Sunday Gospel Reflection, November 3, 2024: I love you, Lord, my strength...

I love you, Lord, my strength… 

How do we demonstrate our love for God? 

    The Jewish practice of the mezuzah – a small prayer scroll contained within a protective case and affixed to the main doorpost of a home – probably dates back to about 1300 BC, when the people settled in the land of Canaan after their sojourn in the desert. (While they may have had the words of the prayer inscribed upon a tiny scroll to carry with them through the desert, they didn’t have doorposts to affix them to!) 

    For the people of Moses’ time, this prayer, found in the Book of Deuteronomy and known as Shema Yisrael – The Lord is our God, the Lord alone! Therefore, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength – was to be inscribed on their hearts, so that they would remember God at every moment of every day. If they wished to be a prosperous nation when they entered the promised land, they had to remember that the Lord was the source of all they had: lives, property, every blessing! And they were to bless God in turn: I love you, Lord, my strength, the psalmist prays in Psalm 18. It is a song of thanksgiving for God’s steadfast presence as rock of refuge, fortress, deliverer, and so much more! 

    In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus, challenged by a scribe, likewise cites the Shema Yisrael as the first of all the commandments. But then Jesus adds a second: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Why? Because to love your neighbor is how you live out your love for God, how you give proof of that love for God. The scribe is so impressed that he riffs off Jesus’ statement, adding that love of neighbor is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices. Thanks to the scribe’s immediate grasp of Jesus’ statement, Jesus can tell him, You are not far from the kingdom of God! This scribe knows how important God’s constant presence is in his life, and is willing to love his neighbor to demonstrate his own love for God. 

    Jesus loved with his life, dying once for all when he offered himself on the cross, the ultimate demonstration of love for humanity. There is no long any need, the Letter to the Hebrews says, to offer sacrifice day after day; Jesus lives forever to make intercession for all who approach God through him, so that all might know the forgiveness of his eternal Father, and respond with love to the Lord who loves all by filling the world with love of neighbor, as Jesus did. 

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com

O have pity on my night (Richard Crashaw)

Silence, silence, O vile crowd;
Yea, I will now cry aloud:
He comes near, Who is to me
Light and life and liberty.
Silence seek ye? yes, I’ll be
Silent when He speaks to me, 
He my Hope; ah, meek and still,
I shall ’bide His holy will.
O crowd, ye it may surprise,
But His voice holdeth my eyes:
O have pity on my night,
By the day that gives glad light;
O have pity on my night,
By the day would lose its light,
If it gat not of Thee sight;
O have pity on my night,
By day of faith upspringing bright;
That day within my soul that burns,
And for eyes’ day unto Thee turns.
Lord, O Lord, give me this day,
Nor do Thou take that away. 

--Richard Crashaw (1613-1649),
The Blind Supplicant 

Image & poem source: Christ Healing the Blind Bartimaeus, 17th century panel on oak, https://www.anticstore.art/99340P

Soaking in His eternal love for you (Tom Mulcahy)

   When is the last time you rested in God the Father’s love? When is the last time you sat, so to speak, on His lap (to use an image from Saint Therese of Lisieux she drew from Isaiah 66:12) just soaking in His eternal love for you? It is in the Father’s Heart that we find green pastures and still waters: it is in Him that we renew our soul. God is the Eternally Good Shepherd. 

   Like me, you’ve probably prayed the Our Father a gazillion times, but have you ever stopped just for a moment to rest in the wonderful truth that God really is your Father? He made you. He has known and loved you with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3); and He loves you with the full might of a God Who Is Love (1 John 4:8). We are truly His children (1 John 3:2). Amazing, but true! 

   Saint Francis de Sales calls this resting in God the love of complacency. Since God is Infinite Goodness and Infinite Love, our true rest and delight is in Him. Father Faber defines the love of complacency as, “being content with God. It not only wants nothing more, but it only wants Him as He is…. Complacency fixes its eyes upon what it knows of God with intense delight and with intense tranquility. It rejoices that HE is what HE is. It tells Him so. It tells [Him so] over and over again. Whole hours of prayer pass, and it has done nothing else but tell Him this.” 

