Thursday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Of all the reasons people can be attracted to Jesus, I think spectacle is one of the funnier ones. ‘Who is this person that everyone is talking about? I’d like to see him myself,’ Herod says to himself. No matter what drives a person to get there, the desire to see Jesus is blessed and holy. Our Lord, the Son of God, is unique in the universe and among all other names for divinity. No one else married Heaven and Earth, Humanity and Godliness. No one else was so full of love, compassion, wisdom, and mercy. No one else worked great miracles. No one else endured such great suffering so gracefully. No one else loves you so perfectly, so completely. Praise the Lord! Hallelujah!
Memorial of Saint Vincent de Paul, Priest
When I read today’s Gospel two main ideas come to mind. First, I find myself reflecting on the disciples James and John and how easy it is to fall into the same patterns as them. Additionally, I find this gospel helps to remind me of Christ’s unending patience – both with his disciples and with us.
Tuesday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s first reading invites us into the world of ancient Judaism. We have a passage from Ezra that describes the rebuilding of the Temple, the very place where the God of Israel dwells. It had been destroyed and the Israelites had been taken into exile. Now returned, they rebuild the Temple and offer a great sacrifice at its completion. And what a sacrifice it was: “For the dedication of this house of God, they offered one hundred bulls, two hundred rams, and four hundred lambs, together with twelve he-goats as a sin-offering for all Israel, in keeping with the number of the tribes of Israel.”
Monday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Today Jesus advises his disciples to “consider how you listen” (Luke 8:18), to pay attention, to notice how we notice. In order to do this we must use our God given senses. This requires mindfulness and awareness of the here and now.
Memorial of Saint Pius of Pietrelcina, Priest
I’m not much of a gardener. I often forget to water the plants and don’t really like doing yard work. However, a few months ago, I got a spider plant, which started out small but now is fairly large. It seems to be thriving even though the most I do for it is put it by the window. How and why? I recall that when this plant got too big for its small jar, I repotted it in a larger jar with nutrient-rich soil. While it struggled a bit initially, it grew beyond my expectations. Likewise, today’s Gospel about the parable of the sower calls us to grow by cultivating rich soil for our faith. Jesus challenges us to examine our lives to see what type of soil our faith grows in. Is it rich, rocky, or on a path? What is our life based on? What in our lives do we see, listen to, read, and take in that helps or doesn’t help us cultivate this soil? In a sense, the soil in which the seed of faith grows impacts our ability to be disciples of Jesus.
Friday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
“For we brought nothing into the world, just as we shall not be able to take anything out of it.” (Timothy 6:7) A stark reminder today from St. Paul that, (more plainly said) “we can’t take it with us.” Can you and I, like Paul, be content with simply having the basics of “food and clothing”? As Paul also reminds us with this oft-quoted verse in today’s First Reading, “For the love of money is the root of all evils….” What wisdom lies there!
Feast of Saint Matthew, Apostle and evangelist
Today we celebrate St. Matthew and his life as both an apostle and evangelist. Each of us are also called to follow Jesus as His disciples and to use our gifts to build up the Body of Christ. Jesus reminds us that we are all sinners in need of God’s mercy. When we recognize that we are all equal in the eyes of God, we have a great starting place to work together to become God’s holy people united in Christ.
Memorial of Saints Andrew Kim Tae-gŏn, Priest, and Paul Chŏng Ha-sang, and Companions, Martyrs
Throughout the past few months in our Lay Marianist Community, we have been looking at the goals of the Marianist Family Encounters Project. One goal that we recently prayed about together was called, “Empower through family spirit.” In thinking about this call and discerning what it would look like to live a family spirit in our lives, I found myself challenged in many ways. To love in a family involves forgiveness, acceptance, patience and sacrifice. It means thinking of someone other than me. It often means putting the needs of another before myself. These virtues challenge us to grow and stretch in our families, BUT what if we are called is to practice these virtues in all of our relationships? What if we are meant to embrace this selflessness with everyone we meet and all of those we are in community with and connected with?
Tuesday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
We see at the beginning of today’s gospel a funeral procession. For us as bystanders, the focus in on the sadness of death, but for the people in the story, the great tragedy is the widow. Remember that in society at that time, women had no place in the outside world; they could not work outside the home, have a farm, or own a business. So a woman needed to be attached to a man to avoid becoming destitute. A widowed woman was taken care of by her sons, or her daughters’ husbands if they were wealthy and kind enough to welcome her into the household. This is the situation that has Jesus “moved with pity for her…” No one else is obligated to take care of the mourning widow. She’s burying her son, and afterwards, she does not know how she will eat or where she will sleep.
