Today’s Thoughts: Our Gospel parable today is about waiting and watching but perhaps more so about actively living our faith. The parable presents us with five wise and five foolish young women who are waiting for the bridegroom to arrive.
The five foolish young women do not have enough oil to keep their lamps burning and the groom arrives and the “short sighted” ones ask the “well prepared” ones for help. Now given what Jesus often challenges us to be and do you might ask, “Why don’t the five who have give to the five who don’t have?” It would seem that is what Jesus would want us to do. He often asks us to share! Doesn’t Jesus say that all are welcome, the haves and the have nots? Perhaps, this parable is meant to scare us all into behaving lest we get caught short. From scripture point of view the images that the parable provides for us are clear, the groom is the Christ. The young women are the Church, the believers. The oil is faith. All of us are gifted, graced with faith. So, the next question might be, the five who do not have enough oil, what or who do they represent? Well, faith is a virtue, a grace, a gift, but it is strengthened by action. Faith cannot be passive, it must be active. Faith is not enough just to have, it must be lived. Faith-watching, faith-waiting, faith living is always active, lively, expressive of the relationship, a friendship with Jesus. Those who ask for more oil, in our parable, have not been exercising, living out the light of their faith. The reason the five wise women cannot give their oil is that God alone gives faith. I cannot give faith to anybody, only the gift of how I live out my faith as it influences my life and my living. The five did not spend the watching, waiting, living of life well and they ran out of oil, they ran out of time. About a week ago I was reading an article on line about how Pope Francis sided with Pope Benedict in one aspect of the liturgical wars that always go on within our Church. This specific issue goes back to the present translation of the Roman Missal. Now you might not be aware of it but during the institution narrative of the Blood of Christ, under the current translation, the priest prayers, “For this is the chalice of my blood, the blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you and the many…” The previous translation was, “For this is the chalice of my blood, the blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you and for all…” Now since the new translation has come out there has been an ongoing debate between translators, liturgists, theologians and many others. Up until a week or so ago, I took the side of those that said, “for all.” Jesus died for all. I truly believe that, however, Pope Francis has cause me to pause and look at things differently. Pope Francis said; “The ‘many’ who will rise for eternal life are to be understood as the ‘many’ for whom the blood of Christ was shed.” He added that “for many” better expresses the idea that people have a choice to make in this life – whether to be for God or against Him. In other words, faith must be lived. Yes, Jesus died for all but not everyone lives their faith, not everyone chose Christ. Jesus poured out his blood for those who live their faith. So, we wait, watch, listen, but we do these things actively. We will be found when we live expecting to be found. Waiting involves living actively by faith so that our oil increases and the light of our lamps enlightens our hearts and souls. So, it is not just saying “Lord, Lord”, but it is about living our faith brightly in a world that is often dark, ready and waiting of Christ and the feast to come. Christ are worth the wait, but as we find out today, waiting is more than just standing around. Have a great Sunday everyone and don’t forget to give God a little time today!
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Today’s Thoughts: “No servant can serve two masters.” (Luke 16:13) No we cannot divide our focus when it comes to living life, when it comes to our faith. And so, offer the following reflection so that we might focus on what really matters today…
Celebrate each moment as it comes to you…with faith, trust and gratitude. Because all that happens in our life has God’s mark on it. Each day offer a simple fiat…It can be as simple as taking a breath, or the beat of our heart, but let it say thanks God! Seek God each and every day, not in some far-off place, not in the trappings of history but in the world around us. God is always right here, in this place, in our hearts. God is right here, where we stand, where we walk, where we run, where we sit, where we lie down, in everything we do. God is right here, in our family, in our friends, even in strangers we meet. God is in our workplace, our homes, our yards, our living rooms, our family rooms, our bed rooms. Because these are all places, altars where we offer and receive love and thankfully God is there! Celebrate life; celebrate life with gratitude and thankfulness today and always! Have a great Saturday everyone! "Let us think about ourselves, in our miseries – everyone has their own. Let us think sincerely. How often do we cover them up with the hypocrisy of 'good manners!' At these times we need to stay alone, to kneel before God and to pray: 'Lord, if You will, You can make me clean!' And do this, before you retire to bed, every evening. Let us now say this beautiful prayer together: 'Lord, if You will, You can make me clean.' " (Pope Francis)
Today’s Thoughts: The Gospel for today (Luke 16:1-8), always seems to be a confusing one. What exactly is Jesus saying? It seems that Jesus is praising the unfaithful steward just because he figures out a way to land on his feet after being fired. Perhaps the key word for Gospel today is “prudence” or maybe a better word might be “cleverness.”
