Today’s Thoughts: We often think when we hear stories like the one about the “Rich Fool” in today’s Gospel (Luke 12: 13-21) that Jesus doesn’t like those who are rich and that is not true. When Jesus talks about wealth, possessions, status and power it is not to condemn them but merely to challenge all who find themselves in possession of them. Jesus wants to know what we are going to do with what we possess. Do we use wealth, possessions, status and power to make ourselves comfortable or do we use them to help others? What we do with what we have is always the question.
As Jesus points out today, we cannot take it with us. As a friend of mine always says, “You never see a U-Haul behind a hearse!" In other words, you cannot take it with you so what are you going to do with it? Pope Francis is constantly challenging us to care about the poor, the needy, the less fortunate, the immigrants and the struggling. This challenge is nothing new it has been part of our faith from the beginning. Care and concern for the poor flows out of the Gospel. It is the same message that Jesus presents today. In the early Church the question of those in need was always part of the Church's focus. Pope Francis is just reminding us of what Jesus has said all along. As Passionists, St. Paul of the Cross wanted us to be called “The Poor of Jesus.” He wanted us to seek out all those struggling in in the Passion of Jesus. Our Rule, our Constitutions of Life, talk about our option for the poor. They should be our first concern, especially those who encounter the Passion of Jesus in their life today. Wealth, power, possessions and status are not evil. They are not counter to the Gospel; unless we fail to share, unless we only think of ourselves, unless we let injustice and poverty go unchallenged. Do we use the gifts, talents, possessions, wealth and power to make the world for all people a better place? In other words, by living our life are we rich in what matters to God? Have a great Monday everyone!
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Today’s Thoughts: The Gospel today is a perfect picture of the collision between two forces, the perfectly human and the perfectly Jesus. James and John ask for a favor and it is a good one. Jesus responds with a loaded question of His own. It is loaded, because He is asking whether they know really what is good for them. They are asking to be up in the owner’s box when the “kingdom” comes marching in.
The Roman kingdom or empire is always the prevailing setting for the listeners of Jesus. Roman domination is all they have ever known. Jesus talks of a new kingdom, but His listeners slowly are learning that their concepts of kingdom are changing. So, James and John come out of their historical context and their human self-centeredness. There is a need for a readiness to learn setting now. The Greek word, baptizein (emphasis on the second syllable) means “immersion” or “sinking into.” The “cup” which will be offered to drink by Jesus will be offered to His closest followers and He asks if they can allow themselves to drink the cup and be immersed. The two affirm that they can. Jesus then affirms that they will enter the deepest experience of Jesus’ life, His death. The Gospel reading for today ends with quite a self-defining statement. Jesus is living among in the world as a servant. He is inviting all to see His life and theirs as the heart of the new kingdom. The Romans enslave with power, Jesus as servant offers the power of self-sacrifice as participation in the Kingdom. Can they drink that, take it in and sink into this kind of living? Jesus is meeting His human family where they are and serving them what is good for them. The empire of Rome is a large section of our human territory. Much of our suffering occurs when that personal empire collides with our weaker desires for God’s kingdom to come and replace our own. All sufferings cannot be explained so easily. We are invited to drink and sink into the powerful and gentle arms of Jesus our faith Servant, serving us toward what is ultimately good for us. When did we say that following Jesus is easy? Have a blessed Sunday everyone! In the United States today Saturday October 20th is the Feast of St. Paul of the Cross. In the rest of the world the feast was celebrated yesterday October 19th. The reason for the difference is that in the United States on October 19th the Feast of the North American Martyrs, St. John de Brebeuf and St. Isaac Jogues and Companions is celebrated, so a number of years ago the Passionists of North America petitions Rome to have St. Paul of the Cross' feast day transferred to October 20th as it is today.