-- Tom Mulcahy

Image source: Pamela Suran, The Compassion of Jesus (Bartimaeus), http://www.pamelasuran.com/PorView.aspx?lid=7&itemview=62 

Quotation source

Just another blind Bartimaeus (Katie Reed)

I press through the crowd
Stumbling to find my way
Could this be the day
The day I see Your face
Years and years and years of darkness
Desperation rises
The passersby tell me to be quiet 

Son of David
I'm just another blind Bartimaeus
Don't pass me by, open my eyes 

I feel the ache
The pain that grips so deep
and the tears fly down
Free
Has my life come to this
What happened to the flame in my heart
And the tenderness 

Let my reach, arise
Let my reach, arise 

Refrain 

Son of David!
Son of David! 

Refrain 

To hear Katie Reed perform Bartimaeus, click on the video below.  (Note: You will also hear a narrtor's voice overlaying the video; the stand-alone video was not available for posting.)

Image & video source:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnsydI9fQjg

What does your cloak look like? (Fr. Derek Sakowski)

   The cloak of Bartimaeus is so much more than a cloak. It represents a way of life for him – how he had learned to cope and survive in an existence devoid of intimacy, connection, kindness, or care. 

    It is [thus] even more remarkable to me that he leaves his cloak behind – even before Jesus heals him. He recognizes that the cloak – his loyal and faithful companion – is actually an obstacle to real connection. It has hindered him from receiving and will continue hindering if he doesn’t change his ways. More importantly, a desire so intense and deep is welling up in his heart – so strong that it overflows and overpowers his “settling” for survival. He wants to be well! He intuits that Jesus can give him more – so much more. No doubt, he also hears the whispers of his cloak – warning him that he is making a fool of himself, gently enticing him to hide himself away once again and return to the safety of self-protection. But desire wins the day. Bartimaeus not only cries out all the louder; he actually casts aside his cloak and runs up to Jesus. He wants to see. Jesus heals him. He begins following Jesus. 

    What does your cloak look like and feel like? Where in your life do you find yourself hiding or isolating, pulling away from relationships, or preferring the predictable comfort and safety of self-soothing or self-protection? How do you feel about casting aside your cloak and running vulnerably to Jesus to be healed? Do you want to be well? Do you trust that the healing, love, and communion offered by Jesus will be enough? 

--Fr. Derek Sakowski 

To read all of Fr. Sakowski’s remarkable article on “The Cloak of Bartimaeus,” click here. 

Image & quotation source: https://www.abideinlove.com/wp/?p=1690/

Why many have trouble recognizing Jesus (Fr. Gustavo Gutierrez)

      The Son of God was born in a marginal area. He lived with the poor and emerged from among them to inaugurate a kingdom of love and justice. That is why many have trouble recognizing him. 

--Fr. Gustavo Gutiérrez (1928-2024) 

Image source: Thobias Minzi, Christ Healing the Blind (Tanzania), https://pewboy.net/2021/10/21/vision-that-has-nothing-to-do-with-eyesight/
Quotation source

Glimpsing God's invitation (Fr. James Martin)

What do you want me to do for you? 

--Jesus to Bartimaeus, Mark 10:51 

   Sometimes in life, you might find yourself lacking the desire for something that you want to desire. Let's say you are living in a comfortable world with scant contact with the poor. You may say, "I know I'm supposed to want to live simply and work with the poor, but I have no desire to do this." Perhaps you know that you should want to be more generous, more loving, more forgiving, but don't desire it. How can you pray for that with honesty? 

   In reply, Ignatius would ask, "Do you at least have the desire for this desire?" Even if you don't want it, do you want to want it? Do you wish that you were the kind of person that wanted this? Even this can be seen as an invitation from God. It is a way of glimpsing God's invitation even in the faintest traces of desire. 

   Because desire is a key way God speaks to us. 

--Fr. James Martin 

Image source: https://loandbeholdbible.com/2019/06/12/the-healing-of-bartimaeus-mark-1046-52/
Quotation source

Sunday Gospel Reflection, October 27, 2024: Go on your way: your faith has saved you...

Go your way: your faith has saved you…
What does salvation look like? 

