Wednesday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
Chaplaincy in a hospital can be very challenging when it comes to prayer. Catholics of a certain age see prayer as something private or if spoken the prayer should be grounded by praying the Our Father. For most other Christians, prayer is extemporaneous. This extemporaneous prayer and the ministry that surrounds it, often reflects back to the minister spiritual depth in which it is offered. Many times it is affirming, but sometimes the image that one conveys it not the one reflected back. This reflection illuminates both strengths and weaknesses. The toughest times arise when the mirror image highlights hypocrisy.
Memorial of Saint Francis of Assisi
Since Today is Feast of St. Francis, I would like to reflect on why I am vegan. What does it mean to be a vegan? Well, it means that I do not consume any animal product such as food, clothing, makeup, and furniture to name a few. How did little me come to choose this life path? The story begins with my Dad’s health scare.
Monday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
In today’s reading St. Paul says that he is a “slave of Christ”. One of the definitions for the word “slave” is “a person that is completely subservient to a dominating influence.” St. Paul realizes that being completely devoted to Christ and His influence may make him a “slave”, but it allows him the freedom to share the Good News of God. When we allow Christ to completely influence our thoughts, words and deeds, we can live our lives like the Good Samaritan, where we have the freedom to act in mercy towards others- even strangers or enemies.
Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
My parents are people of great faith and devotion. So the other day, when my mother said to me that she “had it out with God,” it was not funny. There are intentions close to her heart that my parents have been praying for, for decades. But things seem to be getting worse. So mom said to me, “I asked God if he was deaf?” Later, in my prayer, I said to God, “You can answer her! I am not defending you!” Or, here is another message someone sent me on Facebook. “… There have been many people that God has put into my life just to suck them right back out. I read my bible and try to go to church but I just feel empty, like, He is not listening. I know He has given me many blessings in my life and I am thankful. But the heartache seem so much stronger.” It reminds me of the very opening sentences of today’s first reading: “How long, O LORD? I cry for help but you do not listen! I cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not intervene. Why do you let me see ruin; why must I look at misery?” Who is this person crying for help? This person is every one in this church at one point or another.
Memorial of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church
People who know me would agree that I am easy to sidetrack. Students and friends know that I am one derailedtrain of thought away from twenty minutes of tangential, and likely trivial, conversation. This tendency sheds light on my affinity for blazes. I don’t mean fires, I mean trail markers. I love that purple square painted on a tree or the cairn (small pile of rocks) that guides your hike through a barren region. It is these trail markers that keep you on track. They are a sign reminding us how we got here, where we are going, and why we are on this journey in the first place.
Memorial of Saint Jerome, Priest and Doctor of the Church
Today’s scriptures ask us to reflect on how small and insignificant we are in comparison to God, but also show that though we are small and insignificant, we also can do great things.
In the first lesson (Job 38:1, 12-21; 40:3-5), God is responding to Job’s complaints. Job has been inflicted with all kinds of tragedy: he’s lost his family, his job, his friends, and he is very ill, in addition. As many of us might do, Job asks God, “Why me?” Today’s scripture provides God’s answer to Job’s question, namely pointing out to Job the vast differences between them. Job finally recognizes this fact and says, “Behold, I am of little account.” Recognizing that we are not God is an important part of learning to live as holy people.
Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, archangels
How much time does the average person spend thinking of Angels or Demons? I often find myself shying away from such thoughts especially when it comes to talk about Satan. I would rather focus on the angels among us, using angels as a metaphor. Also, I would rather translate Satan the same way as the Jewish community; Satan from the Hebrew means adversary. Yet, here is a feast of the lead angels. Perhaps it could help to see angels both metaphorically and literally.
Wednesday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time
Feeling that God is on your side is easy when things are going well. When life seems to be one difficulty after another God’s loving support seems not so clear. Still we are reminded in the readings that we are to follow the Lord completely, even when the going gets tough. The dialogue in Job goes back and forth between understanding God’s power and then asking the question is it wise to challenge God’s wisdom. This discourse is a response to Job’s friend Bildad who says that God is a God of knowledge whose justice is fair. For Job who has lost much, and yet has a clear conscience, God’s justice feels more like divine anger. Job’s suffering feels not as a “just” reward for sin, but more as a recipient of an arbitrary allocation of God’s power. Job realizes that the person (God) to whom he wishes to complain may in fact be responsible for his pain. Job’s catch twenty-two leaves him feeling powerless.
Memorial of Saint Vincet de Paul, Priest
Readings like today’s first reading and Psalm remind us of a plain, simply truth - Life is hard. Have you ever had to shoulder the misery of Job? There are deep valleys that we must pass through. How do we approach our Lord at times like these? Job gives us a good idea. As we read these passages from Job yesterday, today, and tomorrow, we have a model for how to pray when we are experiencing darkness. What does Job do? He tells God how upset he is. He questions the Lord. He wishes he had never been born. What does Job avoid? He knows he is innocent, and won’t accept his lousy friends’ telling him that he probably deserves it. He also won’t curse or blame God. This is so very common in today’s world. Everyone wants to blame God when things don’t go right; but as we see in this story, Satan is the one causing all the problems. We need to remember this when our lives are a mess: our loving God didn’t cause the mess; Satan and sinfulness cause the evil in this world. Call out to the Lord with all boldness, like Job and today’s Psalmist.
