Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
When I travelled to India in June, I took the book, “The Loneliness and Longing of St. Francis,” to read along the way. This is no ordinary book. On the one hand, this book tells the story of St. Francis’ incredible journey from being a rich notorious youth to a radical follower of Christ; on the other hand, the story is the journey of Gerard Thomas Straub, a Hollywood film maker and a professing atheist. Straub once used to have Alec Baldwin and Demi Moore star in front of his camera. He also was the producer of the famous television serial General Hospital. In March 1985 he went to Rome on a visit and chose the quiet of a church to rest a while. He did not enter the church to pray but to take a break. The rest is history. In his book, “The Thoughts of a Blind Beggar,” he says, “Within the space of a fleeting moment, I knew … that God was real, that God loved me, and that the hunger and thirst I had felt for so long could be satisfied only by God.” That was only the beginning. Inspired by Christ and St. Francis, Straub’s new found faith, like, Abraham, led him to places and to make changes he never imagined. His conversion took him from riches to self-imposed poverty, from future fame to embracing the poor, from the comfort of his Hollywood home to the slums of Central America, India, and Africa.
Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord
My son, Ignatius, just got a pile of kid’s science books. They are awesome! I immediately tried to convince him that he wanted to read all of them. I didn’t win him over, but he did find his interest piqued by the ‘sun and moon’ book which was one about eclipses. After reading it (during which Bess continually sang “total eclipse of the heart”) I felt like an accomplished father doing my part to assure my son that the sun won't disappear forever during an eclipse. Imagine my surprise when that book came rushing back to me as I sat and read today’s Gospel.
Friday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time
I had a professor in seminary who liked to look for good examples and ideas for homilies in nearly everything: films, poetry, walks in the woods, and especially the difficult material we would read for his classes. Whenever he discerned something that would make a good homily, he'd excitedly tear off his glasses, peer at us with wonder, and exclaim, "That'll preach!" If it would inspire people to follow Jesus - "that'll preach!" If it was true, and beautiful, and difficult to live out, that would be the moment when he would make his cry: "That'll preach!"
Memorial of Saint John Vianney, Priest
Every time I complete a Myers Briggs Type Indicator I come back pretty close to the middle on the introvert vs. extrovert scale, however when I’m in a room with people I don’t know the introvert in me comes out. I have to work to think of questions to ask people and ways to find common ground so that we can build a conversation and possibly a friendship. I’m an awkward person, I can’t hide it – but I can do my best to embrace it and still help others feel comfortable enough to engage with me. I imagine for extroverts these situations can take work as well (I’m theorizing a bit here). Yes, the words come out naturally but typically extroverts have to work to listen, to pause, to breathe even. No matter who we are, getting to know someone else from scratch takes work.
Wednesday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time
For many of us, ask for something from another human being is difficult. We often pride ourselves in not needing help from anyone. We live in a culture where we should be able to pull ourselves by our own boot straps. Our success within our culture seems in many ways dependent on our ability to be independent. This independence has weaknesses of course in that there are often times when we need to help of others just to function.
Tuesday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Consider a deeply faithful, spiritual person you may know. Are they attractive to you? Do you want to be more like them? Have you ever wondered how to ‘get that?’ Jesus’s response to Saint Peter and the crowds in today’s readings show us the way: Keep your eyes on Jesus!
Memorial of Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
Let's talk about everyday life. We eat, we sleep, we care for those we live with (cleaning, cooking, etc.), and take care of the pressing issues of that particular day. The next day we begin all over again. The commonplace, maybe even trivial, things we must do each and every day—the quotidian—has a tendency to be subconsciously or intellectually reduced to those things which must be done but carry limited importance in the ‘big picture’ of our lives. But in today’s Gospel, Jesus demonstrates how the most quotidian of matters can and do express the fullness of love.
Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
There is a new movie released called, “Equity.” It brings two seemingly unconnected themes together: Wall Street and women. Early in the movie, Naomi, an investment banker, who is overseeing a tricky IPO, is asked by the career panel what makes her get up in the morning. “I love money,” she responds. “I grew up in a house where there was never enough,” she continues. “I was raised by a single mom with four kids. I took my first job on Wall Street so I could put my brothers through college. But I am not going to sit here and tell you that I do what do for other people because it is OK to do it for ourselves… for how it makes us feel.” Later in the movie she says, “Money is not a dirty word!” Let’s admit it - money is not an issue for those who have enough; but for those who cannot make ends meet or have to work hard at it, not having it is the hardest thing. Money may not make us happier, but it sure does make life easier. Financial stress is a killer. It breaks marriages, it can make people unhealthy, give us heart attacks, and change our behavior.
Saturday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
I used to get together with a good friend of mine frequently. We would have a good time shooting the breeze, and one of us would suggest a farfetched idea of some kind. To which the other would reply, “You are crazy.” And the only acceptable response to that was, “I might be crazy, but I’m not wrong.” Those are the words I hear from Jeremiah today and that is the reality that got John the Baptist in trouble. They were prophets and that is their life. But we too are Baptized prophet. We have a prophetic role to fill and these readings help us glean an insight into what that means for our lives.
Memorial of Saint Martha
I keep telling my husband that the world feels like it’s on fire. Two weeks ago, I wrote about Israel, and it seems things have only gotten worse. Today’s reading from Jeremiah is another lament that seems all too appropriate for the strife of the today's world. In fact, Jeremiah who preaches the word of God is himself being threatened with death (Jer 26:8). But today’s gospel reading brings the pain and strife expressed by Jeremiah’s fate down to the level of one family. Martha and Mary have lost their brother, Lazarus. Martha, the woman whose memorial we celebrate today, greets Jesus with both brutal honesty and earnest faith. She tells Jesus that if he has been there, Lazarus would not have died. On the one hand, she is scolding him through her tears of grief. On the other, she is expressing her deep faith in the God she finds incarnate in Jesus himself. Martha also expresses her faith in the resurrection of the dead, saying to Jesus, ““I know [Lazarus] will rise, in the resurrection on the last day.” The story cuts off before the climax, which is when Jesus rises his friend from the grave.
Thursday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
Sometimes, I think, it’s easy to forget how awesome, almighty and mysterious God is. At least I know that I don’t reflect on that on a day-to-day basis as I’m living my life taking care of the kids, keeping the household running, following up on doctors’ appointments and other responsibilities, trying to fit in exercise and maintaining contact with friends and extended family. I try to pray on a daily basis beyond our daily dinner and bedtime prayers with the kids; I certainly take my worries and troubles to God. And I think of my relationship with Jesus as a pretty good one that has, thankfully, been formed in a church and family that emphasized the forgiveness of God, the gentleness, the loving kindness. And I do believe that is a good thing.
Wednesday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
Blessings come in many forms. It is not always easy to recognize them and beyond that we may appreciate the gift these blessings are for us. In discovering the Word, Jeremiah states, “I devoured them,” and that “they became my joy and the happiness in my heart.” Many of us know the hunger we feel in our lives as if something is missing. Like Jeremiah, we may have even discovered that the Word, and the Sacraments feed us. Yet even as we are given holy food our hunger can never be completely fulfilled. As Augustine stated, “Our hearts are restless, until they rest in You O Lord.”
Memorial of Saints Joachim and Anne, Parents of the Blessed Virgin
Once again today we have frank, and even mournful words from the prophet Jeremiah. Yesterday we heard the people of Israel compared to a rotted loincloth. While today’s words are not quite so imaginative in portraying the worthlessness of the people of Israel, Jeremiah nonetheless illustrates the destruction of the people of Israel. They are suffering, they are hungry, they cannot overcome their situation. In desperation Jeremiah calls out to God to come to the people’s aid.