    Most of Jeremiah’s prophecy to the people of Israel was a downer. God sent Jeremiah to tell the people, You can’t win against your enemies, so cut your losses and give up now! But it’s not all gloom and doom. Jeremiah also offers an oracle of restoration: Shout with joy for Jacob – Behold, I will bring them back from the land of the north; I will gather them from the ends of the earth, with the blind and the lame in their midst. God loves God’s people and so God will restore what Assyria had destroyed. Much later, those returning from exile could sing Psalm 126: The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy! Sent home by Cyrus to rebuild their temple, they find their city in ruins, but they know that those who sow in tears shall reap rejoicing! Their salvation lies in the God who loves them infinitely. 

    In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus’ miracles are intended, in part, to teach people what salvation looks like. When blind Bartimaeus cries out, Jesus, son of David, have pity on me, those around him try to silence him. But Bartimaeus is persistent and Jesus restores his sight: Go your way; your faith has saved you, Jesus tells him. While the disciples are still struggling to see their salvation revealed in the person of Jesus, Bartimaeus is ready to see, and immediately follows Jesus on the way. Jesus will continue to deal patiently with the ignorant and the erring. The Letter to the Hebrews reminds us that, begotten by God, Jesus Christ became the Great and Perfect last high priest, he who, offering himself as a sacrifice for sin once and for all, restored access to God to all who believe. We just need to open our eyes and see… for this is true salvation. Shout with joy! 

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class. 
Image source: www.wordclouds.com

What can suffering produce? (Palapa Gamage)

Did you know that pearls are a product of pain? 

   Every pearl is the result of an oyster that has been wounded by a grain of sand that has entered inside it. An oyster that has not been wounded cannot produce pearls. On the inside of the clam is a substance called "nácar" and when a grain of sand accidentally penetrates the inside of the oyster valves, this covers it with thousands and thousands of layers of nácar to protect itself. As a result, a beautiful and shiny pearl is forming. 

   I have come to think of this fact of nature as a metaphor. Pearls, like tears, are a product of pain and suffering. 

--Palapa Gamage 

Image source: https://mettahu.wordpress.com/2014/03/09/the-lesson-of-the-pearl-and-the-oyster/
Quotation source

How much patience Jesus had! (Pope Francis)

   Let us consider how much patience Jesus had with the disciples: often they did not understand his words (Lk 9:51-56), sometimes they did not get along with each other (Mk 10:41), for a long time they did not succeed in accepting essential aspects of his preaching, for example, service (Lk 22:27). Nevertheless, Jesus chose them and continued to believe in them. This is important, the Lord chose us to be Christians. And we are sinners, we commit one sin after another, but the Lord continues to believe in us. This is wonderful! 

 

--Pope Francis,
March 12, 2024

 

Image source: Jesus' disciples John & James in The Chosen, https://www.thebibleartist.com/post/james-john-in-the-chosen-adapting-biblical-characters
Quotation source

Are you drinking your cup of suffering? (Bishop Robert Barron)

   [In our Gospel this week,] James and John ask Jesus on their behalf for high places of authority in his kingdom. Ah, there is the voice of ambition. Some people don’t care at all about money or power or pleasure—but they care passionately about honor. A lot of people can identify with James and John. They want to go places; they want to be movers and shakers in society. Perhaps a number of people reading this reflection are filled with these emotions. 

   But Jesus turns the tables on them: “You do not know what you are asking.” He is indeed a King, and he will indeed rule Israel, but his crown will be made of thorns, and his throne will be a Roman instrument of torture. 

   And so he tries to clarify: “Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?” The key to honor in the kingdom of God is to drink the cup of suffering, to be willing to suffer out of love, to give one’s life away as a gift. Look at the lives of the saints. It is not about aggrandizing the ego, but emptying it out. 

   Reflect: Are you drinking your cup of suffering alongside Jesus? If so, how do you think and feel about that suffering? 

--Bishop Robert Barron,
Gospel Reflection,
March 3, 2021

Image source: https://amdgmagis.blogspot.com/2012/01/holding-lifting-and-drinking-cup.html

Steeped in forgiveness and mercy (Fr. Patrick Michaels)

   To preach, your faith needs to be steeped in forgiveness and mercy. You need to understand just how much it cost to die for your sake, to give life to you by giving up life. It's necessary to have an ongoing experience of repentance, recognizing what is wrong and growing from it. No one travels through life in perfection; we fall daily -- we lose sight of the power of God's love at work in us, and we need to be forgiven so that we can be forgiving. How can you preach repentance unless you know it from the depth of your being, unless you know how much you are loved, and unless you can live from that love? 

