard
against greed.
That’s at the heart of today’s word from Luke. But that
seems to go against
almost everything one hears from the surrounding culture. One hopes
that all
the negative talk these days about excessive greed may have an impact,
but
perhaps not. Contemporary society still encourages purchases of all
kinds.
Still, what’s wrong with all that stuff? Why is it that Jesus
takes a firm
stand against greed? Is it about the simple accumulation of things that
we can
store in our expanded barns?
Not really.
If we
look at another passage in the Gospels where Jesus said that you cannot
serve
two masters, we find a clue to the danger of greed. In contemporary
terms,
Jesus is warning that a preoccupation with wealth or things often leads
us to
forget the essentials of why we are here and what God’s gift of
our lives is
about. Gnawing desires for whatever is wanted beyond what’s
needed causes
shifts in one’s inner life. One’s mind gets filled with
thoughts and images of
the more, the bigger, the latest. Restlessness enters our spirit. We
calculate
how we might get it. We dream about it. We can even become obsessed
with our
desire. So what does that do to other concerns? What does that do to
our
awareness of God and other people? It’s as if there is only so
much room inside
us and if we fill it with things and only consider what “I”
want, there’s no
room for anyone else. Unbridled greed and self-centeredness can do this.
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Seventeenth
Sunday in Ordinary Time
- July 25,
2010
Not included
in the bulletin this week.
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Sixteenth
Sunday in Ordinary Time
- July 18,
2010
This week we
have
another memorable family story. It’s the story of the two
sisters, Mary and Martha,
who were good friends of Jesus. A quick reading of the story suggests a
simple
explanation for most of us. Martha is the busy one, working herself to
the bone
while Mary relaxes as she listens to Jesus. At the conclusion of this
story,
Jesus says that Mary has chosen the better role. Then we all return to
our busy
lives, which resemble more that of Martha’s than Mary’s. Is
it possible that
deep down we don’t believe that Mary’s way is better?
Biblical scholars suggest
that the main point of the story is about being a true disciple of
Jesus. As
Mary sits at Jesus’ feet, Martha works. She is described as ―anxious and worried about many
things.‖ Jesus was not
saying that she should put
aside her broom and dust cloth and sit down. The issue here is the
quality of
the attention each of the sisters was giving to Jesus. Martha was
serving, and
Mary was listening, an activity of attentiveness to her guest.
Today’s reading
invites us to reflect on the quality of the hospitality we offer God
and others.
It reminds us that, beyond serving, genuine hospitality entails making
room in
our lives for God who enters our lives through so many different people.
A Gospel Word for
the Home
Luke
10:38
Many
of us are
classified as workaholics. We derive a certain satisfaction from the
fact that we
are busy 24/7 — no doubt a shorthand created by a workaholic. If
we are
constantly trying to get things done, if our to-do list is always right
in
front of us, if we consider a good day as a day when we get a lot done,
then we
may be missing something very important — or not. It
doesn’t relate to what or
how much we do, but more to who we are and what’s going on inside
of us and in
our relationships with others. Nothing is more important than having
within
oneself the heart of God. We were not created simply to do a lot of
stuff,
important though that may be. We were created to love God and neighbor,
which
results in loving actions. One way to tell whether we are loving or not
is to check
on our interior feelings. Are we constantly filled with worry and
anxiety like
Martha? Or are we pretty much at peace with what we are doing? So Jesus
was not
being critical of Martha for working, but for not taking the time to
learn from
him what was most important, like Mary was trying to do.
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Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
- July 11,
2010
This
Sunday offers a
double-treat. First, Jesus affirms the two great commandments of
Judaism: love
of God and love of neighbor. They remain the centerpiece of his
teaching. But
there is one small addition. The lawyer asks this question in reference
to life
after death. Jesus places the commandment in the present. Do this and
live
right now. Good point.
Second,
to
underscore the radical nature of his understanding of neighborly love,
he
presents one of the most remembered stories in the entire Bible, the
Good
Samaritan. Does this go beyond the original understanding of neighbor
love?
Absolutely. During his lifetime on earth, Jews and Samaritans were not
exactly
friendly neighbors although they lived in close proximity. They were
bitter
enemies. The Samaritans were once Jews, but they intermarried with
foreigners
during an earlier period of history. Also, they had been boycotting
worship in
Jerusalem for centuries. In this story of the Good Samaritan (which in
itself
would be two words that Jews would never connect) Jesus pushes the
meaning of a
neighbor to the extreme. Once again, we witness the amazing ability of
Jesus to
teach profound truths through compelling stories.
A Gospel Word for
the Home - Luke 10:25–37
Traveling
the path
from knowing to doing is lengthy. No one in today’s Gospel lacks
knowledge of
the good. They can all recite the two great commandments. They learned
them
when they were young and they probably thought about them often. But
did their
knowledge penetrate the way they lived? This is always the great
religious
question. Paraphrasing a popular song of a few years back, love, love,
love, if
you say that you love me, show me! The acid test of authentic love is
how much
it flows into action.
