Sunday Gospel Reflection, November 16, 2025: Work quietly...

Work quietly…
What can we do to maintain order in our world? 

    If order comes from being connected, connected to God and to each other, then disorder is that imbalance we create when we stop living consciously as Christians. Faith is not passive! And our readings this week challenge us to remember that, and to live intentionally, nurturing our relationships as a means to life-giving justice for all. 

   In our first reading from Malachi, the prophet reminds his listeners that all will be tested by fire – the day is coming that will set them on fire, he says. Those who have no substantive relationship with God because they are too proud to pay attention to God will perish. But those who are in right relationship and fear God’s name will know the sun of justice and its healing rays. Order will win out over disorder, and balance, or justice, will surely come, as Psalm 98 reminds us: The Lord comes to rule the earth with justice. 

   For Jesus, disorder was apparent when people believed their security was grounded in tangible things, like the spectacular temple Herod has built, a temple that would soon be destroyed. Instead, in Luke's Gospel Jesus says, pay attention to the intangible: persevere in relationship and not a hair on your head will be destroyed. When disorder rages through the land, the disciples must be confident that God will know them, because they have opened their hearts and tried to know God in this life on earth: By your perseverance, you will secure your lives, and order will win out over disorder. 

   How? Well, at least in part by doing what Paul encourages the Thessalonians to do: by being there for one another, helping one another, making their lives gift to one another, no matter what their fortunes might be. God’s love is enough, Paul says; live it actively. Be involved, be charitable Christians, because connection – to other, and to God – is the key to ensuring justice, and order, for all.

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

Sunday Gospel Reflection, November 17, 2024: Of that day or hour, no one knows...

Of that day or hour, no one knows…
Do you worry about what is to come? 

    In the Book of Daniel, probably written during the persecutions of Antiochus IV Epiphanes in the 2nd century BC, the prophet speaks of a time unsurpassed in distress, but assures the people that those whose names are written in the book of truth shall escape. In his description of the cataclysm to come, the author was not speaking of eternal life, but simply of those who would survive past the events predicted: the wise shall shine brightly, and those who lead the many to justice shall be like the stars forever. Clearly, the author of Daniel believed his community needed reassurance about the future! 

    Jesus similarly offers reassurance to his disciples in Mark’s Gospel. Yes, tribulation will happen, he says, but they are not to worry themselves about the precise timing of the events: of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. So, rather than stress over the future, get ready now! Don’t wait until later, until it’s convenient or imminent. Get ready now by recognizing who you are and what you have already: God is already at work in you. Even Jesus himself is waiting for the end times, as the Letter to the Hebrews tells us: Jesus took his seat forever at the right hand of God; now he waits until his enemies are made his footstool, that is, until we on earth have completed what he began and all, former enemies included, now serve him, know him, and believe in him, aware that he offered one sacrifice for sins, theirs included. Thus, all may be made perfect forever, consecrated, set aside for a holy purpose. 

    We gather daily at Mass to participate in Christ’s sacrifice for all. As Psalm 16 reminds us, only when we place ourselves under God’s care, allowing the Lord to direct our existence through prayer and Eucharist, can we set the Lord ever before us, confident that with him at our right hand, we shall not be disturbed. Thus, there is no need to worry about what is to come, for he shows us the path to life, fullness of joys in his presence, the delights at his right hand forever. Get ready! 

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

Sunday Gospel Reflection, November 19, 2023: Master, you gave me five talents. See, I have made five more.

Master, you gave me five talents. See, I have made five more...

Are we ready to invest the gifts God has given us? 

    As Jesus approached the end of his life on earth, it was essential to him that he prepare his disciples for the new age that was to come. In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus shares with his disciples the parable of the talents, in which a man gives each of three servants a sum of money, expecting that they will invest and increase it. Two of the three do so; the last, however, buries his master’s money in the ground, earning no interest whatsoever on what might have been an easy investment. 

    The parallels in the life of the disciples must have been obvious to them. The faith and insights the disciples have been given through Jesus have already made them spiritually rich. Revelation is a gift; if they recognize this, the disciples will share it; they will invest it in the service of others, proclaiming the good news. Everyone who has received revelation from God and accepted it becomes a conduit through which more revelation will come. Like the woman in the Book of Proverbs whose industry is a service to her community and whose works praise her at the city gates (she is a fruitful vine, in the words of Psalm 128), the disciples must invest the gifts God has given them for the benefit of others, putting these gifts at the service of others. 

   God gifts each of us with many blessings, most notable among them a capacity of heart that allows us to open in love to others; God has also given us light, and it is our responsibility to share that light, as Paul reminds the Thessalonians: you are children of the light and children of the day. It is up to us to let that light be a revelation to all. To do so, we must stay alert and sober, ever conscious that blessed are those who fear the Lord, who walk in his ways! God has infinite hope in us; God invests in us God’s perfect love, infinitely. We have but to remain faithful to the gifts and talents with which we ourselves are blessed, that all might be blessed, through us, by the infinite love of a God who invests everything in each of us. 

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

Sunday Gospel Reflection, November 13, 2022: Lo, the day is coming...

Lo, the day is coming… 

Do you think much about the Second Coming? 