--Fr. Patrick Michaels,
Homily, July 11, 2021
 

 

Image source 1: Ludovico Pogliaghi, Pietà / Mercy Seat, Duomo, Milan, Italy, 
http://drfumblefinger.com/blog/2019/09/doors-of-milans-duomo/
Image source 2: Mercy Seat, Eglise St. Pierre de Chaillot, Paris, France, 
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Eglise_Saint-Pierre_de_Chaillot_%40_Paris_%2831253515152%29.jpg 

Show me (Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen)

Show me your hands.
Do they have scars from giving?
Show me your feet.
Are they wounded in service?
Show me your heart.
Have you left a place for divine love? 

--Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen 

Image source: https://ministry-to-children.com/discipline-of-serving/ 

Quotation source

The narrow road of Jesus (Henri Nouwen)

   Suffering and death belong to the narrow road of Jesus. Jesus does not glorify them, or call them beautiful, good, or something to be desired. Jesus does not call for heroism or suicidal self-sacrifice. No, Jesus invites us to look at the reality of our existence and reveals this harsh reality as the way to new life. The core message of Jesus is that real joy and peace can never be reached while bypassing suffering and death, but only by going right through them. 

   We could say: “We really have no choice.” Indeed, who escapes suffering and death? Yet there is still a choice. We can deny the reality of life, or we can face it. When we face it not in despair, but with the eyes of Jesus, we discover that where we least expect it, something is hidden that holds a promise stronger than death itself. Jesus lived his life with the trust that God’s love is stronger than death and that death, therefore, does not have the last word. He invites us to face the painful reality of our existence with the same trust. 

--Henri Nouwen 

Image source: G. W. Dauphinais, Simon Abets Jesus (2016), https://saintbarnabas.org/2016/03/21/the-artists-way-of-the-cross-bill-dauphinais/
Quotation source

Sunday Gospel Reflection, October 20, 2024: Can you drink the cup that I drink?

Can you drink the cup that I drink?
Do we really understand what our faith calls us to? 

   It must have been so difficult for Jesus to be misunderstood by so many people through his ministry on earth! Even those closest to him do not always understand where he is coming from… or where he is going. When, in Mark’s Gospel, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, come to Jesus and ask to sit one at his right and one at his left, Jesus must have been at the very least frustrated, if not despondent. Can you drink the cup that I drink? he asks them. Can you share my fate? Do you not realize that I have come to suffer, as the Suffering Servant in the Book of Isaiah, of whom it is said, the Lord was pleased to crush him in infirmity? 

   Jesus is that Servant, come to offer redemption on behalf of all people, giving us the opportunity to return to God, restoring our access to the Lord who loves us. His sacrifice, that of the great high priest who has passed through the heavens, as the Letter to the Hebrews says, compels us to hold fast to our confession, to hold firmly to our faith, to live up to what we believe. He, the ever-faithful Suffering Servant, gave his life as an offering for sin; through his suffering, he justified many, that all might seek to see the light in fullness of days, safe from the darkness of sin. Like Jesus’ disciples, we too must pass through death to life in him. 

    Jesus Christ is the source of our hope. Only through Christ can we receive mercy and find grace for timely help, the mercy and grace humankind has sought through all the ages, as Psalm 33 makes clear: Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you. Only when the eyes of the Lord are upon us and our eyes are clearly fixed upon him can we know the fullness of his mercy and the true joy of connection, a connection made possible by the sacrifice of the Servant who gave all, that we might have all, in him. 

