Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
The Russian Billionaire Yuri Milner and the British Physicist Stephen Hawkins are putting their money and brains together. They have joined forces for one of the most tantalizing yet most elusive project –finding intelligent alien life. The price tag for this project? $100 million! Recently, NASA’s space probe “New Horizons” flew by just 12,500 km (7,800 miles) away from Pluto. The probe took 9 years and travelled almost 3 billion miles to get to Pluto. This mission cost about $900 million. Just this week NASA’s $600 million Kepler mission has revealed an earth-like planet whose distance from its sun is the same as the earth’s distance from our sun. I get very excited about news like this. I am no scientist but I understand the significance of such missions. It is in our nature to probe the mysteries that surround us and it advances science However, here are a few other pieces of information that could leave us wondering. Feeding America, a network of food banks in the Unites States, tells us that just in the United States, 16 million children face hunger on a daily basis. It also tells us that 84% of its clients with children purchased the cheapest food available even if they knew it wasn’t the healthiest option. The world hunger scene is even more critical. As I said earlier, I am not against us trying to find alien life in the universe. But it is puzzling that we cannot solve the hunger problem here on earth.
Feast of Saint James, Apostle
I recently went on a Mission Trip/Retreat centered on poverty. It was an eye opening experience that challenged my presumptions and forced me to encounter people, not stereotypes. It was one of the most formative experiences I’ve had in a long time. While on this trip, I found one thing perplexing and striking. So many of the people I spoke to who were experiencing material poverty had rich faith lives and, in many cases, a genuine sense of joy. This same confusion I felt encountering these people, their faith, and their joy is the same confusion that Paul is describing in Corinthians. Here is what He writes,
We are afflicted in every way, but not constrained; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed; carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body.
Paul is calling us, as Christians, to be signs of contradiction. Our lives should make others scratch their heads.
Friday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Jesus' parable in today's gospel reading (Matthew 13:18-23) really strikes me this week. All the ways he describes seeds and soil make me wonder - what kind of soil am I planted in? In particular, his admonition to seeds sown among thorns, which are distracted by worldly ambitions and the lure of riches, makes me think about the soil of me and my community here in the middle-class US. As a person with a good job, and a job that encourages me to be very ambitious, I find it helpful to use these verses to reflect on my situation today.
Thursday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
We have certainly seen (and heard!) a lot of thunderstorms in this part of the country this summer. One last week left us without power for almost 24 hours. Large tree limbs fell and some whole trees were uprooted. I usually feel safe in the house during a storm, but not too far away a tree went through someone’s roof landing right where a man had been lying down just seconds earlier. I know I would be frightened if I was outside without shelter during a violent storm, which brings us to today’s first reading from Exodus, chapter 19.
Memorial of Saint Mary Magdalene
I forgot to take my dinner to work last night. The cafeteria was closed so I just kept working. I was able to put aside the hunger for most of the evening. By the time I got in the car for the way home it was midnight. I was ravenous. As I rushed home all I could think about was my hunger, it consumed my thoughts. It was in praying with today’s readings the Lord once again taught me about real hunger. My grumbling was silly. How far must I look? I pray with patients every day who are fasting for a test or who haven’t eaten in days and long for a scrap of food, but have to wait until they are able to safely swallow.
Tuesday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s gospel relates how Jesus responds to the news that his mother and brothers are standing outside the place where he is speaking. Jesus appears to reject his natural family by saying that the people gathered inside and not his mother and brothers are his real family. He also seems to take his disciples to task for thinking that his mother and brothers are important to him. Is Jesus saying that we should neglect our families? Doesn’t Jesus think that families are important? Shouldn’t Jesus favor the needs of his family over those of strangers?
Monday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
I watched a documentary last week that, among other things, related the story of the Jonestown massacre back in the 1970’s. I remember when this happened but had forgotten many of the details. Frankly, the story still chills me. The most intriguing (and frightening) part is wondering how one person could convince so many to follow him without reservation, brainwashing them even to the point of participating in mass suicide. I began reflecting on how important—sacred—is the role of leadership in the life of every single Christian. Whether we find ourselves in an official leadership role or not is really beside the point. One of the most pressing responsibilities in the life of any Christian is to point others—lead others—to follow Jesus. Just as God chose some of the most unlikely candidates for the most significant leadership roles, each and every one of us, by virtue of our baptism in Christ, is asked to ‘lead’ others, in some way or another to follow Jesus Christ.
Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
To understand today’s readings we must understand the context within which Jeremiah (today’s first reading) prophesied. Jeremiah was called to be a prophet in the year 628 BC when Josiah was the King of Judah. Josiah began a process of reform that would rid the nation of idolatry, injustice and false religiosity. Jeremiah wholeheartedly supported Josiah’s reform. After Josiah, however, under King Zedekiah, the false prophet Hananiah began to counsel the King to revolt against the Babylonians. It was also at this time that the old idolatry and infidelity returned. On instruction from God Jeremiah opposed the King and the false prophet. As a result, Jeremiah was arrested, imprisoned, and publicly disgraced. Had Zedekiah listened to Jeremiah and stayed faithful to the covenant, perhaps, Judah would be spared. Tragically, the Babylonians pillaged Jerusalem, destroyed the temple, killed thousands of Israelites, took into exile all able bodied men, women, and children, and left behind to die, the aged and disabled.
