Today’s Thoughts: After reading today’s Gospel (Matthew 5:17-19) one might ask the question, “What law is Jesus speaking about?” At first glance we might be tempted to say that Jesus was about abolishing the law rather than fulfilling it. His life and ministry often seemed to challenge Jewish law rather than support it or fulfill it.
However, we might think about a conversation Jesus had with a scribe in Mark 12:28-34, the scribe asked Jesus, “Which is the first of all the commandments?” Jesus’ responds “to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself, these are the two great commandments.” Now, if we think of this conversation considering today’s Gospel then we might begin to have a real understanding of what law Jesus is talking about. All of law flows from these two great commandments, love of God and neighbor. Jesus’ life was about fulfilling these commandments, his life, his actions, his teaching and his ministry all centered on living a life in love of God and others. All that Jesus said and did was to bring fulfillment to the great law of love. Jesus showed us the way to fulfill the law, to change the world. Thus, the challenge for us in today’s Gospel is about how we live our life. Do we live our life to help bring fulfillment to the law of love? Do we live life loving God, others and ourselves? Have a blessed, holy, safe, and healthy Wednesday everyone!
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Today’s Thoughts: In Matthew Jesus uses the wonderful example of salt and light in asking the disciples, in asking us to reflect on our lives. I have often preached on this Gospel using the image not of the Sermon on the Mount but of Jesus talking with his disciples one evening as they rested at an inn. They have traveled with him and Jerusalem in not far away and Jesus isn’t sure that they are ready for what is ahead, he isn’t sure their answer is “yes.” How can he help them trust in their relationship?
Then an idea comes to mind. He calls them together. Before he speaks he looks at each one of them and then says, “You are the salt of the earth! But what if salt loses it flavor? What is then good for?” Then he looks at each of them intently again and says. “You are the light of the world! People don’t put a lamp under a bushel basket, they put it on a stand so that it gives light to the whole room. In the same way your light must shine, your flavor must be tasted!” Now I know I am being a bit free and easy with Jesus’ words, but the point is that in order for us to say “yes” to God we need to trust in the gifts and talents God has given us. We need to realize that we have something to offer no matter how ordinary our gifts, abilities and talents seem. Salt and light were everyday staples of life, yet as Jesus tells us they were also very valuable and so are we. However, it is up to us. We can hide our light, we can lose our flavor, or we can give light to the whole room and add flavor to life! Perhaps the first place to start is to begin our day asking God to let his face shine upon us so that our flavor isn’t lost and our light shines! Have a blessed, holy, safe, and healthy Tuesday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: I have a couple of thoughts about the Gospel today (Matthew 5: 1-12). The Beatitudes are one of my favorite Gospels but also one of the most challenging Gospels for me. Often after hearing it proclaimed, I am energized yet also humbled. I am ready to encounter the world, yet I am also ready to head to the confessional. I want to be a true disciple, yet I know I am far from it!
Fr. James Martin, S.J. writes “What does it mean to be poor in spirit?” I must admit I have always struggle with an understanding of this first beatitude. Fr. Martin’s answer, “Poor in Spirit is to know one’s reliance on God, to understand one’s dependence on God and to grasp one’s humanity.” I guess we might say that to be “poor in spirit” is to let go and let God. The other challenge of the beatitudes is that to live fully any one of the beatitudes, you will almost automatically begin to live them all. Perhaps to put it another way, “You can’t live just one!” In order to be a peacemaker, we need to also be meek, merciful, clean of heart, righteous and poor in spirit. In order to be merciful, we need to be clean of heart, meek, poor in spirit, righteous and a peacemaker. They go hand in hand. However, living the beatitudes is not easy because they will make us vulnerable to insult, persecution, and the evils of our world. They will open us up to the insecurities of the world which can be troubling, harsh, insensitive, and hurtful. In other words, living the beatitudes can open us up to be stepped on, hurt, and not valued as a person. Living the beatitudes almost always put us in tension with the ways of culture, society, and the world. Yet, during all this Jesus tells us to rejoice and be glad. The challenge of the beatitudes has been going on since the beginning of time. Women and men before us have faced the challenge and their prize, the Kingdom, awaits us. Perhaps all the beatitudes can really be proclaimed and lived in the phrase, “Let go and let God!” Have a blessed, holy, safe, and healthy Monday everyone! Today Thoughts: Perhaps, the comment theme of our feast today can be summed up in the word mystery. The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity is mystery that is the only way we can think about it. Our human language gives us our imperfect way to express it, One God, Three Persons – how can that be? Mystery!
