Sunday Gospel Reflection, August 10, 2025: Your people awaited the salvation of the just...

Your people awaited the salvation of the just…
What are we hoping for? 

    The story of the Israelites’ departure from Egypt on the night of the passover is recounted over and over throughout Jewish history. The Book of Wisdom reminds us that, throughout their trials in Egypt, God continued to champion the cause of the people of Israel, who suffered but were never forgotten. It was their trust in God that saw them through, for they put their faith in the promises or oaths of the Lord, and so, when the time came, they did as the Lord told Moses they must do, applying blood to the doorposts of their homes so that the angel of the Lord might pass over them. Because they acted in faith, God cared for them. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own, Psalm 33 reminds us. The eyes of the Lord are upon those who fear him, upon those who hope for his kindness. 

    Like the disciples whom Jesus bids be ready to open immediately to the call of God, we must not be afraid any longer. The prudent steward in Luke’s Gospel was prepared for the return of his master; finding him vigilant upon his arrival, the master blesses the servant with good fortune. Jesus tells the disciples that the Father is pleased to give them the kingdom, if only they understand the inexhaustible treasure that awaits them. For their part, the disciples have faith in God’s promise, a promise sealed with Jesus’ death and rising. For as the Letter to the Hebrews gently reminds us, faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen. Like Abraham, we act by faith, trusting that our hope will be fulfilled; faith spurs us on, helping us to stay on track as we pray for fulfillment of the kingdom of God for all. 

    Our soul waits for the Lord to bring salvation to bear on our lives. Though we sometimes struggle to embrace God’s kingdom, we need to maintain our faith in the power of God’s love to save us, continuing with hearts and minds open, living for what we hope for. For the eyes of the Lord are upon us, too, as we await the salvation of the just! 

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

Sunday Gospel Reflection, August 11, 2024: I am the living bread that came down from heaven...

I am the living bread that came down from heaven…

How open are we to being fed by Christ’s presence in the Eucharist? 

    The people of Israel have a long tradition of being fed by the Lord God. From manna provided to the Israelites in the desert in Exodus to Elijah being fed by an angel in The First Book of Kings, examples abound of all of the ways the Lord provides for his people. Over and over again, when the afflicted man calls out, Psalm 34 reminds us, the Lord hears, and from all his distress, he saves him. Elijah doesn’t necessarily want to be saved. He prays for death, saying, This is enough, o Lord! Take my life… But rather than fulfilling Elijah’s wish, God sends an angel who touches him and orders him (twice!) to get up and eat. Elijah must be open to being fed by the Lord in order to endure the trials that lie ahead; he must learn to savor how good the Lord is to him, and be strengthened by his food for the journey. 

    Given all of these examples, one might imagine that when Jesus speaks of feeding the people, they will be open to this image. I am the bread that came down from heaven, he tells them in John's Gospel, I am the bread of life. Even more importantly, unlike those who ate the manna in the desert and lived but only for a normal lifespan, Jesus asserts that whoever eats this bread – Jesus himself, the living bread that came down from heaven – will live forever. Jesus is calling the people to union in him, but they murmur amongst themselves. To grasp what he is saying, they would need to step back from what they think they already know and open themselves to listening for something new. But they are set in their ways, firm in their pre-established parameters, hung up on their own ideas of how the world should be. 

    And when Jesus describes this bread as my flesh that I will give for the life of the world? That is when he really loses the crowd! They have no concept of the kind of sacrificial offering Paul describes to the Ephesians, the sacrifice of Christ who loved us and who handed himself over for us. We, however, who have the hindsight of experience, know that it is in fact Jesus’ very sacrifice and our participation in it that allows us to reveal the Father’s love for all, as we strive to be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven us in Christ. This is what it means to be fed by Christ’s presence in the Eucharist: filled with his love, we can become imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in that love. Taste and see! 

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

Sunday Gospel Reflection, August 13, 2023: O you of little faith, why did you doubt?

O you of little faith, why did you doubt?

What reassures us? 