Saturday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time
A few years ago I came across the line “Sometimes delayed obedience is disobedience.” It always sounded like a nice phrase to me, a little catchy quote to offer when I don’t know what other advice to give, but it never had much teeth. I casually assumed that delayed obedience becoming disobedience was someone else’s problem, much like the way we assume bad stuff happens to someone else until it finally happens to us.
Friday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Thursday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s gospel is simple but beautiful. “Jesus said: ‘Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.’” Matt. 11:28 - 30
Memorial of Saint Bonaventure, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
A great teacher and theologian, St. Bonaventure was a Franciscan. St. Bonaventure is considered one of the founders of the Franciscans. His depth of understanding brought clarity and recommitment to the teachings of Francis. In many ways St. Bonaventure’s life reflects his vision of God.
Memorial of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, Virgin
Today is the feast of Kateri Tekekwitha, a young Native American woman from the 17th century who was canonized in 2012. Today’s first reading is the story of Moses. We read about Moses’ mother making the decision to put her new baby in a basket and send him down the river, an act of both desperation and hope. She was trying to save Moses from the Egyptians who had decided to kill Hebrew baby boys. Moses is found by none other than the Pharaoh’s own daughter who takes him into Pharaoh’s court. After growing up with Egyptian royalty as a Hebrew, Moses begins to observe their “forced labor,” and ends up killing an Egyptian in order to save one of his kinsmen. He flees in fear of his life, only to return when God calls him to liberate the Hebrews.
Monday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time
A friend recently gave me the book “Living your Strengths” ( Winseman Clifton, Liesveld ) that included a survey meant to help you find your strengths. One of my top strengths was “harmony” (You look for areas of agreement. In your view we are all in the same boat, and we need this boat to get where we are going.) I believe that harmony is a strength or desire given by God, since I believe that God beckons all people not only to live in harmony but to be united in Him. I believe that God’s plan is to make all things one in Him. God encourages us to help bring this harmony to the world by being His instruments of love and mercy.
Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Pope Francis is on a visit to South America. There are many highlights to his visit – visiting the notoriously violent and overcrowded Palmasola prison, vesting for mass at the local Burger King, and blessing a children’s hospital in Paraguay and masses at various places. Yet, the most unexpected action of the pope was an apology. Pope Francis apologized for the "many grave sins" committed by Christian colonists against indigenous peoples in South America. Talking about "new colonialism," in which corporations and banks replace the old colonial powers, the Pope acknowledged Thursday that the Catholic Church's history is not entirely free from transgression. "I say this to you with regret," he said in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, "Many grave sins were committed against the native peoples of America in the name of God." Pope Francis is not the first pope to make apologies. In the Jubilee Year 2000, Pope John Paul II did the same during the last years of his term. Both these popes are admitting that there are times that the church has lost sight of her mission, her meaning and purpose. Perhaps, she has acted even contrary to her mission.
Memorial of Saint Benedict, Abbot
Christ’s closing words in today’s Gospel hit me every single time. Here is what he says, “Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father.” On several occasions these words have convicted me to be less timid about my beliefs and convictions, but at other times I wonder how to authentically live according to these words. Despite what some people might claim, Christians in Western countries don’t really face systematic persecution. Sure, in some cultural circles, faith is socially ridiculed and persecuted. However, when compared to parts of the world where people can be killed for living out the Gospel, this seems pretty benign. This absence of persecution can make the application of Christ’s words difficult. This brings us to the Memorial of St. Benedict that we celebrate today.
Friday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Thursday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
I know an older woman who was estranged from her only sibling, her brother, for many years. I’m not sure exactly the cause of the rift between them, but they stopped speaking at some point in their adult years and allowed the distance to remain for 10 years or more until the brother was diagnosed with a form of cancer that would take his life. With the knowledge of his poor prognosis, he reached out to his sister for the first time in a very long time and she responded with compassion and love. They both let go of their stubborn pride and bitter hurts to be reconciled to one another in the last couple of years of his life. He suffered a lot with the cancer, but it seems to me that God was able to use the “bad” of cancer to open the hearts of both he and his sister to reconciliation and their deeper ties of love. They, in turn, cooperated with God’s plan in their willingness to forgive each other and be reconciled.
Wednesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
In hospital ministry no two days are the same and for most patients and their families being in the hospital is not a planned event. Often being in the hospital has been forced by some health crisis. Sometimes we have some anticipation of an unfolding need for health care and at other times events like heart attacks, strokes or even car accidents demand emergent care. In both cases patients and their families often need to make crucial decisions with little time or space for discernment. In these cases decisions are made without certainty or clarity.
Tuesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
A few days ago, I jumped off a cliff. Literally. I was visiting family in Colorado; my sister thought it would be fun to try out a zip line - zooming through a mountain valley about 100 feet off the ground in places, attached to a wire with some climbing gear. I've tried something like this before, but it was a long time ago, and I remember being petrified and not being able to do it. The thing is, first you have to climb the several feet up to the spot where the zip line begins; then you have to find the courage to jump off the cliff - all while the wind is roaring around you and you're thinking, golly, this is crazy.