Yes, our three short readings today move us from Mystery to the practical living of life and back to Mystery again. In our first reading from the Book of Exodus we are reminded of God’s love, which at times in mystery. Moses reflects on God’s love in for a people who are stiffed necked and sinful. Why is God so willing to love? Mystery! As I read our second reading from St. Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians, I could not help but think of our current struggles as a nation and world. St. Paul is laying out a way to live life. A way to overcome the difficulties and sinfulness that we face as a country and a world. We are to mend our ways, treat one another with respect and trust in the grace of Jesus Christ, the love of God and the friendship of the Holy Spirit. Simple, right! Yet, we seem to make it so complicated. We seem to fail at every attempt. Finally, in our Gospel, we return to the Mystery of God’s love. “God so loved the world that he gave us his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:16-17) Mystery, why does God so love us given our struggles and sinfulness? The answer rests in the Mystery of God. As I have shared with you in the past, a number of years ago I read a book entitled Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith by Barbara Brown Taylor. Barbara is one of my favorite authors, I love the way she writes and how she tells a story. In one of the chapter Barbara tells a little anecdote about life as pastor/rector of her first parish in northern Georgia. After services one Trinity Sunday she found a miniature Three Musketeer Bar and a note on her car. They were from an eccentric woman who lived across the street from the church. The note read, “One for all and all for one, Happy Trinity Sunday.” I could not help but laugh as I read the story and the story has stuck with me over the years and I keep coming back to it. Taylor writes the story as she is talking about settling into her first parish as a pastor/rector. It wasn’t easy, there were challenges and struggles, but this story seemed to reflect an acceptance, a fitting in for her. Perhaps that is what this feast of the Holy Trinity is all about. We celebrate the mystery of God as Trinity, three persons but one God. Just saying it seems odd. How can we have three persons but just one God? How can we talk about three individuals yet still only be talking about one God? In human language it is impossible yet that is what we believe. We celebrate the gift of three persons so connect, so intimate, so focused that they are one. Believing means that we are part of that one, members of the relationship, accepted. We believe in, we celebrate our God today who is all for one and one for all. Have a blessed, holy, safe, and healthy Trinity Sunday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: In our first reading today from St. Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy, St. Paul continues his encouragement of Timothy, but he also challenged to him to be leader, without fear, and full of courage. Which I believe helps us to understand our Gospel today!
Once again, in our Gospel from Mark, we find Jesus in conflict with the religious leaders of his time. Jesus seems to always be hard on the religious leaders of his day. The long robes, the honors they receive so willingly, clashes with Jesus' view of leadership. For Jesus their leadership is a shame, they “recite lengthy prayers” while at the same time, devour the houses of widows." Jesus’ vision of leadership, of being a religious person is about kindness, compassion, and authenticity. We might ask what has gone wrong for the religious leaders? What is the temptation that takes them to self-righteousness and the externals of religious practice, and away from a heart like Jesus’ rich in mercy and hearing the cry of the poor? When our story moves to Jesus' sitting across from the temple treasury, he becomes the teacher who gives us an image to remember for life. Jesus observes, "many rich people put in large sums," but then, "a poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents." Jesus contrasts those who "contributed from their surplus wealth" and the widow who "from her poverty, has contributed all she had." Like St. Paul in our first reading to Timothy here is Jesus’ honest challenging and liberating message to us. Having many things makes it difficult to depend upon God alone. Letting go of things, placing our lives in God's hands, allows us to keep everything in perspective and to give generously, "and not to count the cost." Have a blessed, holy, safe, and healthy Saturday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: Sometimes when we encounter the daily scriptures they create different emotional responses. Take todays two readings one from St. Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy and the other from the Gospel of Mark, they present us with two different situations that might just product two different emotions within us. In the passage from St. Paul’s Letter we encounter Paul’s continued council of Timothy as he takes on the role of leader in the faith community while in the Gospel of Mark we are presented with a perplexing little riddle that is part of Jesus’ ongoing tension with the religious leaders of his time – we might say our scriptures today present us with a challenge to living our faith and the reason for ongoing conflict.