Toward the
end of
the Gospel, the Good Samaritan is described as having compassion. His
generous
response to the wounded traveler is completely compassionate. Not only
does he
provide first aid, but he also takes the man to where he can heal, and
to use
an image we can relate to, he leaves his credit card number and tells
the
innkeeper to use it to pay for whatever is necessary to help. Might the
innkeeper add a few dollars for himself? It’s possible, but
who’s counting? The
compassion of the Samaritan is without limit or calculation. Is he a
bit crazy?
Maybe. Having genuine compassion can seem almost frivolous to a society
like
ours that always wants to know the cost.
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Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
- July 4,
2010
We
are about two
thousand years removed from the earthly life of Jesus. The Gospels
connect us
with Jesus, but there is much more. That “much more” is
most likely why we are
among his followers today. We received Jesus, and all that he was
about, from
others, literally, thousands of others. One way to appreciate this
passing on
of Christian faith (our faith) is to imagine what Jesus was thinking as
his
life on earth was drawing to a close.
For
the most part,
the area he traveled was smaller than the size of New Jersey. When a
few
listeners gathered, he spoke to them. He did many rather remarkable
deeds, but
the eyewitnesses were few. His reputation as a good man, a rather
remarkable
man who might be the Messiah, spread locally but there was no
indication that
he attracted that many followers. Toward the end of his life, when he
suffered
the death of a criminal, there were only three people at his side. And
even
after he rose from the dead, the numbers who saw him were small. Still,
he had
a plan for spreading his Good News and we read about how that began in
today’s
Gospel.
A Gospel Word for
the Home
Luke 10:1–12,
17–20
Seventy-two
was the
number sent by Jesus. That’s not exactly the size of a Roman
legion, but good
enough. They were among the first who were to spread the good word
about Jesus,
about what he taught and stood for, and about the remarkable feats he
was
doing. Tell others, he said, about the fact that the Kingdom of God has
now
begun. It may not be what they were expecting, but it is what it is.
Peace is
now available: peace with God, peace with each other, and peace within
their
hearts. It’s not about politics, power, or wealth. It’s
about how we related to
God and how God relates to us. And it’s about how we can relate
to each other.
It’s about what’s really important. So two by two they
went, most likely, a
motley bunch. They were to depend on the generosity of those they
visited for
sustenance. Their message was about peace. If their message was
unwelcomed or
ignored, they were to return to the road and move on. He didn’t
want his first
missionaries to be discouraged. He would say the same thing today to
those who
share his message. Offer what you have and what you believe. If others
accept
it, good for all of you. If they don’t (for whatever reason),
don’t take it
personally. You’re not in charge. No one of us ever is.
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Thirteenth
Sunday of Ordinary Time - June 27,
2010
Biblical
scholars
claim that Jesus was fond of using two ways of teaching. Both were
easily
remembered and it’s good for us to recall that he taught in an
oral culture.
Very little was written down during his lifetime. First, he used
stories like
that of the Prodigal Son or the Good Samaritan. These stories contain
rich
spiritual truth and a lot of drama. The second way he taught employed
what we
call one-liners. Today’s Gospel reading is more like that: brief
statements
that sound like proverbs or slogans. He also appears to draw upon
existing
one-liners like when he says that no one plowing a field looks back.
Also
in today’s
Gospel are two of Jesus’ responses that might seem anti-family.
Both are
directed to individuals wanting to follow him. One potential disciple
says that
he will join Jesus but only after saying good-bye to his family, while
the
other one mentions that he must first bury his father and then he can
follow
the Lord. Is Jesus being a bit heartless in saying that both should
forget
about their families and come with him right away? That seems to be
what he’s
saying, right? Or is it something else? Most of what the Gospels offer
are
deeper meanings in almost every chapter. No wonder some biblical
experts spend
their whole lives deciphering just small portions of the Gospels. They
are
challenging texts to be sure.
A Gospel Word for
the Home - Luke 9:51–62
First,
let’s explore
the question of the one who wants to go with Jesus (does he really know
Jesus
is about to be killed?) and live where he lives. But Jesus does not
have a home
during his public ministry. He goes where he is invited. Is this what
the
inquirer wants? It’s left as an open question, but the reader is
led to think
that Jesus lives nowhere (as in a house) but everywhere (as in our
hearts). The
ways of Jesus are different from what some would suspect. Elsewhere,
Jesus
notes that our treasure is not something that is stored in a safe
place, but
rather it is in our hearts. In other words, go deeper to find the truth
of
Jesus. Today, we might add, Jesus lives in your house.
Concerning
those who
have certain family responsibilities that seem to overrule their
following of
Jesus, maybe Jesus is saying that there are times when God’s
invitation to
discipleship must be acknowledged first. God’s rules come before
family rules;
family rules are often culturally based. It’s a question of
priorities. Also,
there’s an interesting aspect to the matter of burying the
father. Suppose he’s
not dead and may still be around for years. Sons are supposed to bury
their
fathers. That’s the custom. But God’s invitation is
immediate. We say, “Strike
while the iron is hot.” There’s a certain urgency to
God’s call. Be open to it,
and when you hear it, get moving.
©Our Sunday
Visitor
Curriculum Division Nihil Obstat: Rev. Dr. S.R. Olds, S.T.D.
Census Librorum;
Imprimatur: Most Rev. Thomas Wenski, Bishop of Orlando, December 8, 2009
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