Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
“For freedom Christ set us free, so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery. For you were called for freedom, brothers and sisters” (Gal. 5:1, 13). These words of St. Paul are found in our second reading today, and in some sense they capture the struggle found in the other two readings, from 1 Kings and the gospel of Luke. Freedom – what is freedom? In just one week we will celebrate American Independence Day, the 4th of July. It is a day that celebrates freedom. But this is a freedom associated with rights: the right to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, etc. Is this what Paul means when he talks about freedom?
Saturday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
In today’s first reading from the book of Lamentations, we hear about the shear desolation of the Jewish people. This book comes from the period of the destruction of the temple in the sixth century BC, a deeply trying time for God’s chosen ones. We see that part of their desolation is in feeling complete abandonment, even those who rose up as prophets were false ones (Lam 2:14). Yet many are undertaking practices of repentance: covering themselves in sackcloth and ashes (the common practice of penance), prostrating themselves (Lam 2:10), weeping (Lam 2:11), and Jerusalem itself is imaged as praying (Lam 2:18-19).
Friday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
I remember going to Washington, D.C. for the first time. The city is full of memorials and tributes, each of them proclaiming in some way that we should never forget: the soldiers who died, the holocaust victims, the contemporary heroes who have done good deeds. And yet, despite our best intentions, we do (as a culture) forget. The memory becomes little more than a story and we try to impress the importance of remembering the story but often, we fail. The intensity with which I remember September 11th, for example, is not usually matched by my youngest students, who were, after all, 6 and 7 years old when it happened. Very quickly, it will move from being a watershed moment when people remember the country pulling together, to becoming an event mentioned in history books, not really remembered in quite the way that the memorials seem to suggest.
Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist
In our tradition, there are only a few people whose births we celebrate. John the Baptist is one of those, and this feast is placed six months from the Nativity of Jesus on Christmas. In our cyclical calendar, these two nativities are equidistant, standing opposite from each other in the circular liturgical calendar. And indeed, the Feast of the Nativity of John the Baptist and the Nativity of Christ are purposely placed in the months of June and December. In the month of June, we begin to have less daylight and more darkness as our days grow shorter again. It is symbolic of John’s words that “I must decrease that he may increase” (John 3:30). Meanwhile, with Christmas, Jesus, the light of the world, enters, and the light in our days begins to increase until we are back to June, and this Nativity of John the Baptist, again.
Wednesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
Are there times in your own personal history that seem lost even to yourself? As I was reflecting on the readings for today, I remembered a scene from my senior year of college. I was sitting in my apartment working in the living room on a wooden sculpture I was making. What I recall as being so profound about that moment is that one of my friends had stopped over to talk. While we were talking I kept working on sculpture. My friend remarked that they noticed I seemed more at peace while I was working on the art. And while I had that class and for a short-time after I continued to create art projects; though as my life circumstances changed, I grew apart from my art. In many ways writing has become a new way to exercise my need to do art.
Tuesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s gospel passage from Matthew is one that rightly gives us pause. Wait a second – did Jesus just say that most people head toward destruction and that only a few find the road that leads to life? Does this mean that most of the people I know are going toward destruction? And what does it mean about me? How do I know if I’m on the right path, heading toward the narrow gate?
Memorial of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, religious
Our culture today prizes independence like never before. Of course, there is the independence of our country, the freedoms we celebrate and the pride in our democratic governance and capitalist system. But there is also independence as a value for individual people. We raise our children so that they can go off and live by themselves, making a life for themselves, making the most of their education by finding a suitable career and spouse. My mom used always to say that she wanted to give us wings. I always say that she succeeded, and so we all flew away.
Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time
The readings for today’s Mass are some of the most important of our tradition; they are passages that encapsulate much of what we believe and strive to live out as Christians. And one theme throughout these readings is that we are heirs. In this day and age, the image of inheritance is not as poignant as it was in years past. We are so used to our individualism and financial independence that we might find it difficult to imagine how much people’s lives in the past were driven by their inheritance or lack thereof. Those who came from wealthy, landed families, were assured of a continued standard of living, including prominence and stability. Those without inheritance were lost, left to fend for themselves in a world that gave them no regard. Theirs was a life of endless toil with little reward.
Saturday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
In today’s first reading from the book of Lamentations, we hear about the shear desolation of the Jewish people. This book comes from the period of the destruction of the temple in the sixth century BC, a deeply trying time for God’s chosen ones. We see that part of their desolation is in feeling complete abandonment, even those who rose up as prophets were false ones (Lam 2:14). Yet many are undertaking practices of repentance: covering themselves in sackcloth and ashes (the common practice of penance), prostrating themselves (Lam 2:10), weeping (Lam 2:11), and Jerusalem itself is imaged as praying (Lam 2:18-19).
