Memorial of Saint Andrew Dung-Lac, Priest, and Companions, Martyrs
We’re living in what some have called the “Information Age.” We have access to more information than ever before in the history of humanity. We can easily access most of that information with a few key pad strokes or spoken requests to our digital assistants (Siri or otherwise named). As a people, we like to know, we like to predict, we want to be able to plan for and have control over our lives and others’ lives, even if for the best. It seems to be part of our human nature. And God often doesn’t cooperate with our desires to know all, predict, and control.
Monday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
I think we all know this adage, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” While I agree wisdom is that which helps us avoid being fools and fooled, I was reminded by today’s readings that the Lord stands alongside us if we become victims. Not in a condescending, “you should have known better” way, but in genuine solidarity.
Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
As the liturgical year comes to a close and we prepare to celebrate Christ the King, today’s scripture provides some thoughts for reflection. Jesus reminds us that eternal life is something that is difficult for us to imagine. Resurrection is real because our God is a God of the living, but Jesus encourages us to live right now as children of God’s kingdom by realizing that our worth comes from God’s abundant love.
Friday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time
You know how some foods taste so good on the tongue, but leave a sour or unsettled feeling in your stomach? That’s what we hear about in today’s first reading from the book of Revelation (10:8-11). Only it’s not food that the author was tasting. It was a “small scroll.” A scroll with words written on it that tasted as sweet as honey, but would “sour” in his stomach. We hear about words in today’s gospel reading (Luke 19:45-48) as well. Jesus’ own words and the words he was quoting “My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.” Words that were likely sour to those he was driving out of the temple area. Yet some found his words to be sweet, as we read, “all the people were hanging on his words.” So much so that it interfered with the plans of those who were seeking to put Jesus to death.
Thursday of the Thirty-Third Week in Ordinary Time
In today’s gospel, Jesus arrives in the city of Jerusalem and is filled with sadness. He weeps saying, “If this day you only knew what makes for peace– but now it is hidden from your eyes. For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will raise a palisade against you; they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides. They will smash you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another within you because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.” Indeed his vision comes true forty years later in 70 AD. Jerusalem was surrounded and invaded by the Roman army and completely destroyed.
Wednesday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time
I’m a movie buff, and as such I’ve delighted over the last 3-4 decades in witnessing the evolution of special effects technology. I recall when the first Star Wars movie (the 4th film chronologically) came to theaters in 1977. I was absolutely blown away by the special effects! I remember sitting spellbound throughout the film, lost in the awe and wonder of it all, and paralyzed in my seat as the closing credits rolled. Of course, the later and most recent releases of the Star Wars films display even greater sophistication in their special effects. I also love Disney Pixar films, and similarly it’s been incredible to witness the technological developments in computer-generated animation. Name your genre, and modern filmmakers have the ability to open up whole new worlds to our fancy and imagination, so much so that it’s almost as if we can actually become participants in the story. Today’s first reading from Revelation takes us to such a place. John’s vivid imagery catches the reader up into the throne room of God with stunning clarity. As you read the passage, allow your mind and imagination to open up wide to this incredible scene. Picture the “special effects” as only you can, allowing the Holy Spirit to enliven your spirit. Unlike a movie, the scene John depicts for us really exists in all its “technicolor” brilliance. We enter into this realm during every Mass! Let’s spend time today reminding ourselves of this reality and preparing ourselves for a richer experience of the next Eucharist.
Memorial of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, Religious
Today we receive criticism concerning institutions that some consider unshakable sources of righteousness: the local churches. The names may seem outlandish to us, but the Churches of Sardis and Laodicea might as well be the Diocese of Toledo or the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. The Revelation points out these churches are dysfunctional and operating at great spiritual risk. What is the problem? The problem is they don’t know they have a problem. In today’s world, this is still one of our greatest risks, both as a people and as individuals.
Monday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time
Learning to take a shot in basketball, throw a ball in lacrosse, and hit a baseball all came with the same lesson. It was all about follow-through. No matter how well you started, if you failed on the follow through the rest fell apart. This is what I saw taking place in today’s readings.
Saturday of the Thirty-second Week in Ordinary Time
I love the Psalms for two reasons in particular. First, they manage to capture the whole gamut of human emotion. Second, the Psalmist will just casually drop paradoxes into the Psalms without any hesitation. This is the situation with today’s Psalm. In particular the opening section of the Psalm seems to present a cause and effect that runs contrary to what we might suppose.
