Sunday Gospel Reflection, October 25, 2026: You know what sort of people we were among you...

You know what sort of people we were among you…
What is the source of our integrity as a people? 

    One of the most important functions of the scriptures is to help humankind to understand what it means to live in the context of each other, in community. In the Book of Exodus, once the people of Israel reach Mount Sinai, the Lord God spends no small amount of time helping them understand that their identity, and therefore their collective integrity, is based on the relationships they cultivate with God and with one another. You shall not oppress or molest an alien, the Lord tells them. You shall not wrong any widow or orphan. Their own memory of what it was like to live in another land, without any rights or possessions or land, should remind them that they were once dependent upon other people’s generosity and good will. Like the Lord God, they themselves must be compassionate, responsible to other because they value the compassion that God and others have shown them, and will imitate it. Psalm 18 invites the people of Israel into the present moment, where they can recognize God’s compassion towards them now – My God, my rock of refuge, my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold – and ground themselves in the identity and integrity that relationship builds for them. 

    When, in Matthew’s Gospel, the scholar of the law asks Jesus, Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?, he does so to test him. Here, the Pharisees have clearly missed the point: their relationship with the Lord God does not depend on the absolutes of Mosaic law, but on the message of love Jesus embodies in their midst, even to the point of loving the very Pharisees who will one day effect his death. Love of God is necessary to love of neighbor, as love of neighbor is necessary to love of God. The love in question here is not a feeling, but an action: to will the good of the other in order to insure the collective identity and integrity of the community. This is how you enter into right relationship with your God, Jesus says: by loving. 

    Likewise, in his Letter to the Thessalonians, Paul will affirm the righteous conduct of the community that has become imitators of the apostles and of the Lord through their reception of the Word of God. It is the Word that is effective; it transforms, sustains, and is spreading all over the known world. The Word is the source of their integrity – it is their belief in God’s mercy and love, revealed in Christ crucified, revealed in their own life in community. The Word is their integrity – is it ours?

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

Sunday Gospel Reflection, October 26, 2025: O God, be merciful to me, a sinner...

O God, be merciful to me, a sinner…
Do we need God? 

    It’s so easy to be like the Pharisee in Luke’s Gospel, who thanks God because he, the Pharisee, is not like the rest of humanity -- he is not greedy, dishonest, adulterous… It’s so easy to be caught up in our own self-righteousness, in our own self-centeredness; it’s so easy to point out the bad in others and, in so doing, to separate ourselves from God, as if we were superior to sin. But as Jesus points out to those who were convinced of their own righteousness, it is the tax collector, the man who recognizes his own brokenness, his own sin – O God, be merciful to me, a sinner – who knows his own need for mercy; it is the man who is open to God, to God’s mercy and compassion in his life, who can then be compassionate and merciful to others. 

    Jesus’ message to the self-righteous is grounded in traditional Hebrew Scripture. In the Book of Sirach, the Lord is a God of justice: God identifies real need, and hears the cry of the oppressed, as well as the prayers of the one who serves God willingly. Psalm 34 is clear: The Lord hears the cry of the poor, and is particularly attentive to those who own their own sin, who know their own need for salvation: the Lord is close to the brokenhearted and those who are crushed in spirit. In his Second Letter to Timothy, Paul, writing from prison, likewise knows that, although everyone deserted him, the Lord stood by him and gave him strength. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, Jesus says, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.

    We are all in need of God because we all know sin. We are human; we are broken. Yet, if we own our own brokenness, we too can open to the power of God’s mercy and compassion to transform us, to redeem our lives, to be our refuge. Is God listening? Certainly, so long as we are listening as well, open to the transformative compassion and mercy of God in our lives.

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

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

Sunday Gospel Reflection, October 23, 2022: O God, be merciful to me, a sinner...

O God, be merciful to me, a sinner…

Who benefits from God’s justice?

    Although the Jerusalem sage who authored the Book of Sirach states that The Lord is a God of justice who knows no favorites, what follows in the text suggests that God’s justice is not impartial, but seems to be weighted toward the poor and the weak: he hears the cry of the oppressed and is not deaf to the wail of the orphan. The Lord attends to the prayer of the lowly and to those who serve God willingly. In this context, God’s justice – and therefore God’s mercy – is extended in a special way to those who are faithful to covenant. Psalm 34 confirms this teaching: The Lord hears the cry of the poor, the psalmist writes, and no one incurs guilt who takes refuge in him. God metes out justice in the form of love and mercy, especially to the most vulnerable of society, those who should be cared for above all else: the lowly, the just and the brokenhearted. 