Monday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Then Jesus went with them. And when he was not far from the house, the centurion sent word to him saying, “Sir, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof. (Luke 7:6)
When the centurion says, “do not trouble yourself,” the Greek literally reads, “Do not skin yourself.” Scholars think this is slang from the late 1st or early 2nd centuries.
Memorial of Saints Cornelius, Pope, and Cyprian, Bishop, Martyrs
When I was a Novice, a person who is in a prayer-and-study-focused stage of formation in a religious congregation, with the Marianist Sisters, I learned that one way to reflect on the Gospel readings is to fill in the blank: “Jesus is telling me (us) ____.” I will follow suit and say that Jesus is telling us to bear good fruit and to build a solid foundation.
Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows
Each day at Chaminade Julienne, we pray the Marianist version of the Three O’clock Prayer together as a whole school. The prayer is a reflection on the goodness of God, our call discipleship, and our relationship with Mary, the first disciple. It is a perfect prayer to align with today’s feast and our gospel. In the gospel, we stand with Mary at the foot of the cross. Who better to understand our own sufferings and pain than our blessed Mother, Our Lady of Sorrows. Mary is a great companion in our mourning, our frustrations, our loss, our sadness, our grief.
Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Today we celebrate the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. Jesus’ death on the cross plays a significant role in our faith, but how exactly are we saved by the cross?
Memorial of Saint John Chrysostom, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
I’ve retained last week’s title, “Our Life in Christ” for this reflection, as well. Both the first reading and the Gospel today paint a vivid picture of who we are in Christ. Today is the Memorial of St John Chrysostom, one of the most influential pastors and bishops of the early Church. His evangelical fervor, example of charity, and deep concern for the poor model for us this life in Christ. I’ll begin by asking you, where are you? St Paul provides the answer in our first reading. It may surprise you!
Tuesday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time
Eckhart Tolle once said, “If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.” Taking this statement literally would be an over-simplification of prayer, but the sentiment and spirit of the importance of gratitude is spot-on. Paul opens with it in today’s first reading: “As you received Jesus Christ the Lord, walk in him…abounding in thanksgiving.” When we worship God in prayer, we are only recalling the truth of God’s glory. When we pray our petitions and offer our longings to God, we are again only saying what God already knows we need. But a prayer of Thanksgiving tells God something new about ourselves: we are grateful. What do you want to thank Jesus for today?
Monday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time
Luke’s story of the healing of the man with the withered hand on the sabbath recalls another withered hand in Psalm 137: “If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither" (vs. 5).
Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Today’s Mary’s birthday. Or at least it’s the traditional date that the Church has chosen to celebrate the feast of Mary’s birth, her “nativity” – nine months after December 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception. Today’s feast of Mary’s nativity is also just a week away from September 15, Our Lady of Sorrows. As a mother, it causes me to wonder: could Mary’s parents, Saints Anne and Joachim, have known what significance the fruit of (Saint) Anne’s womb would have on the salvation of the world? That through Mary’s “yes” to God, the fruit of their daughter’s womb would be the Son of God, the Messiah?
Thursday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
I have been listening to the Catechism in a Year podcast with Fr. Mike Schmitz. Recently, the topic covered was the gifts and fruits of the Spirit. I was reminded of this topic when reading today’s scripture, since a number of the gifts of the Spirit are mentioned in the first reading. The gospel reading helps me discover that when I listen to the words of Jesus and seek Him in prayer and sacrament, I open myself up to receive the Gifts of the Spirit, so I can share God’s goodness with the world around me.
Wednesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
I’ve entitled this reflection “Our Life in Christ” because in today’s Gospel we receive three short accounts, three vignettes, each of which invite us to reflect on particular aspects of our life in Christ. I offer my ponderings; the Holy Spirit may lead you to entirely different revelations as you pray St Luke’s text. May each of us today, through the Word and by God’s grace, be drawn deeper into the love of God and be conformed more and more into the image of Christ.
Monday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
Back in the ‘80s, as I began my 33 years at Saint Xavier High, I recall certain parents dropping off their sons on North Bend Road and then, before pulling out of the lot, glancing back to see if the boy was still there. They wanted to make sure that he wasn’t “raptured.”