Memorial of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, virgin
A few weeks ago, I was out getting groceries. It shouldn’t really be a surprise, but every year I am struck when Christmas sales, advertisements, and candy start hitting the shelves before my children get to go trick-or-treating. As we look toward the holiday season, Thanksgiving and Christmas tend to be filled with a lot of eating, drinking, buying, selling, eating some more; getting presents, giving presents, decorating, celebrating, and did I mention eating and drinking? If we allow it, the busy-ness of it all can cause such distraction that our attention steers far away from what we are reminded of in our readings today. We are called to walk in the truth and follow the law of the Lord.
Memorial of Saint Josaphat, Bishop and Martyr
Several years ago, my husband and I saw the movie “Cloud Atlas” based on the book. I won’t give a review of it, but one part of the movie comes to mind as I reflect on the first reading today. The scenario involves a stowaway slave on a ship in the 1800s who relies on the at-first-reluctant- kindness of one of the passengers, an American businessman, to save him from either starving or being cast overboard. Later, the slave ends up saving the life of the American who is being poisoned by the greedy doctor who he thinks is trying to heal him. He eventually ends up denouncing slavery. It was quite beautiful to see the change of heart and relationship in this thread of the movie.
Memorial of Saint Martin of Tours, Bishop
Salvation puts everything into perspective. That’s the impression that rose up within me as I prayed and reflected on our scriptures for today. We can choose to view ourselves, others, and the world around us through a self-centered lens, or we can choose to look at ourselves and the world from the perspective of salvation. Our very existence is anchored in the Paschal Mystery. At the time of St Paul’s letter, it seems that the church and/or society was marked by division and hatred. Paul admonishes Titus to remind the people who they are in Christ. Today, may we, who find ourselves living in a society characterized by divisiveness and hatred, renew ourselves in Christ’s love and recommit ourselves to doing good, living out Christ’s call to love.
Memorial of Saint Leo the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church
In today’s Gospel, Jesus provides the apostles with an instruction that I often need to be reminded of – serve God and never allow yourself to feel as if God owes you something in return. As someone whose profession is ministry I often find myself pleading with God, “I have given so much” or “I am on my last thread” can I not get just some time to rest and recharge?
I’m a firm believer that I must take care of myself in order to take care of others, but sometimes my faith calls me to give just a little bit more than I think I am able – acknowledging that there is nothing that God and I can’t handle together. It’s those moments that I need reminders like the one we find in the Gospel of Luke – God has called me to be a servant and I must continue to give no matter what the price without expecting a reward.
Perhaps that same mentality exists when we are serving others as well, we must continue to use our gifts and talents to serve others in every way we are called without treating them as if they are in debt to us. A well rooted sense of our own gifts and talents allows us to serve others even when it may not be in response to their immediate need – perhaps I can’t bring physical healing to someone who is injured, but I can bring a meal over to their house and spend some quality time with them; or I might not be able to soothe a friend’s crying baby, but I can fold their laundry so they have more time to put the baby to bed.
How might you be called to serve God and others more fully? Are you guilty of treating God or others as if they are in debt to you? How might you embrace your gifts to respond to someone else’s need, whether they are serving you or not?
And if you need a bit more of a jumpstart – perhaps checking out today’s first reading from Titus might shed some light on some character traits to reflect on so that you might embrace a sense of servanthood and model that for others as Christ calls us to.
- Mike Bennett
Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome
My oldest son is thoughtful, sincere, and curious, He is a really good kid and has a really big heart and he also has expectations that he chisels in stone. I have taken to calling Iggy the “Man with the plan.” He will get an idea of how something should go in his head and Lord help you if you change it at the last minute. He has three younger siblings now, so you can guess that he is having to learn to hold his expectations a little more loosely. Bad naps, slowly eaten dinners, and all manner of other issues can throw a wrench in just about anything. But we all have to readjust.
Saturday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s reading from Philippians, Psalm 112, and Luke are packed with goodness. There are many lines about giving to the poor, not making wealth an idol and the eternal impact of generosity. What resonated with me was Paul’s line, “I know indeed how to live in humble circumstances; I know also how to live with abundance. In every circumstance and in all things I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of living in abundance and of being in need.”