    In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus similarly justifies those have the humility to seek God’s mercy. The Pharisee prays praising himself, with God given only a nod in the man’s monologue, while the tax collector beats his breast and prays, O God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Do we always recognize how dependent we are on God for his mercy? Do we recognize our need for God in our prayer? The tax collector is justified by God alone; to be in right relationship with God is to know that without God’s mercy, we are lost. Nothing matters if we don’t recognize our need for and trust in God’s mercy; without it, life is an empty shell. St. Paul acknowledges this in his Second Letter to Timothy: The Lord stood by me and gave me strength, he says, and I will be rescued from the lion’s mouth. Human threats mean nothing to him because of the promise of eternal life. St. Paul trusted in the promise, trusted the Lord with his life, and was jubilant to join his sufferings with the sufferings of Christ, willing to sacrifice all for the sake of that love, for the sake of revealing the love of God. God’s Word is ultimate because the Word reveals God’s justice; we must keep the faith, trusting that we will benefit from God’s justice as we wait for the promise of perfect union to be fulfilled. 

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

Image source: www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, October 24, 2021: Master, I want to see!

Master, I want to see…

How strong is your faith?

    The prophet Jeremiah is called by God to bring God’s message to the people during the final days of the kingdom of Judah, and his message is not generally well received or accepted. But it’s not all gloom and doom. Although he does prophesy the coming fall of Judah, he also speaks of God’s promise of future restoration: Behold, I will bring them back from the land of the north; I will gather them from the ends of the world. Even the blind and lame will return, and none shall stumble. Psalm 126 gives witness to the fulfillment of this promise: the Lord brought back the captives of Zion, the psalmist sings, asking, restore our fortunes, O Lord. Back from their exile, the people must restore their own land to its past prosperity, and ask God for help, trusting in God’s promise: They shall come back rejoicing.

    When, in Mark’s Gospel, the blind man Bartimaeus is told that Jesus is calling him, he too rejoices: He throws aside his cloak, springs up, and comes to Jesus immediately. Bartimaeus knows that Jesus has power; his cry, Jesus, son of David, have pity on me, is a statement of faith. Jesus has shown mercy to others, healing even another blind man at the Pool of Siloam; Bartimaeus has absolute faith and clearly articulates his request: Master, I want to see. It is a request not only for physical sight, but also for spiritual sight: Bartimaeus seeks deeper faith and will follow Jesus on the way. His sight restored, he will rejoice. Jesus’ followers are not always as strong in their faith; Jesus’ death on the cross shakes that faith severely. But as the Letter to the Hebrews explains, as the great high priest, Jesus was called by God to give his life, offering it as a sacrifice on behalf of the world, in order to fulfill God’s greatest promise of restoration: the promise of salvation, eternal life for all who believe.

    When we believe, when we have faith, God is always able to restore us, healing our spiritual blindness. Like Bartimaeus, we must take courage, leaping up to meet the Lord when he calls us, that his way – the way – may be our way as well.

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

Sunday Gospel Reflection, October 22, 2020: You shall love the Lord, your God, and your neighbor as yourself...

You shall love the Lord, your God, and your neighbor as yourself…

What does right relationship look like?

   When, in the Book of Exodus, God establishes his covenant with the people, God mandates social laws that prescribe the compassionate care of those less fortunate.  Widows, orphans, resident aliens, the poor:  all of these live in a state of utter dependence, and the compassion the people should extend to them has its origin in God himself.  If your neighbor cries out to me, I will hear him, for I am compassionate, God tells the people.  The people must live in right relationship with other – with neighbors and alien residents alike – in order to live in right relationship with God.  Moreover, to be in right relationship with God makes life extraordinary because it means that God is involved in our lives, supports us, and blesses us, as Psalm 18 recognizes: I love you, O Lord, my strength, O Lord, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer.  We are to embrace our absolute dependence on God and, in it, our absolute love for God, our foundation in all things, a love that flows out from us to other.