    The people of Israel struggled with the idea of being faithful to covenant. The author of the Book of Malachi, God’s messenger, writes to remind people that evildoers, those who rely upon themselves and have no need of God, will be lost to the conflagration when the end comes: all the proud and all the evildoers will be like stubble, and the day is coming that will set them on fire. The proud have no substance; they have abandoned the substance God has made and will disappear into the air. But for you who fear my name, the Lord says, there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays. In the dark vision of Malachi, there is hope for those who are good. Paul must likewise reassure the Thessalonians, who believe that, since the Second Coming is imminent, they have no need to work: if anyone is unwilling to work, neither shall that one eat, Paul says. The Second Coming will occur, but the Thessalonians are to live actively in the present, supporting their community and continuing to be a witness to God’s love. 

    Jesus similarly warns of the difficulties of the end times, in Luke’s Gospel: nation will rise against nation, and his disciples will be hated by all because of Jesus’ name. Yet all this is nothing in light of the lives they will secure if they are faithful, eternal lives lived in Christ. Don’t worry about the end times, Jesus says, worry about staying true to God. Be prepared, but know that the Lord will provide all you need: I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist. Participate in salvation by doing the work of Christ now, today, by living the Gospel, even if imperfectly. Be a witness to God’s love and fear not the physical death that is to come, for if you allow Christ to live in you and if you live in him, then you will know salvation and will be reborn eternally in Christ. By your perseverance you will secure your lives, Jesus says. After all, Psalm 98 reminds us, The Lord comes to rule the earth with justice… but in his own time. That promise of justice offers us hope for eternal life. For the moment, though, we don’t need to focus on the timing: just be ready, and remain faithful. The moment the Lord comes to rule our lives is moment we will no longer fear death because we accept his rule, his justice, his embrace. Then and only then will we live entirely in him and he in us, for all eternity. 

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

Image source: www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, November 17, 2019: Lo, the day is coming, blazing like an oven...

Lo, the day is coming, blazing like an oven…

Should you be afraid of the future?

  It’s hard to face what we might call the end times… to imagine that the world as we know it will end in the not unimaginable future, whether it be due to our own personal demise or to a cataclysmic event that affects our entire nation or even the planet.  This hesitation to face what’s coming is part of human nature.  In the Book of Malachi, for example, the people of Israel are cynical, weary, and even negligent, so God calls them to reform, announcing a general reckoning for those who fail to change their ways:  Lo, the day is coming when all the proud and all evildoers will be stubble… Jesus has a very similar message in Luke’s Gospel:  the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.  The images in both stories are violent:  blazing fires, violent destruction, both natural and human-made, and even oppression and intense suffering:  they will seize and persecute you because of my name, Jesus tells his disciples.  It is all quite terrifying!

  But, as both Malachi and Jesus reassure their listeners, God is just.  We may, like certain lazy members of the Thessalonians' community, be acting in a disorderly way, not minding our own business but complicating the lives of others, distracted by end times we imagine as coming soon.  Or our sins might be more serious, sins against justice toward our fellow human beings.  Yet Malachi speaks of the sun of justice with its healing rays that will shine on those who fear God’s name, and Jesus encourages his listeners to exercise clear-headedness and endurance:  By your perseverance you will secure your lives.  However, total commitment is necessary – total commitment to orderly living, to living in awe of God’s power, in right relationship with God, a God who comes to rule the earth with justice (Psalm 98) and expects us to be just in turn, life-giving to those around us, committed to the name of Jesus, living for him before all else.  There is nothing to fear, in truth – not a hair on your head will be destroyed – so long as we surrender our lives to the God who loves us, with confidence in his name, open to mysteries that are beyond our comprehension, accepting change and challenges as they come, secure in the knowledge that our just God rules the peoples with equity, and will rule us with equity as well.

Image source:  www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, November 18, 2018: You will not abandon my soul to the netherworld...

You will not abandon my soul to the netherworld…

How do we deal with chaos?

  Things may get worse before they get better.  At least that is what the prophet Daniel seems to be suggesting to his audience when he gives his vision of the end times:  it shall be a time unsurpassed in distress, but those who are true to their covenant with God will be vindicated:  the wise shall shine brightly like the splendor of the firmament, Daniel says.  Although they may have to endure a time of turmoil, the people of God can trust that, if they stay true, working at doing good works, bringing God’s love to bear upon others’ lives, they shall live – like the stars –  forever.  Psalm 16 likewise reassures the faithful that God will not abandon their souls to the netherworld, so long as they remember always that God is the whole of their identity, their allotted portion and their cup.

  In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus similarly speaks to his disciples about a time of turmoil and tribulation, when chaos will seem to reign once more upon the earth and the stars will be falling from the sky.  But, so long as they remain vigilant, so long as they continue to focus on the one who rules their heart, the one who brings mercy and forgiveness, the one who calls them to the kingdom where he is, they will participate in the fullness of its coming, for at that time the Lord will gather his elect.  In the meantime, as the Letter to the Hebrews tells us, Jesus, having offered one sacrifice for sins, has taken his seat forever at the right hand of God, where he waits for all to come to pass as he taught them. 

  We experience chaos every day – the chaos of failure and of sin, the chaos of error and lack of human foresight – but we also experience grace, for joy is often not possible without sadness.  God’s mercy is capable of seeing past all we do as human beings.  It’s up to us to do our best to remain faithful, true to our relationship with the Lord, bringing God’s love to bear upon the lives of others, so that we too can endure the end times to come in the hope that we will be made perfect forever, perfect, that is, in our final, perfect union with the Lord.

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

Image source:  www.wordle.net