   When, in the First Book of Kings, the prophet Elijah hides in a cave on Mt. Horeb (Sinai), he is fleeing from the office God conferred on him. But God sends Elijah to stand outside his cave, for the Lord will be passing by. By calling him out, God is restoring Elijah to his prophetic office, calling him back to the service he had abandoned. Like the psalmist in Psalm 85, Elijah can be reassured by the promises of the Lord: The Lord himself will give his benefits. When kindness and truth meet and justice and peace kiss, the people can be reassured that God will take care of them; God has not abandoned them. 

   Peter also needs reassurance in Matthew’s Gospel, for he doubts his own eyes. On a boat tossed about by the waves and wind, Peter and the other disciples see Jesus walking on the sea, but Peter’s challenge is full of doubt: Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water, Peter says. If? It is easier for Peter to believe in the tangible, the concrete – the strength of the wind, the crashing waves – than to have faith in the Lord. Still, he does find a shred of hope and, when he begins to sink, calls out for salvation: Lord, save me! Peter is reassured when Jesus stretches out his hand and catches Peter. 

   What reassures us? How do we know we are on the right path, following the proper guides? The Gentile Christians in Rome have their doubts; they see that Jews have not been converting to Christianity, and wonder if they have chosen correctly. In his Letter to the Romans, Paul laments his own people, his kindred according to the flesh, but reassures the Roman Christians that the only thing that matters is that they remain open to the work of God within them; the Christ, who is over all is the one in whom they must put their confidence. 

   In whom or in what do we place our confidence? What reassures us that we are on the right path? When Jesus steps into that boat, calm ensues; the storm is gone. God is revealed in the calm, not in our agitation, our storms, our battles. God is to be found in the small whispering sound. It is in that calm, that reassuring presence, that we must place our trust, open to the work of God within us, that we might fulfill the role to which we too have been called. 

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

Sunday Gospel Reflection, August 7, 2022: Faith is the realization of what is hoped for...

Faith is the realization of what is hoped for…

How strong is our faith in God’s promise? 

     The Book of Wisdom reminds us that the people of Israel had deep faith in God’s promise of the salvation of the just. When they are told by Moses to offer a sacrifice of one lamb per household, placing the blood of the lamb on the lintel and eaten the roasted lamb with unleavened bread, they know they are preparing to flee their adversaries. The faith of the Israelites is the source of their glory; God can glorify them because they have faith in the Lord. They know they are, as Psalm 33 states, the people the Lord has chosen to be his own, and they trust that the Lord will deliver them from death and preserve them in spite of famine. The people may question their faith when faced with difficulties, but according to their covenant with the Lord, they are to hold to that faith nonetheless, putting their hope in the Lord. 

    Abraham similarly had a profound faith in God’s promise: by faith, Abraham obeyed, the Book of Hebrews recounts; by faith, he sojourned in the promised land, and by faith he received power to generate. This is what faith looks like in practice. Abraham did not see the fulfillment of God’s promise, but he lived in hope, for he thought that the one who made the promise was trustworthy. Abraham even goes so far as to offer up Isaac when put to the test, because he had received the promise that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. 

    We do not see eternal life in this life, but we live for the hope that it will come. Like Abraham, like the Israelites, we are aliens in this land, while our identity remains in the Lord. Jesus reiterates God’s promise in Luke’s Gospel: your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. Like the servants who remain vigilant while they await their master’s return, we must be ready to answer the door when he knocks. We are true servants if we trust the master and allow the master to entrust us with much, with the kingdom, no less. Our job is to know the master’s will and follow through on it, participating in God’s plan and keeping our eye on the inexhaustible treasure in heaven that awaits us, confident in that treasure that is God’s promise to all who hope in faith. 

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

Sunday Gospel Reflection, August 7, 2021: I am the living bread that came down from heaven...

I am the living bread that came down from heaven…

What sustains you on the journey?