   That love for God and for other is at the center of Jesus’ response to the Pharisees, who challenge him in Matthew’s Gospel to identify the greatest commandment.  His response is the Shema Yisrael:  You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.  No aspect of our self is excused from relationship with God; we are to love with the whole of our being.  And that absolute love for God is the context for loving our neighbor as ourselves thanks to that love that overflows abundantly to other.  The Thessalonians were, in this sense, a model for all believers; their embrace of the kingdom, their acceptance of God’s perfect love, allowed them to give witness to that love.  From them the word of the Lord sounded forth as a joyful witness to the blessings to be found in right relationship with God and with other.  May we give similar witness to the power of that love in our lives and the joy it brings to be in right relationship with the Lord.

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

Image source:  www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, October 27, 2019: The prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds...

The prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds…

What’s the Lord done for you today?

  The Book of Sirach teaches us that the Lord hears the cry of the oppressed and pays particular attention to those members of society – in this case, widows and orphans – who are the most disadvantaged, because the prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds.  Sirach calls to justice all who think themselves righteous, encouraging the faithful to do what God commands, to act from a place of love and compassion in every dealing they have with others.  Psalm 34 echoes Sirach, noting that the Lord hears the cry of the poor, but taking this idea a step further:  the Lord is also close to the brokenhearted.  God reaches out to those who are hurting, to those who are feeling distant from him; his response to our distance is to draw close in order to comfort us.  If we take refuge in him, turning to him in our need, recognizing our need for his action in our lives, and accepting that he will work through us, then we have truly entered into relationship, entering into God and allowing God to enter into our lives.  But we must first recognize our need for the Lord, our need of his forgiveness, of his love, of his life within us.

  Unlike the psalmist, the Pharisee praying in the temple in Luke’s Gospel is not open to God, does not seem to need God’s help, and feels justified in standing before the Lord eye to eye, equal to equal.  He is so full of himself that he doesn’t realize the arrogance of his own prayer, believing he is not like the rest of humanity.  The lowly tax collector, on the other hand, gets it right:  he appreciates the depth of his own sin and knows that he doesn’t deserve to come before the Lord:  O God, be merciful to me, a sinner, he says.  But again, the Lord is close to the brokenhearted, and so the tax collector comes before God to ponder who God is and who he himself is and fully aware that he owes everything to God.  St. Paul will express a similar sentiment in his second letter to Timothy:  when he was brought to trial by the Romans, everyone deserted him – everyone but the Lord, who stood by him and gave him strength.  And so, Paul offers the entirety of his life to God, poured out like a libation, giving the whole of himself back to God, for God’s use, that he might give witness to the good news.

  We, too, must constantly remind ourselves that God is standing by us even when no one else is, and that the Lord is there to nurture us in faith, to keep us on course, to ensure that our lives are pure offering.  What has the Lord done for us today?  His presence alone sustains us; he is there, always, to rescue us, to redeem our lives, to be our refuge at all times.  May our petitions reach the heavens, that we might known God’s mercy and love in its fullness – that we might open to his compassionate care, drawing close to the Lord and the Lord draws close to us.

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

Image source:  www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, October 28, 2018: The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy!

 The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy! 

What makes you rejoice? 

   When the prophet Jeremiah describes the return of the exiles of the Northern kingdom from slavery in Assyria, God promises to console them and guide them and lead them to brooks of water.  It is a promise of restoration for all people, the blind and the lame, the mothers and those with children – all will be brought to new life; all will have occasion to shout with joy and exult!  Psalm 126 gives voice to just such laughter and rejoicing:  The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy!  The psalmist knows that the return from exile will not be easy – the people will sow in tears, weeping – but they can live in trust and confidence that, with time, the Lord will restore their fortunes, bringing them new life.

   The blind man, Bartimaeus experiences similar restoration in Mark’s Gospel.  Hearing that Jesus is passing by, having heard of Jesus’ healing actions elsewhere, Bartimaeus cries out, Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.  Bartimaeus even throws aside his cloak, essentially tossing aside all that he has, and, symbolically, all that has been, in order to embrace the new life Jesus can offer him.  Bartimaeus’ faith, his trust in the Lord, saves him, though he knows not how.  The Book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus was called by God to be the great high priest, the representative of the people before God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins, saving us through his ultimate sacrifice.

   The message here is that, if we are able to trust in God, and in God’s work through Jesus, then God will lead us where we need to be, walk with us, restore us, bring us new life – saving us, as Bartimaeus was saved.  To have faith is to trust that what God has promised will come about, even if we can’t see or imagine how.  May our eyes, like Bartimaeus’, be opened, that we might see, not only physically but spiritually, all the great things the Lord has done and will do for us, that we might rejoice and be glad indeed.

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

Image source:  www.wordle.net