What follows is a very important section of our Constitutions... We seek the unity of our lives and our apostolate in the Passion of Jesus. His Passion reveals the power of God which penetrates the world, destroying the power of evil and building the Kingdom of God. We express our participation in the Passion by a special vow, which is at once personal, communitarian, and apostolic. Through this vow we bind ourselves to keep alive the memory of the Passion of Christ. By word and deed we strive to foster awareness of its meaning and value for each person and for the life of the world. Fundamentals of Our Life… From the Passionist Constitutions The Icon below was done by Br. Michael Moran, C.P. Today’s Thoughts: Today’s Gospel passage just might leave one stumped. What does Jesus mean by the unforgivable sin, the sin against the Holy Spirit? What specifically would it be?
Here the Scriptures and Church teaching seem to be on a collision course. The Catechism assures us God’s mercy overcomes even the gravest evil, when there is sincere contrition. The power of God is a mighty force, that can go many places and accomplish amazing things. However, the one thing that can stop God’s power dead in its tracks, time and time again, is the hardness of the human heart. Because God will not force himself on us. But we have a wily God who knows how to find a way. Just look at our first reading from St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. St. Paul is thankful at how God has found a way into the Ephesians hearts through faith and love for one another. Yes, we can cut ourselves off from God. We can harden our hearts. We can speak against the Holy Spirit. But we also have the hope that God will find a way to turn that hard heart into a human heart and turn our blasphemes into faith! Have a great Saturday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: “Do not be afraid.” Jesus’ words toward the end of today’s Gospel. At first glance, this passage from Luke’s Gospel (Luke 12: 1-7) today it is a bit confusing. Jesus first talks about who to fear. We are to fear the one who can take eternal life from us. But then Jesus tells us not to fear because God is with us, God cares, God has our back!
I could not help but think about St. Paul’s words from the eighth chapter of Roman when he says, “If God is for us who can be against us!” I have often said we should right this down and keep it next to our bed and read it when we wake up each morning and before we close our eyes each night. “If God is for us who can be against us!” What a wonderful thought. Perhaps Jesus is saying the same thing when he tells us we are worth far more than many sparrows. God knows us intimately, he knows every hair on our head. God has our back so even though life presents us with many reasons to be afraid Jesus reminds us not to be because, to paraphrase the words of Thomas Merton, God will never leave us to face our perils and fears alone! Have a blessed Friday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: We celebrate the feast of St. Luke, the Evangelist and companion of St. Paul today. In the first reading, (2 Timothy 4:10-17b), we are reminded that St. Paul was not always successful in his relationships. Two of his companions leave him but one, Luke, remains. When St. Paul was challenged in his ministry and he was challenged often, I am sure that he wished that there were more friends there to help him. But the Lord always stood by St. Paul and provided him with the strength necessary to push on.
From this story in St. Paul’s Letter to Timothy and others like it we can be graced with the hope that in our journey of faith our support, like St. Paul’s, comes from God in many different ways. God is always with us and will never leave us to face our perils alone. And like Luke for Paul, friends and family who stand by us, even when others forget us, are special gifts. Perhaps today on this Feast of St. Luke, Evangelist and faithful friend we might give thanks for the faithful friends in our own lives. Thanking God for them and the gifts that they are to us! Have a great Thursday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: Our readings today (Galatians 5:18-25 and Luke 11:42-46) focus on two things – living in the Spirit and judging others. We are challenged by our scriptures today to not be judges but to be people of compassion, to be people of the Spirit.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer speaks to Paul and Jesus’ message today with his own reflection. “Judging others makes us blind, whereas love is illuminating. By judging others we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace which others are just as entitled to as we are.” Love and grace are gifts of the Spirit and they help us not to be blind judges but to be people of generosity, kindness, joy, peace and faithfulness. As does Henri Nouwen with his words; “As long as we continue to live as if we are what we do, what we have, and what other people think about us, we will remain filled with judgments, opinions, evaluations, and condemnations. We will remain addicted to putting people and things in their "right" place.” In other words, we will place burdens on others and certainly not be people of the Spirit. The question that we might ask ourselves today is do we want to be blind and addicted? Hopefully not – which means we need to remember let God be the judge and every time we are tempted to point out another’s fault, we should think of our own shortcomings. If we approach life this way we will be graced by God’s mercy and patience, we will be living in the Spirit! Have a great Wednesday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: As we have often heard, “You cannot judge a book by its cover!” We might say that this saying reflects what Jesus is talking about in the Gospel (Luke 11: 37-41) today. Jesus speaks about the outside of the Pharisees verses the inside. What they appear to be, what people see verses what they really do and think.
