Monday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s responsorial psalm describes those who delight in the law of the Lord as thus: “They are like trees planted near running water that yields its fruit in due season and whose leaves never fade. Whatever they do, prospers” (Ps. 1:3). At first this seems an odd companion for the gospel reading, wherein Jesus cures a woman in the synagogue on the Sabbath. The leader of the synagogue is obviously committed to the precept of not doing work on the Sabbath; he appears convinced of this law of the Lord. But does he “delight” in the law of the Lord?
Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Today’s readings continue the theme of prayer. The best way for me to further clarify the theme would be to say that, if last Sunday’s theme was about how to pray, this week’s theme is “How NOT to pray.” For example, the gospel reading contrasts the prayer of the Pharisee with that of the tax-collector. The tables are turned in this parable. The (self) righteous person’s prayer finds no place in God’s eyes, whereas, the sinner goes home justified. Jesus gives us the reason for this reversal of fortunes in the words, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted." If we try to understand the first reading in this context, the message is even clearer. Sirach says, God “hears the prayer of the poor.” (Sir 35:13) “The prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds…” (Sir 35:17).
Saturday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
We learn from the parable in Luke’s gospel that we have been given new life by Christ’s life, death, and resurrection; he has made it possible for us to bear fruit by “cultivating the ground” and “fertilizing” (Lk 13:8). Yet, we must respond, as Paul exhorts the Ephesians, by living according to the gift that Christ has given us (Eph 4:8).
Friday of the Twenty-Ninth Week in Ordinary Time
We seem to be a nation of advice-seekers. Advice columnists in the newspapers thrive on dispensing advice to letter writers. Teenagers and young adults text each other asking for up-to-the-minute advice. Self help books remain a top selling genre at bookstores.
Thursday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s readings make an interesting pair. Whereas the passage from Ephesians seems uplifting, the gospel reading from Luke might be one we’d rather forget. And yet both of these texts are a part of our tradition, and they are not contradictory but rather complementary.
Wednesday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
At work recently, I was struggling to get everything I supposed to do accomplished. While my workload kept growing, as many of ours have, my ability to juggle the amount of tasks was being diminished because I was not looking at the big picture. Ministry is often an unpredictable vocation. Yet there was one thing that kept to coming to me in prayer and that message was to be prepared. As an Eagle Scout I understand well that the motto of the Boy Scouts is to “Be Prepared”, yet my inability to handle unexpected realities suggested otherwise.
Memorial of Saint John de Brébeuf and Saint Isaac Jogues, priests and martyrs, and their companions
“Peace be with you.” We say these words to each other in the mass every time it is celebrated. What do we mean by this? First and foremost we are expressing the spiritual fact that in Christ there is no division between believers, but second, we are expressing our personal commitment not to engage in strife and to work to resolve and eradicate any divisions that we encounter in the body of Christ.
Feast of Saint Luke, evangelist
Today we celebrate the feast of St. Luke, the Evangelist. Author of the gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, Luke has been known as a physician and companion of St. Paul the Apostle. To him we owe much of our knowledge concerning the beginnings of Jesus on earth, such as Gabriel’s annunciation to Mary, Mary’s visit to Elizabeth, the Nativity at Bethlehem, the visit of the shepherds, Jesus’ presentation in the Temple, and the loss and finding of the boy Jesus in the Temple. To Luke we also owe much of our knowledge about the beginnings of the Church. His adventure story of the Acts of the Apostles has been described as a history written in the tradition of Greek historians at the time. Luke was an eyewitness to these early Church events and saw fit to record them for the benefit of the Church.
Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
As Jesus says in today’s gospel the theme of today’s readings is about the necessity to pray always without becoming weary (Lk 18:1). There are common strands between the first reading and the Gospel reading. Each of the readings show us the connection between three things: God, the human person and the situation confronting the human persons. Thus, in the first reading there is God, there is Moses and there is the battle against the Amalekites. In the Gospel reading, there is the judge who cared about nothing and nobody, there is the widow, and there is situation where the widow faced an adversary. In each of these situations, the human person is looking for help from God for facing the adversity. What are the readings really saying to us today?
Saturday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time
The puzzle that life is, is not always obvious to us, is it? A simple complexity in life can make us sit back and question the meaning of life. Just yesterday, for example, I was called to the Riverside Nursing home in the West side of the city to pray the prayers for the dying. Here lay a man on his deathbed absolutely alone. He had no family or loved one beside him. The very thought of dying alone sends chills down my spine. I took time to pray for him. I just prayed that God might show him the light so that deep in his heart this man would know that he was not alone; that God was with him.
Memorial of Saint Teresa of Jesus, virgin and doctor of the Church
Occasionally, I take the time to make bread or beer, both of which use yeast as a leaven. Leaven is mentioned in today’s Gospel (Luke 12:1-7) and the concept is important for understanding today’s scriptures, as well as for understanding our own spiritual lives.