Feast of Saint James, Apostle
Today the church celebrates the feast day of St. James. This has particular meaning for me, since I recently visited the Cathedral in Santiago de Compestela (the final destination of the Camino de Santiago located in northern Spain) where the body of St. James is reposed. St. James is often pictured as a pilgrim because he is said to have traveled to Spain to share the Good News of Jesus.
Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
To the modern western mind, Abrahams haggling or bargaining with God, in today’s first reading, may sound preposterous. To me, coming from India, I am not alarmed. Haggling is part of our daily life. In fact, for us haggling is an art. We do not buy anything without haggling. Every morning, when the fish monger comes to my house, my dad has to haggle. The fish monger already knows that my dad will haggle. So the price he quotes is already higher than the original price. My dad haggles and brings the price down. At the end of it all, the fish monger is happy that he got the price he wanted and my dad is happy that he saved a few bucks. Or, at least he thinks he did. Haggling was and is common in the Middle-East as well. Abraham’s bargaining with God follows this practice.
Saturday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
It was 7th grade. We were sitting in line waiting for our name to be called to go out to our cars. I had something pressing to tell my friend, probably something about the Pokémon I was looking for (yup we were playing that when I was in middle school too). Knowing we weren’t supposed to talk, I folded my hands over my face so my palms covered my mouth and my fingers met on the bridge of my nose. I was mid-sentence when my teacher crouched down right in front of me, hands just like mine telling me, “I can still see your mouth moving.” That’s what he said, what I heard was, “I see you trying to be clever which means you know the rules, but you’re not that clever, so stop playing games with me.”
Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene
I think conversion happens over a lifetime - each day we are converting ourselves to the will and steadfast love of God. But there are watershed moments, too, times when things change pretty dramatically. One of those watershed moments for me was the very first time I ever made a retreat. A friend invited me to go because she knew I'd been pretty heavily thinking about atheism. So off I went to a Carmelite monastery in the middle of the desert. I stayed two weeks by myself in a small hermitage with no running water or electricity, surrounded by wild animals and tall mountains. All of this served to heighten the fact that I was alone, and scared to be alone. All of that vast space and dangerous wildness made it a great place to face that fear inside me - that God didn't really exist and that all was emptiness. In the midst of these vast mountains and wildness, I saw how utterly unlike us God is. My near-atheist view of who I thought God was, was merely a large picture of humans. But over those two weeks, I came to see that that view does not begin to measure up to who God is. Two weeks is just about enough time to make peace with being alone - and to recognize that truly we are never alone.
Thursday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
A few weeks ago I was blessed to go on a 7-day backpacking trip in Olympic National Park with some friends from college. We affectionately call these yearly trips a “man-venture” with the intention that we are just a bunch of guys looking to get away and spend some time together. Each year they serve as an unstructured retreat opportunity for myself, a time to disconnect from distractions, to reconnect with great friends, and a time to listen to God, others, and nature more closely. These trips help me re-center myself, typically they are an impetus for me to recall the important things in life and how I may have lost sight of those. For me, these trips are one of a few ways I try to use my “summer vacation” to re-prioritize, re-center, and re-focus prior to the upcoming academic year and returning to work in August.
Wednesday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” This Word came and dwelt among us. This Word still dwells in and among us. It is the very Word that knew us since the beginning of time. The Word who made us, knew us and had plans for us since before we were born. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you.” As we come into being, the seed of the Word has already been planted in our soul with our baptisms. From the very beginning we were being called to love and serve the Lord and one another.
Tuesday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
“God will cast our sins into the depths of the sea.” It’s beautiful, isn’t it? Yet today, many of us are often unaware of our sins. We may feel inadequate or be aware of our weakness, but we are quick to forget our sins. If we don’t know our sinfulness, it will continue to weigh us down in secret. Our Lord offers something better. The Spirit can cast light upon our sins, so that Jesus can free us from them. A good examination of conscience isn’t one that makes us feel small or pathetic; it is one that opens us to God’s uplifting, cleansing Love.