Jesus says the steward is prudent, that he is shrewd, pragmatic and has foresight. However, as I said above we might also say that the steward is clever, meaning he is shrewd, ingenious, crafty and skillful. Prudence and cleverness share some of the same meanings and in some instances, could be used to say the same thing. As I prepared for mass this morning I had these thoughts about the prudent and clever steward and what Jesus might be getting at in the Gospel… In our world there are many prudent and clever people. Often as a world, a culture, a society we put our cleverness to work in many ways. We invent machines and systems that can protect us and destroy our enemies. We have invented the internet, cellphones and computers that help us communicate better, work fast and be more productive. We invent sophisticated systems to warn us of impending disasters like hurricanes, tsunamis and other nature made events. We invent systems to spy on one another, to hack computers and disrupt communications. We invent instruments of war some of which that can destroy the world. We are very clever people. Yet up to this point in history we have not been able to figure out how to feed everyone, how to cloth everyone or how to give everyone shelter. Perhaps this gets at the point that Jesus’ is making with his parable. The people of the world are very clever but sometimes people of faith are not. We put our prudence, our cleverness, our shrewdness, our foresightedness, our skillfulness to work for ourselves, but as people of faith, it might be time to put it to work for others. We can learn for the cleverness of the world but only if our cleverness leads us to bringing God to the world. I think Fr. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ said it best when he wrote, “Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, [humankind] will have discovered fire.” Let us be clever people of faith and discover for the world God’s love once again. Have a great Friday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: Today we celebrate the feast of the dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome. It is the Pope’s local parish church as bishop of Rome. It is considered “the mother and head of all churches of the city of Rome and the whole world.” It has with stood barbarian attacks, earthquakes and fire. It is a physical sign of the presence of God not only in buildings but throughout the world.
In our first reading from the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12), we hear about the Israelites struggles in exile. It is the experience of lifelessness, it is the experience of earth where nothing will grow. It is the experience of being without their own land, their own homes, their own Temple. The prophet Ezekiel has this vision of the new Temple. It is a spring welling up, flows East, transforming the desolate land of the Arabah region (like a new garden of Eden), and it enters the Dead Sea, purifying it. This spring of water brings life and healing. In our Gospel today (John 2:13-22), we encounter the famous story of Jesus overturning tables, making a whip out of cords and driving out all those who are making his Father’s house a marketplace. The moneychangers and sellers, who became rich at the cost of the poor, are driven out. In answer to the religious leaders request for a sign, Jesus says: “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” They do not understand him. His disciples, however, remembered these words when Jesus rose from the dead on the third day. In our middle reading from St. Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 3:9c-11, 16-17), St. Paul preaches the good news of Jesus and baptized them in Christ so that each could become God’s “building,” with God’s Spirit dwelling in them. Perhaps as we reflect on our readings today on feast of the Lateran Basilica, we might take the time to remember that Christ dwells in each one of us, that he gives us the courage to overcome our weaknesses and become holy temples of God. We might find ourselves parched, struggling, and lifeless at times, but with God’s grace flowing like a stream through us, we are challenged to give life to the presence of God wherever we go and to whomever we meet. Have a great Thursday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: I think both of our readings get to the same end but from different directions and thus they offer us some food for thought.
First, in St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans we are reminded what the focus of our life needs to be. St. Paul’s reminds us of the commandments and the fact that all of commandments are based on love. As St. Paul says love is the fulfilment of law. However, the point that St. Paul makes in today’s reading that often goes unnoticed is that in order to love others, in order to fulfil the law with love we first must love ourselves. If we cannot find love within ourselves how are we ever going to love others and love God? Thus, for St. Paul it is about focus, it is about centering our life. The same can be said for the Gospel also. What seem to be harsh words by Jesus as the Gospel begins today are perhaps just a different way of getting our attention. The open words of Jesus today seem to go against everything he is teaching. Yet, I believe the real point of the Gospel today whether it is Jesus’ opening challenge or the two stories that follow is – What is your Focus in life? Who is the center of your life? Our focus as people of faith needs to be God. If we have God at the center, then everything else will fall into place. If we place God first, then love, then family, then the tasks of life will take us down the right road on our journey to the Kingdom! Have a great Wednesday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: “Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, persevere in prayer.” These words from St. Paul sit at the heart of our scriptures today. We are asked by St. Paul today to share our hopes and gifts no matter how ordinary we might think those hopes and gifts are.
