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, remember 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 Saturday everyone.
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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: Perhaps these three quotes help us understand our two parables this morning from Luke’s Gospel. Parables that speak to us of the mercy of God…
“The thing the church needs most today is the ability to heal wounds and to warm the hearts of the faithful; it needs nearness, proximity. I see the church as a field hospital after battle. It is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has high cholesterol and about the level of his blood sugars! You have to heal his wounds. Then we can talk about everything else. Heal the wounds, heal the wounds. ... And you have to start from the ground up.” (Pope Francis) “A church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints.” (Abigail Van Buren) “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.” (Pope Francis) “God never tires of forgiving us; we are the ones who tire of seeking his mercy.” (Pope Francis) God never stops searching for us no matter how much we have struggled in our life. Our readings today speak to us of hope, mercy and God’s great love for us. This is something the scribes and Pharisees never seem to understand. The question is do we? Have a great Thursday everyone. Today’s Thoughts: In our first reading today from Paul’s Letter to the Romans, Paul reminds the community in Rome that the living of a life of faith is through love. Love enables us to do what is good for others and ourselves. If we live our life through love, then there is no need of law because we will always do what is good.
In our Gospel from Luke today, Jesus seems to speak counter to what Paul is saying to the Romans. Paul speaks of love and Jesus speaks about hating. Jesus asks us to hate our family, to even hate ourselves. How does this fit into what Paul is saying? Well, Jesus is not really asking us to hate but to put God first. The more we focus on God, the more we live out of love the more we will do, say and live what is right. Jesus took up his cross not out of hate, but out of love and he ask us to do the same. Jesus uses many examples of how we need to prepare for the Kingdom. He’s calling us to follow Him. Jesus says that no one would construct a tower without sitting down and calculating the cost to see if there was enough for completion. If we are not able to finish much above the foundation, we will be laughed at and ridiculed. The same holds true when planning our lives as we work towards the Kingdom. We are being called to follow Jesus so calculate, plan, be deliberate about our actions. If they don’t help us accomplish the goal, if they are not grounded in love, they might not be worth doing. We don’t want to run out of time and not have your tower built. On that day, with the crowds following, Jesus said to do whatever you have to do in order to follow him, even if you have to renounce your family. He asks us to carry our own cross; we all have one, some heavier than others. Jesus asks us to renounce our possessions, so that we can hold on to him, love him and be his disciple. The less meaning our possessions have, the more we’ll be able to focus on our friendship with the Lord. Have a blessed 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 Jesus puts it to the Pharisee in our Gospel today 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. It takes the ability to offer generosity without any quid pro quo! 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: In today’s Gospel we meet one of the most recognizable characters in Scriptures - Zacchaeus. And once again, we experience the reversal theme in Luke’s Gospel just like last week. We might even say that today’s Gospel is the second half of last week’s Gospel. Another story to emphasis Jesus’ invitation to forgiveness and newness of life.
Zacchaeus has some struggles. He is small. He is a tax collector for the occupying Roman Empire, which means he takes money from the Jewish people, his own people. He is rich himself, which puts him above his neighbors. In a strange way, he is, by being small, below others, but by his occupation, he has made himself above others. He climbs a tree to just catch a glimpse of Jesus who was passing that way. Zacchaeus literally puts himself above his neighbors, but at a safe distance from Jesus, not wanting to be seen or encountered. The story tells us that Zacchaeus put himself in a position to see, but Jesus is who sees him first. In the previous chapter, (Luke 18, 26) there is a big question about who can be saved. It follows the story of Jesus’ calling a rich man to leave everything to follow him and the man could not do it, because of his riches. Our Gospel answers the question with Jesus’ saying that he must stay at the house of Zacchaeus. Tax collectors and all kinds of other sinners can be saved if they allow themselves to be seen by Jesus and so too, by themselves. Jesus does not say anything about conversion, or giving up his day-job, or his fortune. Jesus says only that he desires to stay with this socially inert fellow. Zacchaeus is reduced, or re-sized to his dignity. He slides down the tree and welcomes Jesus joyfully. He also welcomes himself by reducing the size of his possessions. He fulfills the Jewish law of repayment and Luke has Zacchaeus do what the Rich Man in the previous chapter could not do, he gave half his riches to the “poor”. Conversion follows encounter; Jesus meets us, and the relationship makes the difference in our actions. The Gospel continues with the grumbling bystanders making a prophetic announcement: “He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner.” The story ends with Jesus restating his mission of seeking and saving the “lost”. This is central to Luke’s presentation of Jesus. He is the One who came to see and find Zacchaeus, who like the Prodigal Son, was lost and now found. He has come to take up residence with us. I wonder often about how these people whom Jesus forgave lived in the present, considering each had a personal past with which they had to live. Various people such as Zacchaeus had to live with their histories. He lived among his Jewish townsfolk from whom he had collected unjust taxes and they knew him as wealthier than he should have been living. Zacchaeus himself had to live with himself as well. This is not easy for any of us to do either. There is a double message for us here. God’s forgiveness of us is not a legal arrangement, but more personal and relational. God desires that we live free from and free for the future. The forgiving touch of Jesus is also to be extended through us to others. We are invited by grace to live forgivingly with those who seek God’s touch, even though we know their sinful histories ourselves. The Apostle Paul had his past; Augustine, Ignatius and many others had to live beyond their personal imprisonments. We climb down from our trees of inferiority and allow Jesus to meet us there and raise us up so to send us to de-tree others and free them, as we can, to live beyond their self-confining judgments. (Adapted from a reflection by Fr. Larry Gillick, S.J.) Have a great Sunday everyone and don't forget to give God a little time today. Today’s Thoughts: I have always liked our first reading today from the Book of Wisdom (Wisdom 3:1-9) especially the line, “But they are at peace.” This reading is often used at funerals, moments when people are remembering a loved one, a friend, someone who has been important in their life, who has passed on. In the midst of grief, it can often be helpful to think of the person finally being at peace even if because of their passing we are not.