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com

Someone to walk with (Mavis Staples & Van Morrison)

Lord, if I ever needed someone, I need You

Lord, if I ever needed someone, I need You 

See me through the daytime

And through the long, lonely night

Lead me through the darkness

And on into the light

Stand with me when I'm troubled

And help me through my strife

When times get so uncertain, I turn to You

Turn to You in my young life 

Refrain 

Someone to hold on to

Keep me from all fear

Someone to be my guiding light

And hold me ever dear

Keep me from all my selfishness

Keep me from all my sorrow

With your forgivingness

So I can see a new tomorrow 

Refrain 

Someone to walk with

Someone to hold by the hand

Someone to talk with

Someone to understand

To call on when I need You

And I need You very much

Open up my arms to You

And feel Your tender touch

To feel it and to keep it

Right here in my soul

Care for it and keep it with me

Never to grow old 

Refrain 

To hear Mavis Staples and Van Morrison sing If I Ever Needed Someone, click on the video below: 

Image source: https://peterpilt.org/2014/01/19/your-walk-with-goda-sermon-based-on-enoch/
Video source

Closeness, compassion and tenderness (Pope Francis)

    Jesus, who goes towards wounded humanity, shows us the face of the Father. It may be that within us there is still the idea of a distant, cold God, who is indifferent to our fate. On the contrary, the Gospel shows us that, after teaching in the synagogue, Jesus goes out, so that the Word he has preached may reach, touch and heal people. By doing this, he reveals to us that God is not a detached master who speaks to us from on high. On the contrary, he is a Father filled with love who makes himself close to us, who visits our homes, who wants to save and liberate, heal from every ill of the body and spirit. God is always close to us. God’s attitude can be expressed in three words: closeness, compassion and tenderness. God makes himself close to accompany us tenderly, and to forgive us. Do not forget this: closeness, compassion and tenderness. This is God’s attitude. 

--Pope Francis 

Image source: https://www.osservatoreromano.va/en/news/2023-04/ing-017/buddhists-and-christians-healing-wounded-humanity-and-the-earth.html
Quotation source

Once you let go of the world (Sr. Joan Chittister / Bishop Robert Barron)

Life is a journey whose endpoint
is always a stretch away.
The more we have, the more we grasp.
And then the realization dawns:
Even if we have gained
everything worth having in life,
none of those things will ever
satisfy the emptiness within.

 --Sr. Joan Chittister 

    [In Sunday’s] Gospel, the Lord explains why it’s hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. Don’t think in terms of some specific measurement of wealth. Think in terms of a frame of mind. A rich person is convinced that joy will come from filling up the ego. 

    So Peter asked: "We have given up everything and followed you. What will there be for us?" And Jesus replied, "Everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for the sake of my name will receive a hundred times more, and will inherit eternal life." It’s so important to note that this is not a sort of capitalist calculation: just make a good investment and you’ll get a spectacular return; you’ll have all the houses and money you want. 

    Once you let go of the world in a spirit of detachment, once you remove the things of this world from your grasp and see them without distortion, you will really have them. They will appear as they are, as God intended them. They will no longer be objects for your manipulation or possession but beautiful realities in themselves. 

--Bishop Robert Barron,
 Gospel Reflection, August 17, 2021 

Image source: School of G. Hoffman, Jesus Christ with a Rich Man, https://asanefaith.com/what-must-i-do-to-inherit-eternal-life/
Quotation source 1

Love stems from commitment (Meghan Larsen-Reidy)

   Love stems from a commitment. Jesus’ commandment is to form relationships – a relationship with God and relationships with people. Loving relationships require time and effort and are not always convenient. They ask us to prioritize the Divine and people over material possessions or appearances. This commitment to others and to God changes our actions. It effects how we spend our time, where we put our money, how we pray, how we care for our common home, and how we serve the most vulnerable. Jesus modeled this love throughout his life. He sat with the sick, dying, poor, outcast, lonely, and forgotten, and entered into relationship with them so they knew love. In turn, Jesus calls us to do the same. 

    Sometimes we get in our own way. The lure of wealth, power, knowledge, and prestige hinder our ability to love. David Brooks writes about the difference between résumé virtues and eulogy virtues. We often worry about appearing the best that we forget we should simply love the best. 

    

    When we open our eyes to see the expansiveness of God’s love in the people that surround us, we draw into a deeper relationship with the Divine. We cannot always anticipate the impact that each new relationship will have on our lives and vice versa. God is calling us to be open to the love that is waiting for us and to share that love with others. Our small acts of love may make an impact that we only hear about from heaven. 