St. Paul uses the body as an image for our relationship with God as church. We are the body of Christ and because we are one body we need to work together thus giving the fullness of life to the whole body. Perhaps said differently, St. Paul asks us not to be so self-absorbed that we forget about the whole, that we forget about others. He lists seven gifts; prophecy, ministry, teaching, exhortation almsgiving, administration and mercy. These are important to the Church and the Body of Christ. These are necessary for the Church and the Body of Christ to grow. If the individual members try to stand alone they will not last long. Standing together, working in unison, the individual members become a strong body and that brings hope to all the members. Our Gospel today reinforces St. Paul’s reflection. We cannot fight over or promote our own individual gifts. Jesus’ invitation is to be Church, is to be community. Using St. Paul’s image, we might imagine how helpless just an arm, or a leg, or a mouth, or an ear, or a hand would be alone. They only have power and strength when they are working together. For Jesus and St. Paul we are to be a joy filled community of hope, working together, strengthened by prayer so that we can make it through even the most difficult times to the eternal banquet that God has prepared for us all! Have a great Tuesday everyone. Today’s Thoughts: “I prefer a church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security.” These words of Pope Francis seem to find life in our Gospel reading today. In the Gospel (Luke 14:12-14) Jesus asks us to think and act not just within our comfort zone but to think and act outside it. We are challenged by both Jesus and Pope Francis to walk out into a bruised, hurting and dirty world and to celebrate life with the people we find there.
This is not an easy challenge. It takes guts, it takes selflessness, and it takes the ability to love. As St. Paul puts it in his Letter to the Philippians it takes a humble regard for others, seeing them as important as ourselves. It takes a community effort with no one person being more important than everyone else. Pope Francis’ constant theme is for the Church to be a Church of Mercy. he has asked us to find dignity in each person and to invite all to God’s banquet. The challenge today is to ask ourselves, do we find dignity in each person we meet and are we willing to journey with them to God’s banquet? Have a great Monday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: “Do and observe all things whatever they tell you, but do not follow their example.” (Matthew 23: 1-12) I must admit every time I read this passage in Matthew’s Gospel I think of some bishops, cardinals and even popes. I think of them as saying one thing and doing another, of laying heavy burdens on others, of always needing places of honor, of always being shown respect but not respecting others. Yes, it is easy to point the finger at others.
However, if I truly stop and think about Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel the first person I must really consider is yours truly, me. I too am part of the Church leadership. I am a priest, a preacher and a Passionist. Do my words and actions reflect Christ? Do I lay heavy burdens on people and then do nothing to help? Do I look for places of honor, special treatment just because of who I am? Do I expect people to treat me differently because I am a priest, a religious? Do I expect to be called “father,” “Rabbi,” or “Master?” If I am honest at times the answer to some of these questions is, “yes,” unfortunately! Yes, I get caught up in my humanness. I want to be special. I want the world to follow my words. I want people to point to me and say good things. I want to get the first place in line or be at the head table. So, Jesus’ words today are an opportunity for me to pause and reset my priorities. They are an opportunity for me to adjust my life. They offer me a chance to plant my feet on the ground again and to value the things that are most important, the things that really matter. They are a reminder of who is most important in my life, God and others. The title of the autobiography of Chicago Bears football great, Gail Sayers, is I Am Third. It refers to the way he lived his life, Jesus first, others second and himself third. In Jesus’ words today, I am reminded that I will never be perfect in this life and every occasionally, I do need a good kick in the behind so that I take note of why I am a Passionist, a priest and a preacher. Every once in a while, I have to remember God is first and I am third! Sunday blessings to all and don’t forget to give God a little time today! "I am indignant, and it upsets me when people come to baptize a child, and they bring someone as a godfather who is told, 'But you did not get married in church, you can't be a godfather, because marriage, getting married in church is important.' And then they bring you another who is a crook, who exploits people, a trafficker in children, but a 'good Catholic,' who gives alms to the Church. … 'Ah yes, you can be a godfather!' We have turned values upside down! The economy today, the way the world is organized, is immoral." (Pope Francis)
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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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