The Feast of All Souls is a day of remembrance. It gives us an opportunity to pause and remember the important people in our lives who have passed on. People who have left us physically, people whom we now hope are at peace now with God. It is a day when we remember them in a formal way at Eucharist and informally through stories and moments of prayer thankful for their presence in our lives. I have always felt that the Feast of All Souls is really the second half of the Feast of All Saints. Yesterday we celebrated the people formally named saints by the Church because of their faith filled lives, people who during their lives stepped out of the ordinary into the extraordinary and became examples, inspirations and role models within the Universal Church. Today we remember, we celebrate, all those ordinary people who perhaps did not step into the extraordinary except in our lives, people who gave us life, who taught us, nurtured us, protected us, and guided us. We remember, we celebrate, today people who were with us from the beginning or who stepped into our lives for a brief moment that made a difference. These are people who are not honored by the Church as saints in a formal way but whom we perhaps honor in our own special way, as saints with a little “s” because we are thankful for their presence, inspiration and love. We remember, and we pray today for all who journeyed through this life with the sure and certain hope that God has found them worthy because he is the Good Shepherd with an overflowing cup that has brought them to peace! Have a great Saturday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: I have a few disjoined thoughts for you today…
“To become saints, only one thing is necessary: to accept the grace which the Father gives us in Jesus Christ.” (Pope Francis) Today, we remember, we honor, and we say thank you to all the women and men whom the Church calls saints, but also whom we call saints. People who have touched our lives down through the centuries. People who shared their faith and perhaps more importantly lived their faith so that we might encounter the presence of God, so that we might grow into the people God created us to be, so that we might believe. They were mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, sisters-in-law, brothers-in-law, nieces, nephews, friends, teachers, grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, neighbors, strangers, companions on the journey, ordinary people who lived extraordinary lives of faith. Pope Francis talks about the saints in our lives this way; “I see the holiness in the patience of the people of God: a woman who is raising children, a man who works to bring home the bread, the sick, the elderly priests who have so many wounds but have a smile on their faces because they served the Lord, the sisters who work hard and live a hidden sanctity. This is for me the common sanctity. I often associate sanctity with patience: not only patience as hypomoné [See note], taking charge of the events and circumstances of life, but also as a constancy in going forward, day by day. This is the sanctity of the militant church also mentioned by St. Ignatius. This was the sanctity of my parents: my dad, my mom, my grandmother Rosa who loved me so much. In my breviary I have the last will of my grandmother Rosa, and I read it often. For me it is like a prayer. She is a saint who has suffered so much, also spiritually, and yet always went forward with courage.” Note: (Hypomoné is a New Testament Greek word meaning – the capacity to endure under difficult circumstances; bearing everyday tasks, contradictions, tribulations.) Pope Francis also says that – “We need saints without cassocks, without veils - we need saints with jeans and tennis shoes. We need saints that go to the movies that listen to music that hang out with their friends.... We need saints that drink Coca-Cola, that eat hot dogs, that surf the internet and that listen to their iPods. We need saints that love the Eucharist, that are not afraid or embarrassed to eat a pizza or drink a beer with their friends. We need saints who love the movies, dance, sports, and theatre. We need saints that are open, sociable, normal, happy companions. We need saints who are in this world and who know how to enjoy the best in this world without being callous or mundane. We need saints.” One last thought from Pope Francis on this All Saints Day. Today’s Gospel is the passage of the Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s Gospel. During his homily a few years ago at an All Saints Mass in Sweden Pope Francis proposed six new beatitudes for the modern era: "Blessed are those who remain faithful while enduring evils inflicted on them by others, and forgive them from their heart; "Blessed are those who look into the eyes of the abandoned and marginalized, and show them their closeness; "Blessed are those who see God in every person, and strive to make others also discover him; "Blessed are those who protect and care for our common home; "Blessed are those who renounce their own comfort in order to help others; "Blessed are those who pray and work for full communion between Christians." So, to all those who lived these beatitudes and touched us with sanctity and helped us to be the people we are today…we say thank you! Have a great Friday everyone! Remember today is a Holy Day so find a little time for God. |
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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