In the selection from St. Paul’s Letter we are reminded that faith, that being a Christian is no easy task. It is serious business and that words are never enough, they must be back up by action, by the living of life. Paul reminds Timothy that faith is about the basic virtues of loyalty and kindliness, a way of living life that is open to everyone. St. Paul’s words today are a strong reminder for us as we go through this difficult time in our nation’s history. Words, rhetoric are not enough especially if they are not followed up by actions. Racist will not change just by saying so. Change will only take place if we incorporate the words into the living of our life. If we look at and treat people as God’s gifts, as created in the image and likeness of God and do not just say it. St. Paul is challenging Timothy to be a good leader and at the same time he is challenging us to be good people of faith, As I said above it is not easy because it will open us up to ridicule and as Paul puts it persecution. Christianity, faith is advanced citizenship in the Kingdom of God and until we reach that Kingdom it will be demanding, difficult, a struggle and often unpopular! Our Gospel continues the back and forth between Jesus and he religious leadership of his time. Today, Jesus challenges them with a little riddle about David and the people listening are delighted with Jesus’ mastery over those who are in charge. Throughout this exchange that takes place in Chapter Twelve of Mark, Jesus seem to constantly reinforce the fundamental qualities of life like compassion, love, forgiveness, generosity, and prayer. We might say that Jesus and St. Paul are saying you cannot just hold up a bible or take a picture in from of a statue and be Christian. St. Paul reminds us there are a lot of deceivers out there. Being a Christian is an act of living life in the presence of God. Jesus refuses to get caught up in “when,” “where,” or “how,” Jesus is concerned about the now! It is the act of living in the now that is most important. Tobit and Anna had hope in the future but their lives of patience and love were firmly grounded in the present and in the end, they found new sight and life-giving love. Let’s not look too far ahead. Let us not make things too complicated. Let’s be watchful, loving, compassionate, forgiving, generous and prayerful so that we don’t miss those wonderful moments of God’s presence that come to our doorstep! Have a blessed, holy, safe, and healthy Friday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: I have always liked the story that we find in today’s Gospel (Mark 12: 28-34). I especially like the end when Jesus looks at the scribe and says, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.” It is perhaps the only moment in the Gospels when Jesus and the scribes are on the same page. There is a mutual understanding, a mutual respect at this moment in the struggle between Jesus and the religious leaders of his time. It is a nice thing to see. Would that this kind of understand and respect would happen between leaders of all kinds during our time.
The respect and understanding centers around the two great commandments, love of God and love of neighbor and we might say there is a third, love of self, because Jesus says we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. As Jesus teaches and the scribe comes to understand, these are the two or three great commandments and everything else flows from them, which might explain why we find ourselves in the struggles that we are in today. If we just look around at our world, our culture, our society, our church the problems that we find relate to the way we live out or perhaps better said, do not live out these commandments. Our struggles can be directly related to how we do not value God and perhaps more importantly how we do not value others or ourselves. We might even say that our struggles as a culture, society, church, and a world can be traced to the lack of love that we have for ourselves. If we do not love ourselves how can we love others, how can we love God? Love is not just wanting the best for ourselves, others, and God. Love is a respect, a reverence for life, for who we are as individuals, as a culture, as a society, as a church, as a world. Love is finding the good in ourselves, others, and God. Love is seeing God in others and in ourselves. Love is seeing, acknowledging, and accepting the differences in ourselves and others but most importantly still being able to find God. We profess love for God, we desire to get back to church, to receive the Eucharist, but then we hate, we focus our anger and disrespect toward others, we judge by our standards, we use words that harm, we offer no love for others useless they do what we want. St. Paul reminds Timothy today in our first reading, “to stop disputing about words. This serves no useful purpose since it harms those who listen. Be eager to present yourself as acceptable to God, a workman who causes no disgrace, imparting the word of truth without deviation.” Truth is in short supply today, especially from our leadership. Words are twisted and manipulated. truth is often far from our mouths. We do not listen, we do not think, and we do not strive to understand others. We judge! Our challenge today and every day is to put into practice these three great commandments. Our challenge is to wake up each day in love with God, our neighbor and ourselves! Have a blessed, holy, safe, and healthy Thursday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: In today's Gospel reading, Mark considers the problem of life after death and its implications. Jesus takes the side of the Pharisees, believing in resurrection from the dead, as opposed to the view of the Sadducees. This is one of the reasons why Jesus frustrated the Pharisees so much: although he seemed to be one of them according to this criterion, he refused to interpret Scripture as literally as they did or to put as much importance on a strict and literal interpretation of the Law. He goes beyond (not against) what many Old Testament texts seem to assume concerning both life after death.