Thursday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time
The selections for today’s readings make an interesting pair. In the gospel passage from Luke, Jesus continues along a strand of “woe to you” statements. Undoubtedly, it was not a pleasant message to hear. The people listening were meant to feel convicted for their participation in the past persecution of God’s prophets; Jesus intended to affront them with accusations regarding their behavior. In fact, the least surprising part of this passage is the last two verses: “When Jesus left, the scribes and the Pharisees began to act with hostility toward him and to interrogate him about many things, for they were plotting to catch him in something he might say” (Lk. 11:53-54). It’s no surprise that the people would be upset by Jesus’ words. And yet it is perhaps a bit surprising that they felt they needed to interrogate him further. This indicates that his accusations were not unfounded; Jesus’ statements in today’s passage were not cause for Jesus’ own conviction.
Wednesday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time
While floating in a canoe on the Little Miami River at a recent youth ministry event, I was struck by all of the many trees present around the river. Some grew right up out of the water and other trees near the bank had roots like fingers from a hand reaching down to the river. Today’s psalm uses a similar image that captured my imagination as a metaphor for understanding today’s readings.
Monday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time
In the gospel for today we see one of the most familiar themes of the New Testament. And to be honest, my first reaction in reading the passage was whether we needed yet another reminder that the Pharisees’ spiritual approach was incorrect. But then I started thinking about why we might need this reminder. One reason seems to be that living out the gospel is a process of learning new habits of thinking, acting, and believing, and that we need to repeatedly focus on lessons from Jesus life and ministry in order to integrate his teachings more deeply into who we are as people. Another reason is that the Bible never speaks to us in exactly the same way on each reading, because our situation and the state of the world in which we find ourselves is constantly changing. Although it is easy to write off the passage for today as too familiar, if we pay attention to it, it will have something to teach us.
Monday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time
As we continue to count our weeks of walking with the Lord in this 28th week of Ordinary Time, we continue to read through St. Paul’s letter to the Galatians. Although this letter concerns the practical issue of circumcision (as not necessary for Christians), Paul’s approach to the topic gives us insight on other matters as well. In today’s excerpt, Paul discusses Abraham’s two sons, Ishmael (born of Hagar) and Isaac (born of his wife Sarah). When all hope seemed lost that Sarah would ever bear a child, Sarah convinced Abraham to conceive a child with her servant Hagar. While this might seem strange to us, this was actually how fertility problems were surmounted during this time period. Abraham and Sarah should have had more trust in God’s promise of descendants.
Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Unfortunately, today’s first reading includes a woefully inadequate section of this otherwise marvelous story of Naaman the Syrian. Israel and Syria were arch enemies. Naaman was the military commander of Syria but his wife was an Israelite woman who was captured in a rather bloody raid. Yet, Naaman dared to come to the enemy territory, to the prophet Elisha to seek healing for his leprosy. Elisha merely commanded Naaman to dip himself in the Jordan seven times. Elisha’s casual approach to this otherwise high profile visit is rather disconcerting for Naaman. Although miffed at the suggestion, Naaman did as he was commanded and he was healed. We do not get many details about how Naaman was healed. The focus in on his ability to do what was commanded him to do. This must have been hard for a military commander. But the real focus of this episode is on Naaman who returns to Elisha in gratitude. Not only that, he acknowledges the God of Elisha as the true God. (2 Kgs 5:15).
Saturday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s First Reading begins with the mysterious statement that “scripture confined all things under the power of sin.” This remark, at least at first glance, implies a particularly bleak view of the world in which we live. Contextually, however, St. Paul is simply arguing that the Law of Moses is without power to save. Despite what his readers may have been led to believe, St. Paul insists that the whole narrative of salvation history that is recorded in scripture teaches that the Promise made to Abraham was not fulfilled in the Law, and so it is not the following of that Law that makes someone an heir to the Promise.
Friday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
Sometimes it feels like we American Catholics are more scattered than gathered, to use the words from today’s Gospel (Luke 11:15-26). US Catholics are scattered on a variety of things, especially relating to American politics: economy, immigration laws, abortion. These are all also key aspects of our faith and therefore important topics for discussion: ultimately the point of such discussion is to try to understand our faith better and to help each other live better lives. Yet we Catholics seem sometimes to be more governed by how other non-Catholics discuss and describe the debates, rather than being influenced by our own Christian convictions. It feels like we, as Catholics, can’t have discussions, in person or online, without someone accusing someone else of “not being a REAL Catholic” because they’re not focused enough on just wages or immigration issues on the one hand, and abortion or embryonic stem cell research on the other.
Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary
“O Stupid Galatians!” begins our passage from Paul’s letter today. Paul’s frustration with the church of Galatia is expressed here full-force. The subject of this letter is circumcision, which Paul argues is not necessary in order to be a Christian. This is contrary to those Judaizer Christians, who argued that to become Christian one must first become Jewish. This was a way of excluding Gentiles from becoming Christian.
Wednesday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
Recently I had the opportunity to sit with a friend who knew that they did not have a long time left for this world. Those moments I shared with my friend left me awestruck as to her ability to have a positive outlook on life even as her days are drawing to a close. Her positive outlook not withstanding she did share with me that she felt like a burden to her family. I asked her how long she had cared for her children and assured her that we were grateful for the opportunity to care for her. One can hardly use the word burden to describe the labor of love it is to care for someone you deeply love. Perhaps I might feel differently if I was a constant caregiver. Still, it is in these moments of suffering and our responses to them, that we are given profound opportunities to keep our eyes on the Lord.