Jesus is speaking to the challenge of finding balance in life. Our life is not just about appearance it is about what we believe and how we live that belief each day. Living a life of faith begins in our hearts and our actions need to reflect what is in our hearts. St. Paul in his Letter to the Galatians is speaking about balance. Balance between the law and the spirit. Balance between what is learned, what guides us and what we believe. Being out of balance places us at risk. Being in balance opens the gift of God’s love. The Pharisees were not bad people however at times they let their power, their position, their influence and their authority get the best of them. They forgot who and what was at the center of their life. They forgot the purpose and meaning of their life. They put themselves first. They got out of balance. It can happen to anyone, it can happen to us. Being in balance is important. We need to always remember that everything, outside and inside comes from God. As Pope Emeritus Benedict put it, “Every form of gift is, in a word, a sign of the presence of God, because it leads to the fundamental discovery that, at the origin, everything is given.” Have a great Tuesday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: Sometime the signs God gives us come from people and experiences we least expect. This little sentence might best sum up the Gospel (Luke 11: 29-32) today. Often, we are looking for the great or the grand or the unusual when it comes to God. We want unbelievable miracles. Yet all around us God is speaking and often God can be found in unexpected places and heard through unexpected people.
Jonah himself did not think the people of Nineveh would get it but they did. The queen of Ethiopia, the Queen of Africa did not believe in Solomon’s God, but she came and could see and hear God’s wisdom in Solomon. It often has been said that, God works in mysterious ways and throughout scripture we are reminded of God’s mysterious ways! The challenge for us is to not box God in, to not predict God’s intentions. We need to listen, to look around us and be ready to see, hear and experiences the presence of God in our lives. We cannot write-off people or experience because we never know when we will find God through them. The signs of Jonah and the queen of the south are all around us. We need to be ready, willing and open to see and hear them! Have a great Monday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: I found it interesting that on the Sunday that Archbishop Oscar Romero was canonized that the Gospel was the story of the rich young man who had to walk away from Jesus’ invitation to follow. Perhaps Pope Francis planned it this way or maybe the contrast between the Gospel story and St. Romero is meant to give us pause for reflection.
It is often said that the story of the man in today’s Gospel is one of the saddest stories in all of the Gospels. Perhaps saddest next to Jesus’ suffering and death. The sadness is that the man is the only person in the Gospels who walks away from Jesus. Sure, the scribes, Pharisees and religious leaders don’t buy into Jesus’ message but the young man in the story comes to Jesus for help and guides and still walks away. Why? Because the young man wants to inherit eternal life but finds it hard to live the journey. Jesus looks upon him with love but in sadness he walks away. St. Oscar Romero and for that matter all the women and men canonized today chose not to walk away but to accept Jesus’ invitation. They each did it in their own way. I am sure there were moments in their journeys when they felt like walking away like the young man, but they didn’t. They chose to make the journey with Jesus. I have always liked the prayer in our first reading today from the Book of Wisdom. It is often referred to as Solomon’s Prayer. We hear a man, King Solomon, who literally has everything, yet he comes to realize that he has nothing if he doesn’t have Wisdom. Nothing is worth more, is as valuable as Wisdom. The women and men canonized today understood the importance of God’s Wisdom in their lives. It was that Wisdom that empowered them to say yes to the journey that Jesus invited them to live. It is in the grace, the virtue of God’s Wisdom that sad stories become stories of faith, hope and love. Through the intercessions of the saints particularly those canonized today may we be blessed with God’s Wisdom so that in our moments of searching for eternal life we will be willing to say yes and not sadly walk away! Sunday blessings and peace to all in the spirit of St. Oscar Romero! |
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
May 2023
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