--Meghan Larsen-Reidy 

Image source: Georges Rouault, Christ and Mammon, https://emuseum.vassar.edu/objects/5494/christ-and-mammon-by-roger-lacouriere-for-passion
Quotation source

Wisdom, God's creative energy (Patricia Smith, RSM)

   At its deepest level, Wisdom is a female symbol for the very mystery of God. She is the personification of God’s presence and activity in the created world. She lures God’s creatures along the right path in life. She delights in human beings. She is God’s creative energy, involved with the world. 

   May Wisdom enlighten all of us to the power of God’s gracious, patient love already enveloping us in her open arms today. 

--Patricia Smith, RSM 

Image source: Full-page illustration of Sapientia (Wisdom),12th century. Wisdom is the central figure, between the figures of Christ (above), Zechariah, father of John the Baptist and the patriarch Jacob (below), David and Abraham, Malachi and Balaam, Isaiah, and Daniel (to the left and right, respectively), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Wisdom
Quotation source

The way of wisdom (Fr. Ron Rolheiser)

   The way of wisdom is the way of pondering, the way of holding every kind of pain, suffering, delight, and contradiction long enough until it transforms you, gestates compassion within you, and brings you to your knees in a thousand surrenders. 

--Fr. Ron Rolheiser, OMI,

Facebook, March 27, 2024 

Image source: Pieter de Grebber (c. 1600-1652/1653), King David in Prayer, https://www.ncregister.com/blog/the-secret-of-happiness-is-surrender
Quotation source

Sunday Gospel Reflection, October 13, 2024: The word of God is living and effective...

The word of God is living and effective…
Do you need God in your life? 

     Early in his reign, King Solomon recognized his need for right relationship with God. Given the chance to ask God for anything, Solomon chooses wisdom: I pleaded, and the spirit of wisdom came to me, he says in the Book of Wisdom. Indeed, nothing is as precious to Solomon as wisdom: I preferred her to scepter and throne, and deemed riches nothing in comparison with her. Solomon’s bond to wisdom establishes his bond to God; Solomon does not look elsewhere, but wisely accepts an exclusive relationship with the Lord who created him. Solomon knows that he needs, in the words of Psalm 90, wisdom of heart. The psalm is the people’s invitation for God to reenter relationship with them when their tendency has been to exclude God: May the gracious care of the Lord our God be ours! 

    The young man who comes to Jesus in Mark’s Gospel and asks, Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? believes he has covered all bases, since he has observed all of the commandments Jesus mentions from his youth. But Jesus is clear: You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. What is missing from this man’s journey is God; it is God who gives salvation, and the man must surrender to God’s power rather than cater to his own wealth and desires. But the man does not recognize this, and goes away sad. 

    We often feel competent without wisdom, without constant access to God and to God’s insight into who we are. Yet, we too need God, the word of God, living and effective, as the Letter to the Hebrews says. God sees more clearly into our hearts than we can; God is able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart. We need God’s wisdom to be in right relationship with God; we come together at Eucharist to deepen our understanding of God in our lives and in the lives of those around us. A passing, occasional relationship simply isn’t enough – we too need the wisdom of heart that allows us to see the true value of a carefully cultivated relationship with our Lord. To ask God to teach us to number our days aright is as much as to say, we see our lives before us; teach us how to live, how to continue on our journey, and all that we need to know along the way, that we might draw closer to you. Fill us with your love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy! 

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class. 
Image source: www.wordclouds.com

Getting closer on our journey (Fr. Greg Boyle / Sean Wild)

How do we tame this status quo [the us vs. them mentality]
that lulls us into blindly accepting the things that divide us
and keep us from our own holy longing for the mutuality of kinship
—a sure and certain sense that we belong to each other? 

 --Fr. Greg Boyle, Barking to the Choir

    A deacon at my church once shared a metaphor from earlier Christian times that can be traced back to the sixth-century monk and hermit, Dorotheos of Gaza. It goes like this: Think of a wheel or circle. (In our modern times, we can think of a bicycle wheel.) Imagine the spokes of the wheel. As the spokes travel from the outside tire towards the hub in the center of the wheel, they necessarily get closer to one another. In this metaphor, the center of the wheel is God and the spokes are each of us on our own path to God. It does not matter at what point on the circumference you start, as one continues on their journey to the center, one must get closer and closer to other people on their own paths. 