   When, in the First Book of Kings, Elijah journeys into the desert, he is ready to die. Indeed, he prays for death, because he feels as if he has failed in the mission God has given him, and when God sends a hearth cake and a jug of water as food to sustain Elijah on his journey, the prophet, lost in depression, goes back to sleep. Of course, the angel of the Lord comes back a second time, and the prophet is ultimately strengthened by the food God sends. Elijah needs to realize he’s not finished with his work until God says so; the prophet must learn to trust in the Lord, who knows Elijah’s potential far better than the prophet himself does. Elijah has not yet gained the trust we see in Psalm 34, which reminds us to maintain our confidence in God: we are to taste and see the goodness of the Lord, knowing that, in our affliction, God is always there to sustain us.

   Jesus wants the Jewish crowds to realize that he himself comes to sustain us on our journey. In John’s Gospel, the crowds lack faith and murmur among themselves, unwilling to believe Jesus when he says, I am the living bread that came down from heaven. That bread is God’s revelation, the good news that nothing is stronger than God’s love for us. Jesus comes to reveal that love through his death and rising; he gives us the opportunity to live, providing food for our souls, food to sustain us and strengthen us in our belief. The words he has to share with the crowds will feed them forever – but they are unwilling to open themselves to God’s revelation in their midst. Their barriers are not all that different from those of the Ephesian community, who grieve the Holy Spirit through their bitterness, fury, anger and more. The Ephesians are not filled with the love Jesus came to reveal, the love that will sustain them on their journey; bitterness and like emotions are a barrier to God’s love and forgiveness, isolating those who cannot open to the revelation Jesus came to bring. If their life is in Christ, then it needs to look like Christ’s life: they must be imitators of God and live in love, as Christ loved us. In the end, it is only by taking him into ourselves – his words, his body, his actions, his very self – that we will be sustained on our journey by the living bread that came down from heaven. Only then will we thrive.

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

Sunday Gospel Reflection, August 9, 2020: The Lord will be passing by...

The Lord will be passing by…

Can you hear the voice of God?

  When, in the First Book of Kings, the prophet Elijah flees Queen Jezebel and goes off into the wilderness, he prays for death.  But God has other plans for Elijah, and so Elijah experiences a theophany – a tangible manifestation of divine power or presence – on the mountain of God, Horeb.  Surprisingly, though, Elijah seems to have trouble recognizing the Lord, for the Lord is not in the potentially fear-inducing strong and heavy wind or the earthquake or the fire; God is present to Elijah in a tiny whispering sound. Elijah had been looking for an extraordinary revelation and yet God prefers that which is small and ordinary.  Elijah simply needs to be ready and open to listening to God in whatever way God chooses to approach him.  Like the people of Israel returning from exile in Psalm 85, Elijah is no doubt comforted by the hopeful knowledge of God’s care for him:  Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.  The psalmist knows that kindness and truth meet in the covenant-inspired God of Israel.

  Like Elijah, Peter is easily distracted from seeing the Lord before him. Matthew’s Gospel recounts the disciples’ terror at seeing Jesus coming toward them walking on the sea; they fear he is a ghost.  Peter challenges the figure:  Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.  And Peter does step out of the boat – but then he is distracted by the wind and his fear and doubt take over.  O you of little faith, Jesus says to him, why did you doubt?  Jesus is the quiet that steps into the boat to calm their fear, for fear does not let love in, and Jesus, the peace in the storm, will not be blocked out.  Ultimately, they trust and find security in his grace:  Truly, you are the Son of God.  Years later, Paul writes to the Roman community of his own great sorrow and constant anguish regarding the failure of his own people, the Israelites – to open to the message of salvation through Jesus Christ.  But, unlike Elijah or Peter, Paul will not be distracted from his proclamation of the news of salvation, for it is from them, from his own people, that Christ has come to save the world, and Paul will stop at nothing to tell them so.

  It is difficult for human beings to empty themselves of their ego so that they can hear the voice of God.  We want to hear God’s will for us; we need to hear God’s will for us.  But our ego tends to block out the small, calming voice of the Lord.  Yet it is only by careful listening, by attentive openness to his voice, that we will hear what he intends for us, and respond, not out of fear, but out of the love that comes from the depths of our being, ready and eager to respond to God’s call.

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.

Image source:  www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, August 11, 2019: Faith is the realization of what is hoped for...

Faith is the realization of what is hoped for…

What is your hope for the future?