Friday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
If you ever want proof that the scriptures are about real-life situations, real people, real emotions, you need look no further than 1 and 2 Kings. Contained in these books are more intrigue, greed, treason, and backstabbing than any princess fairy tale or real life account of monarchs in the UK. What makes today’s Old Testament reading (2 Kings 11:1-4, 9-18, 20) such great reading for us is the way that we see God standing in the very midst of all those real-life situations and emotions.
Thursday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
In today’s selection from the Sermon on the Mount from the gospel of Matthew, we find Jesus instructing his followers on prayer. The passage, not to mention the prayer, is so familiar to us that we might easily pass it over. This would be a mistake, however. As we often hear at Mass, this is the prayer “that Jesus taught us.” This is “the Lord’s Prayer.” This is the prayer of the whole Church.
Wednesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
While sitting with the 8th Graders in our summer religious education program today, we had a discussion about the ways each of us lives our call to faith. The answers were wonderful and mostly straight forward including, obey my parents, be kind to my brother, go to church and praying at meals. One young lady stated that we ought to practice random acts of kindness. Her answer struck me as needing further discussion. So I pushed her to say what she meant by that, she responding with “You know doing kind things for people without expecting anything in return.” I asked her if the people needed to know about who carried out the acts of kindness and she said she liked it better “when it was a secret.”
Tuesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
Yesterday in our first reading from 1 Kings, we heard the story of King Ahab and his wife Jezebel bringing about the death of Naboth in order that they could take over his property after he refused to give it up. Today the prophet Elijah confronts the ruler about this evil, and the life of evil that Ahab has chosen to live – not only by killing Naboth, but by worshiping idols and forgetting the Lord.
Monday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
Today in the Sermon on the Mount from the gospel of Matthew, Jesus raises the familiar quotation of “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” This phrase speaks of the simple justice of whatever you do to me, I can do to you. It’s the kind of childhood logic we enjoyed in our sandbox days. If you take my shovel, I’ll take yours. I’ll pay you back for whatever you did to me (or my friends and family). While I called this “simple justice,” what it really denotes is a sort of exchange model of justice wherein these acts are equal and therefore fair. It does sort of make sense, to some extent.
Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Do you remember as a child displeasing or disappointing a parent or teacher or other adult that you respected and loved? And did it ever happen that the adult gave you a chance to make up for what you had done? Whether it was to pay for something you’d broken or re-do a failed assignment, such an opportunity seemed like such a gift; it gave you a chance to show that you could do better – to show that your mistake wasn’t who you really were. And as it redeemed you in the adult’s eyes, it also redeemed you in your own eyes.
Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Today we celebrate the memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. We commonly associate the physical heart of a person with love, as in “I love you with all of my heart.” We also associate the heart with the very essence of a person, the deeper place where the most real aspect of a person resides as in, “in my heart of hearts I know…” Both of these aspects come together in this memorial, which directs our attention to Mary’s joys and sorrows, her virtues, and, above all, her love—for God, for her Son, Jesus, and for all people.
Solemnity of Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
I was thinking the other day that recently my life has not been as contemplative as I would like. I've been going through the motions of prayer, but what was once a routine of morning, evening and night prayer has now become a hurried few words at the beginning and end of each day. I could come up with excuses - being the full-time working mother of a toddler certainly has its challenges - but those excuses usually fall flat when I look around at many of you, who have lives at least as busy as mine and still you manage more of a spiritual life.
Thursday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s gospel passage continues the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew’s gospel. Here Jesus challenges the people to move beyond the simple rules of the Ten Commandments into a fuller biblical justice. The subject of today’s passage concerns the commandment against killing. This is familiar to us as it would have been to the people whom Jesus addressed at the time. And most of the people listening to Jesus, like most of us hearing his words today, would say that we are not guilty of breaking this commandment.
Wednesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
Anyone involved in scouting or who has a fireplace has probably at one point or another learned how to light a fire, for myself that ability seemed to come at an early age. The small forest behind our house was the perfect place to make fires as it was secluded, or so I thought. One day after some of the neighborhood kids and I had made a fire I got home to mom who seemed rather upset. Fires were not something to play with and I was never to do that again. Although I did not like the rule, I knew my life would be more peaceful if I obeyed my mom.
Tuesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
This is the week following the great feast of Corpus Christi, and so it is appropriate that our first reading today, from the First Book of Kings, foreshadows the Eucharist Christ will institute. In today’s reading, we encounter the Prophet Elijah miraculously multiplying food for a widow and her son. He is in need of sustenance, but so are the woman and her son. Elijah asks her to bake a cake of bread and God will provide for her and her son. She does this, and the flour and oil remain for an entire year, so they have enough to eat while there is a drought in the land.