    The beauty of the two-fold nature of the greatest commandment, to me, is that we are all given many, many opportunities to convey our love and gratitude to God through how we treat others. This can range from the time we spend with our family and friends to the mundane interactions we all have with strangers in our daily lives and everything in between. God calls us all to be in communion with him, and at the same time, to be in communion with each other. “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it,” as it is written in the Book of Proverbs (3:27). Love is a gift God has freely given to all of mankind… and that is something I hope to keep in mind next time I see my neighbor. 

--Sean Wild

Image source 1: OLMC Summer Potluck, July 14, 2024, https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=909845881180827&set=a.909848687847213
Image source 2: The North Rose Window, Notre-Dame Cathedral, Paris, https://blogcathykellyphotography.wordpress.com/2019/04/17/notre-dame-de-paris-rose-windows-survived-the-fire/
Quotation source 1
Quotation source 2

The light of relationship (Fr. Michael Metz)

 

    I want to relish the friendships and faces that God has given me. I need reminders about the fulfillment and support I find in family and friends. Sure, in its brilliance, the light of relationship can initially blind us, but the vision it affords later is heavenly. 

--Fr. Michael Metz,

 “Friendship: It’s Essential

to the Heavenly Life”

Image source: https://www.facebook.com/BigPandaAndTinyDragon/posts/i-have-quite-a-lot-on-at-the-moment-and-so-am-posting-the-company-as-i-have-not-/386927926552381/
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To welcome God-Love (Francis Chan / Pope Francis)

We never grow closer to God when we just live life.
 It takes deliberate pursuit and attentiveness.

 --Francis Chan 

   And this is faith: to welcome God-Love; to welcome this God-Love who gives himself in Christ, who moves us in the Holy Spirit; to let ourselves be encountered by him and to trust in him. This is Christian life. To love, to encounter God, to seek God; and He seeks us first; He encounters us first. 

 --Pope Francis, June 7, 2020 

Image source: Marc Chagall, Song of Songs IV (1958), https://www.wikiart.org/en/marc-chagall/song-of-songs-iv-1958-6
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When I love my God (Kyle Winkler / St. Augustine)

He who speaks light into darkness,
breathes life into dry bones,
and creates out of nothing
is with you and for you.

 --Kyle Winkler 

But what do I love when I love my God?...
Not material beauty or beauty of a temporal order.
not the brilliance of earthly light;
not the sweet melody of harmony and song;
not the fragrance of flowers, perfumes, and spices;
not manna or honey;
not limbs such as the body delights to embrace. 

It is not these that I love when I love my God.
And yet, when I love him, it is true that I love a light of a certain kind, a voice, a perfume, a food, an embrace;
but they are of the kind that I love in my inner self,
when my soul is bathed in light that is not bound by space;
when it listens to sound that never dies away;
when it breathes fragrance that is not borne away on the wind;
when it tastes food that is never consumed by the eating;
when it clings to an embrace from which it is not severed by fulfillment of desire.

This is what I love when I love my God. 

--St. Augustine, Confessions 

Image source: https://www.flavorchem.com/trends/spicy-fragrances-heating-up-summer/
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Fear and love (John Lennon)

   There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love. When we are afraid, we pull back from life. When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer… Evolution and all hopes for a better world rest in the fearlessness and open-hearted vision of a people who embrace life. 

--John Lennon 

Image source: John Lennon, cover, Walls and Bridges, 3 drawings by the composer, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walls_and_Bridges
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Return to the heart (St. Francis of Assisi / Pope Francis)

If you have men who will
exclude any of God's creatures
from the shelter of compassion and pity,
you will have men who will deal likewise
with their fellow men.

 --St. Francis of Assisi 

    Brothers and sisters, let us not be afraid to strip ourselves of worldly trappings and return to the heart, returning to what is essential. Let us think of Saint Francis, who after stripping himself embraced with his entire being the Father in heaven. Let us acknowledge what we are: dust loved by God, called to be dust in love with God. Thanks to him, we will be reborn from the ashes of sin to new life in Jesus Christ and in the Holy Spirit. 

--Pope Francis

Today is the Feast of St. Francis,
one of the patrons of our Archdiocese!