  How often we look to our history in order better to understand our future!  When the author of the Book of Wisdom needs to remind his people, brought low under Roman occupation, that they must have faith for the future, he invokes the story of the Hebrew people’s enslavement in Egypt, and the promise God made on the night of the Passover, that, with sure knowledge of the oaths in which they put their faith, they might have courage.  God redeemed his people, giving them the opportunity to escape, so long as they put their faith in his promises.  Similarly, the people for whom the Book of Wisdom is written must also trust, have faith, remember God’s care for them in the past.  Psalm 33 reminds us that Blessed are the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.  The oppressed can hope for his kindness, with faith in the promise, in awe of God’s perfect love for them.

  The Book of Hebrews offers another model for faith:  the patriarch Abraham, who obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as his inheritance.  Accepting to live as a nomad, Abraham sojourned in the promised land though he could appreciate it only from afar.  Moreover, by faith Abraham received power to generate, producing Isaac.  Indeed, Abraham’s faith was so great that, even when ordered by God to kill his son, Abraham trusted in God’s plan and offered up Isaac, only to receive Isaac back as a symbol of the promise to be fulfilled.  There is no greater model for faith in the Old Testament than Abraham.

  In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus promises his disciples that the Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.  But we can’t take possession of the kingdom if we are holding on to the tangible things of this earth; Jesus promises an inexhaustible treasure in heaven if only we let go of our belongings and remain vigilant. Like the Hebrew people so many times before us, we must have faith, focusing on what we cannot see, letting go of our burdensome connections to the world, ready to open immediately when the Lord comes and knocks, that we too might achieve a better homeland, a heavenly one.  Indeed, if we have faith in Jesus, we are already holding the kingdom – we must not set it down and walk away, but rather let it be the focus of our existence through which all else finds meaning, trusting, like Abraham, in God’s promise, and open to all it can mean in our lives.

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.

Image source:  www.wordclouds.com  

Sunday Gospel Reflection, August 13, 2017: Take courage...

 Take courage… 

Do you worry much? 

   In the First Book of Kings, the prophet Elijah takes shelter on Mt. Horeb, having fled the wrath of Jezebel whose prophets have been slaughtered on his orders.  Elijah has prepared himself to die in the wilderness, but God knows that Elijah’s work is not yet done, in spite of Elijah’s worry that he has lost control.  So God appears to Elijah – not in the strong wind or the earthquake or the fire that Elijah experiences on the mountain, but in a tiny whispering sound.  God is present to Elijah in the calmest, most insignificant event of day – not in greatest power one might imagine, but in the greatest subtlety.  And only God’s calming presence can move Elijah off his mountain of worry and put Elijah back on track to do his appointed work as prophet.

   In Matthew’s Gospel, the disciples likewise struggle with worry when their boat is tossed about by the waves.  They are hardly calmed when Jesus comes toward them walking on the sea – to the contrary, they cry out in fear.  Only Peter is open to trusting in Jesus, walking on the water toward Jesus, but that trust sinks into the depths as Peter experiences how strong the wind is:  Lord, save me!  he cries, ruled by the same fear that dominates his fellow disciples.  Only when Jesus catches Peter and gets into the boat does the wind calm down; Jesus is their calm in the midst of the storm, and homage replaces their worry as they recognize that Truly, Jesus is the Son of God.

   In the midst of storms and turmoil, we worry.  Even Paul, in his Letter to the Romans, repeatedly expresses his worry – his great sorry and constant anguish – about the future of the Jews, his own people, who are not open to knowing Christ.  But ultimately, Paul trusts in God’s mercy; Paul’s worry does not diminish his faith in the Lord.  The Lord himself will give his benefits, Psalm 85 reminds us – real peace, true calm, comes only from God’s life-giving justice, justice that erases our worry as it deepens our faith in God’s truth. 

   We worry.  We worry often, especially when we want to be in control.  But as Elijah and Peter and Paul all learn, the solution is simply to let go – of our desire for control, of our worry, of our fear, trusting in God’s ways so that we can move along the path of faith, with only love to guide our way.

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.

Image source:  Wordle