The wider question which Jesus is addressing here is how we are to interpret Scripture. A literal interpretation is easy for us to understand and so to follow, at least insofar as our having confidence in doing the right thing is concerned. Anyone who is willing to come to grips with Scripture, soon recognizes that this approach has its problems. The interpretation of the Scriptures is best left to the scholars, what is important for us is how we as individuals read Scripture and draw sustenance from God through it. What I am referring to here is prayer. If we are to have a living friendship with God, we need to be in conversation with him. Scripture, as the Word of God, plays an important role here but cannot be taken literally or assumed to have only one "message" in a given passage. Scripture is rather a place where we listen to what God says through a particular passage. The Spirit will lead us to pay attention to one aspect of that reading, to a word or expression, or will inspire us with a new understanding of ourselves and who we are. What is most important here for us is first that we pray, regularly, with or without using the Scripture, and then that we reflect on what we are doing and what we experience in prayer. And then go on to live in the strength of that Word. Mark’s Gospel today ends with the great affirmation that God is the God of the living and we encounter this living God first and foremost through prayer. God is not waiting for us to survive life, God is actively nudging us through prayer and in other ways so that we give life to his kingdom every day. Have a blessed, holy, safe, and healthy Wednesday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: Perhaps two thoughts from our readings today. The first comes from our initial reading today from the Second Letter of St. Peter. I could not help but think of all the goings on these days, the virus that has been with us for months now, the deaths of a number of innocent people, the protests, the violence, the dissension, hate, anger that is present in our society, culture, nation and Church. Maybe like the early Church that Peter is writing to we long for Christ to come again and get us out of this mess. However, as Peter tells the community, we have got to wait, with patience and faith, God works in God’s time. We need to live life with the faith and hope that longs for God’s presence and love!
Secondly, in our Gospel today, Jesus finds himself once again challenged, harassed, or questioned by the religious leadership. The Pharisees and Herodians seem to be at least civil this time, yet they are still trying to entrap Jesus. Their tactic this time is to ask about paying taxes. In recent years there has been a lot of talk about religious freedom, about the government infringing on the rights of churches, religions. Perhaps our Gospel story today can be cast in the light of religious freedom after all Rome was asking for tax money so that they could continue their conquering ways. Just think of all the barbaric acts that these taxes would be paying for. Just think of the Roman occupation that these taxes would be helping to fund. It would seem only right for Jesus to say that withholding the Roman tax would be the right thing to do. However, Jesus simply says, “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” In other words, culture and society are not always going to line up with our faith values yet we are still part of culture and society. We will need to give what they require but we will also need to live out our faith, our relationship with God. At times, these two relationships are in tension even conflict, like in our own times and we are called to make choices. The choices are not always easy and often have consequences. The challenge is that we live in the world, but we are friends of God. Have a blessed, holy, safe, and healthy Tuesday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: Today we celebrate a memorial new as of two years ago to our Church calendar, a day dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church. Back in March 2018 it was announced that Pope Francis had added this new feast in honor of Mary and that it would be celebrated the Monday after Pentecost.
I remember reading on Facebook or Twitter someone sayings, “Do we really need another feast in honor of Mary?” I suppose some part of me agrees with that question but the rest of me says, “Yes, we do.” It is common knowledge that Pope Francis has a great devotion to Mary and he has chosen to honor Mary in this way the day after Pentecost, the birthday of the Church. It seems only fitting to honor the Church’s Mother the day after. Since I was a child I have always seen Mary as mother. To me honoring Mary as the Mother of the Church is as natural as making the sign of the cross. Mary is Jesus’ mother, the Blessed Mother. But, more importantly we need to stop and think of Mary as our mother, in a personal way. Perhaps, a question we should ask ourselves today is; “What does Mary as our Mother mean for us today? The Gospel chosen for today comes from near the end of the Passion in John’s Gospel (John 19:25-34). The passage begins right before Jesus’ death when he looks at his mother and the disciple whom he loved and says to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son." Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother." We could simply pass this moment off as Jesus making sure his mother is taken of, however it is much more profound. Jesus is not only taking care of his mother, he is also taking care of us. This moment is about Mary’s presence in our lives as Mother of the Church. Everything born into this world comes through a mother. Mothers are the touchstones of life and today we honor the most important touchstone of our faith. Perhaps we should take some time with Pope Francis today to honor Mary’s presence in our life as Mother of the Church and thank he for her faith and her “yes!” Have a blessed, holy, safe, and healthy Monday everyone! |
Fr. Paul R. Fagan, C.P. "Preacher on the Run"Just a few thoughts to help you on your journey through life...let me know from time to time what you think... Archives
April 2024
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