Bring your pets to be blessed at 5:30pm today!

Image source: https://cac.org/daily-meditations/changing-places-2019-11-15/
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Sunday Gospel Reflection, October 6, 2024. Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh...

Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh…

Do you choose to be in relationship with God? 

    In the second creation story in the Book of Genesis, the man recognizes the woman as bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. It is a reference to kinship, to a connectedness so profound as to create true union, in which the two of them become one flesh. The stories of creation are all about relationship: relationship between the man and the woman, relationship between all things created and the Creator, relationship between humankind and all of creation. Relationship is God’s desire and God’s purpose. We see this reflected in Psalm 128, where the Lord blesses humankind all the days of our lives, generation after generation: your children shall be like olive plants around your table, their identity firmly grounded in their relationship with Lord who created them. 

    When, in Mark’s Gospel, the Pharisees challenge Jesus’ understanding of the relationship between man and woman, Jesus cites the Book of Genesis to demonstrate that God’s intent was always that the man and woman should be one: from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female and the two shall become one flesh. In a true marriage, God is the bond between the man and woman, the power that makes them one. But as Jesus is well aware, humankind’s hardness of heart has sometimes allowed for the dissolution of this relationship. The choice is ours: whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it. It is up to us to choose relationship, not only in the day to day, but with God over all else. 

    The most extraordinary example of God’s desire for relationship is the Incarnation, when Jesus became fully human and took on flesh, that he might experience death on behalf of all. And, having become fully human, Jesus can take all of creation with him through death to everlasting life. Moreover, Jesus is the origin of all things, for it is he from whom and through whom all things exist, the Letter to the Hebrews reminds us. The union Jesus shares with all humanity through the Incarnation enables him to call us brothers and sisters; he chooses relationship with us. Will we choose relationship with him? 

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com

Like only You can do (Gloria Gaynor)

I've had my fortune, had my share of fame
Been around the world, I guess I've played the game
Put my attention into everything but You, mm-mm
It's taken me this long to understand
It's taken being broken time and again
To realize that all I really need is You, only You

 When all hope is gone, when it's out of my reach
I will hold on, I will believe
That You've got my heart and You won't let go
I feel You liftin' the weight off of my soul 

Like only You can do, yeah
Like only You can do, Jesus 

 Every time I try to do it all alone
Every time I try to make it on my own
That's when I realize no matter what I try to do 
I still need You 

And when all hope is gone, when it's out of my reach
I will hold on, I will believe
That You've got my heart, You won't let me go
I feel You liftin' the weight off of my soul 

 Like only You can do, yeah
Like only You can do, Jesus 

 Only You can turn my night into day
Break through the prison walls and rescue me
No one else can change a heart the way You do
Only You, yes You 

 When all hope is gone, when it's out of my reach
I will hold on, I will believe
That You've got my heart, You won't let me go
I feel You liftin' the weight off of my soul 

 Like only You can do, yeah (Only You can do, only You can do) 

To hear Gloria Gaynor, vocalist most well-known for her hit, "I Will Survive," sing this song from her new gospel album, “Only You Can Do,” click on the video below: 

Image source: https://www.sharlafritz.com/2021/08/why-god-wants-your-heart-2/
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If we take the time to notice (Mirza Inayat Khan)

   There is a story of the renowned violinist, Joshua Bell. The day before his sold-out concert, he played the very same songs in the subway. But everyone was too busy to notice and walked right by. 

   This week, flowers are blooming around us. The air is sweet with spring. The earth is reawakening. And we can too … if we take the time to notice! 

   Yes! The springtime needs you. Often a star is waiting for you to notice it. A wave rolls toward you from the distant past. 

    Or as you walk under an open window, the sound of a violin calls out to you. All of this has a purpose. But can you recognize it? 

    Or are you constantly distracted by your own expectations? 

    (Rainer Maria Rilke, Duino Elegies) 

 --Mirza Inayat Khan,
Lenten Reflection,
March 13, 2024

To hear Joshua Bell perform Vivaldi's Four Seasons, click on the video below:

Image source: https://awesomevideomakers.com/joshua-bell-subway-video/
Video source
Video of Joshua Bell's subway experiment