Friday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time
“Their God is their stomach...Their minds are occupied with earthly things.” (Phil 3:19) Wow, this passage from today’s first reading really seemed to be speaking to me as I sat down the day after the election to reflect and write this. Not only was my mind occupied with the still-being-counted-and-reported election results, my stomach was distracting me with it’s grumblings of hunger. I eventually got up and made a snack to satisfy my stomach, and put my phone and computer on “do not disturb” to aid my attempt at focusing on these readings instead of the latest news updates and messages.
Thursday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time
If you’ve been a Christian for a while, you may struggle with the same challenge as Paul (and I): Confidence in “the flesh;” in other words, confidence in the self. In all Paul’s writing, ‘the flesh’ points not to our physical nature, but to our ‘self’ as it exists independent of God. It alludes to our will, our rationality, our emotion, our human-informed capability for both vice and virtue. In the first reading when Paul talks about “confidence in the flesh,” he’s talking about the human ability to be good, or to ‘save yourself.’ There’s a tendency among many people (especially we who are trying very hard to be good) to believe that our salvation counts on our goodness. That our ‘flesh,’ our being on its own, can and MUST act rightly if we are to have a good life and eternal life. If we act wrongly, bad things will happen. It totally depends on ME. In a funny way, it’s self-centered; this belief inflates our sense of self-importance. Paul confesses to being like this before his conversion. Lots of religious people think this way. Most days, I think I do. It can be a problem.
Memorial of Saint Charles Borromeo, bishop
I work at staying healthy – physically, emotionally, spiritually, mentally – I hope you do, too. Some days it’s easy to follow the necessary disciplines, other days it’s a challenge. I’ve had to get creative with my physical workouts, as I’ve not felt comfortable returning to the gym during the pandemic. I think we’ve all struggled, each in our own way, to be attentive to our holistic health during the current crisis. It’s not easy to restructure our lives so as to be attentive to our health in all its different domains. And not just our health! Work, school, staying connected with family and friends, all the different areas of our lives have had to be reshaped. How many times have we said, when facing a daily challenge, we just need to “work it out!” In our first reading, St Paul tells us, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. He goes on to imply that as we do this spiritual work, we will shine like lights in the world. Today, let us consider what it means to work out our salvation, and let us ask God for the graces we need to shine Christ’s light in our world.
Tuesday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time
The Season of eating is upon us. Halloween candy still fills the sacks of children. If your neighbor-kids didn’t take the whole trick-or-treat bowl, there’s some extra for the house. Meal planning for a different type of Thanksgiving is beginning. It’s enough to remember with envy the times when we could invite a crowd of friends, or plan to attend an event with people from all over town, as we ready in today’s gospel. I also think of the good, easy meals that come after the feast- leftovers! Turkey sandwiches or ham soup or mashed potato pancakes or just that extra slice of pie. There have been years when I missed the main feast for one reason or another, but still enjoyed leftovers from my own extended family’s meal, or those of others.
The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed(All Souls)
“Christians say really stupid things after a person dies” is something a friend said to me recently as we went for a walk at a nearby park. This is what came to mind as I read today’s readings.
Today’s readings are full of sources of statements we say to a grieving person. “He is in a better place;” “You know she is at peace now;” etc. These words are good. They are affirmations of truths in our faith. They are affirmation against old lies we used to believe. Lies that death has the last word. They are reminders that God will spread the table before us in the sight of death and claim us by anointing us and overflowing us with life eternal. And yet, these truths are not always the words needed by a grieving person.
For many of us, when we grieve, we are not experiencing grief because we believe our loved one is in a worse place, or is still suffering. We don’t experience grief because we lack faith in God or the promises the Lord has made to us in Scripture. We grieve because we love and our beloved is no longer evident to us. Certainly, we are still united through the communion of Saints. We share the same reality when we worship the Lord, particularly in Mass. But we are separated by death. And that separation is painful.
Today’s readings are profoundly important if we look upon death as a condemnation or when looking ahead to our own deaths with fear or dread. They are beautiful readings if we have traveled the journey of grief to the point that we are ready to celebrate our loved one. Or they are great readings if we have only known loss from a distance and are not intimately acquainted with grief. For those for whom the grief is too severe, whose loss is still so painful, Scripture also offers, “Jesus wept” (John 11:34) and there is “A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance” (Ecc. 3:4) and “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will comforted” (Matt. 5:4).
Our Good Shepherd is with us when we fear, when we celebrate, when we remember, and even when we grieve. When missing the face of our loved one, may we be drawn to more fully behold the face of the one who loves beyond measure.
- Spencer Hargadon