Monday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time
When I look back each day on how closely I have lived out my faith I always find a mixed bag. Some things nearly always go well and others, well, not so much. The same failures and shortcomings replay again and again and the journey is more circuitous than straight. I know this is the case with most of us human beings. However, I do know that when I strive in earnest I am always looking for my life to reflect “more of God and less of me”.
Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Last week, my homily reflected on a disciple’s relationship with wealth. I said three things: that God has a special care for the poor and that God lifts up the poor; that the New Testament model for a disciple’s relationship with material things is “stewardship” as opposed to “ownership”; and, that a good steward tries to develop a “spirituality of stewardship,” i.e., a disciple relates to the material things and people in his or her life not according this his or her own whims and fancies, but in a way that God intends.
Saturday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
My two-year-old has already decided that anything that can be said in two words should be said in four (he takes after me in that regard). For instance, instead of settling for either ‘soon’ or ‘almost,’ Ignatius says “almost soon”. “Almost soon we drive the car. Almost soon I sit on the potty. Almost soon I get off Hosanna (his little sister)”. Despite his bizarre redundancy, it is good that he understands some things are now and some are not yet. Unlike Iggy’s now or almost soon, we, as Christians live under a now and almost soon mindset. A disciple, you could say, wears spiritual bifocals, both nearsighted and farsighted; now but not yet.
Memorial of Saint Pius of Pietrelcina
It’s a little difficult for me to read the first lesson (Ecclesiastes 3:1-11) without also hearing Pete Seeger’s song “Turn, Turn, Turn” in my head, because his song is a very faithful rendition of verses 1 through 8, in pretty much exact translation. Seeger added only six words to those verses, including the “Turn! Turn! Turn!” refrain. The emphasis in this song is on cultivating world peace, and so the lines focus on those aspects of the first eight verses that relate to peace. (The Byrds' Rendition of Turn!Turn!Turn!)
Thursday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
In Wednesday's first reading (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/092116.cfm), Paul said to the Ephesians, "live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love." I love this verse because of the way it challenges all of us. But when I read it this time I kept getting stuck on the same word - humility. This is probably because this is the part of this verse I struggle with the most.
Feast of Saint Matthew, Apostle and evangelist
Wedding invitations have changed a lot in the last twenty five years. To create a wedding invitation the main questions were “embossed or not?” and “what font?” It was simple. The advent of digital technology has allowed for invitations to be re-envisioned. While this is great in that it allows for so much more creativity, it also difficult because there are so many questions to answer. Should we use pictures? If so how many? Which of these thousand pictures do we choose?
Memorial of Saints Andrew Kim Tae-gŏn, Priest, and Paul Chŏng Ha-sang, and Companions, Martyrs
Today’s Gospel reading invites us to examine our relationship with Christ. Specifically, we are asked to examine that relationship through Christ’s perspective, which is identified in the response he provides upon learning that his mother and brothers had come to him, but were unable to join him because of the crowd. Upon hearing this news, Jesus responds that “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it.” (Lk 8:21). Jesus’ perspective and expectations are set forth in this description of his followers as his mother and his brothers.
Monday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
As we begin our year of being Peaceful Disciples, we are called to take our faith into the world. Today’s readings brought to mind the Presupposition (often called the “plus sign”) that St. Ignatius shares in his Spiritual Exercises. A modern version of this teaching says: “For a good relationship to develop … a mutual respect is very necessary. … Every good Christian adopts a more positive acceptance of someone’s statement rather than a rejection of it out of hand. And so a favorable interpretation … should always be given to the other’s statement, and confusions should be cleared up with Christian understanding. (David Fleming, SJ, Draw Me Into Your Friendship)
Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
How many of you are Chipotle fans? It is not uncommon for me to garb a quick bite there myself. Recent news, though, has made me boycott Chipotle. Nearly 10,000 workers are suing Chipotle. They claim that the company made them work extra hours "off the clock" without paying them. It is alleged that Chipotle routinely requires hourly-paid restaurant employees to punch out, and then continue working until they are given permission to leave. It's a practice known as wage theft.
Saturday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
“I find my life is a lot easier the lower I keep everyone’s expectations.” These are the words that end a Calvin and Hobbes strip as Calvin gloats about the C his school work earned to Susie. Susie, who earned an A, is understandably perplexed. As usual, though, Bill Watterson uses this devious 6-year-old and his stuffed tiger to make us think. This particular statement brings to mind the burden of carrying other’s expectations. The flipside of this is expressed when we lower our own expectations in order to avoid the displeasure of disappointment. Both of these realities fly in the face of our first reading today.
Memorial of Saints Cornelius, Pope, and Cyprian, Bishop, Martyrs
Life with an almost-three-year old makes me realize some things I would otherwise have forgotten. This week, it’s the reality of how much power I actually have in shaping my daughter’s view of and interaction with the world. “What color is that, Mama?” “Why does it get dark, Mama?” “Why do I have to go to bed now?” Each of my answers to these questions shapes how she encounters the world. What would happen if I one day decided to tell her that blue things are actually named “red”? She would be a rather messed up toddler, I imagine.