Today’s Thoughts: The Feast of Christ the King has never been one of my favorite feasts/ solemnities. I think it is because kings have never really been a present and positive image for me during my lifetime. I would assume like most if not all of us here have grown up in the age and culture of democracy. Kings and kingdoms seem to be part of the past. I have read about kings and kingdoms. I have studied them in history and geography course throughout my schooling.
Over the course of history one can find both positive and negative images, stories and experiences of kings, queens, and kingdoms, however from a personal perspective they have not been part of my life experience. Truth be told, kings and kingdoms for me often symbolize a time when ordinary people carried the burdens of life, and there always seemed to be a great divide between the “haves” and the “have nots!” Now to be fair the democracy that I have encountered has not always been fair or perfect either. So, as we celebrate this solemnity of Christ the King how might I, how might we look at our feast today in a positive way. Well, our three readings present to us three pictures, snap shots of the kingship of Jesus that we celebrate today. In our first reading from the Second Book of Samuel we are presented with what we might call a political statement. Perhaps not something we want to consider given our political times, but the reading is a snapshot of a moment in the Davidic kingdom, a kingdom that was divided, when David brings the two kingdoms of Israel together under his leadership as a “shepherd king.” It is from David’s line that Jesus will come into the world. But unlike David, Jesus will not a political leader, he will not be a soldier king, warrior king, he will not restore Israel to its greatness, in the world order. He will invite us to be his bone and flesh as part of the Body of Christ our Shepherd. Our second reading from St. Paul’s Letter to the Colossians provide us with a theological understanding of Jesus as King. Everything has been reconciled in Jesus. He is the center of who we are as people of faith. He is the invisible God made visible. He is the Good Shepherd, who always looks after his sheep. Finally, in our Gospel today we encounter not a political king or a theological king but our human king. Early on in Pope Francis’ time as pope he provided us with an image of leadership. He told priests that in their faith communities they should be shepherds marked by “the smell of the sheep.” Repeatedly in the Gospels Jesus is presented to us a Shepherd king who is marked by the smell of his sheep. Whether it is the smell of tax collectors, religious leaders, lepers, demoniacs, women at wells or women brought before him in shame, people gathered around a table for a meal, disciples who don’t understand, close friends who deny, betray and even run away at a profound moment of need in his life or like in today’s Gospel a criminal. Our Gospel reminds us today that Jesus is our “Shepherd King,” who was willing to go all the way to death on the Cross and beyond for us! And that there is no moment in our journey of life when Jesus is not willing to listen, forgive guide and welcome, us into God’s Kingdom. Perhaps, as we celebrate this solemnity, this feast of Jesus Christ King of the Universe, we might pause to remember with gratitude – the mercy, compassion, forgiveness and love that Jesus Christ our Shepherd King is always willing to offer us. Jesus is the true Shepherd who took on our nature, our smell – so that we might have the opportunity to be not only remembered but welcomed into the Paradise of eternal life. Have a blessed, holy and faith filled Sunday everyone and don’t forget to give God a little time today!
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Today’s Thoughts: In our Gospel today, Jesus says two things that are worth considering. First, he says, "They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God.” And secondly, that “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living for in God all are alive."
From my perspective these are two important points or gifts we need to remember. We need to remember that we are children of God and that God is about life not death. The question for us is how do we live these gifts? Do we recognize that we are children of God? And are we always about life? You might say that during these days leading up to Thanksgiving when we are busy about many things it might be helpful to stop and consider our gifts – consider the fact that we are children of God. It is also not a bad time to remember that our focus must be on the living not the dead. Jesus always wanted to bring about life and so should we! Have a holy and blessed Saturday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: The Jesus we find in the Gospel today (Luke 19: 45-48) was an observant Jew. He valued his community of faith. Sometimes it is the Jesus who ate with sinners and crossed the boundaries of his faith that we are drawn to, but we also need to remember the Jesus was profoundly respectful and observant of his faith.
Jesus was also zealous as we see today, his anger at the commercialism of the temple area had its roots in a deep respect for the purpose and place of the temple in the life of the people. It was to be a place of prayer. It was to be a place to go to get away for the everyday busyness and business of life. What we learn from today’s Gospel is that no matter what approach to life that Jesus took it was not going to be good enough or right for the religious leadership. If he was eating with sinner or healing on the Sabbath or talking to women, he was wrong. If he was driving out merchants for the temple area, he was wrong. The religious leadership did not seem to like the zealousness of Jesus for life and his faith. Our challenge today is to learn from Jesus - when, why and how to be zealous. When, why and how, to bring energy, enthusiasm and spirit to our life. We need to be observant Christians; we need to value and respect the places and structure of our faith community. We also need to be about life and finding ways to include everyone in the journey no matter what the cost! Have a blessed and holy Friday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: “They will not leave a stone upon another within you because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.” (Luke 19:44) Jesus looking over the city of Jerusalem looking ahead to its time of destruction at the hands of the Romans. A city that did not recognize the presence of God at the most crucial time of its history. Yet, it is not the city, the stone, wood and mortar that fails to recognize the presence of God it is its’ people!
Jesus has walked Jerusalem’s streets. He has prayed at its’ temple. Jesus has healed, forgiven and celebrated the gift of God’s love within Jerusalem’s walls, yet the people of Jerusalem failed to recognize his visit, his presence. It is a sad moment for Jesus, it is a sad moment for us. I wonder if we could look upon Jesus today as he sits not just looking at Jerusalem but at all the cities of the world might he be thinking and feeling the same thing. Might he be crying as he looks upon us and saying one day one stone will not lay upon another in our world because we are missing our time of visitation. We honor as heroic many who go charging into battle but rarely if ever, do we honor as heroic those who go charging into peace. I truly believe God is in our midst however we seem to spend a great deal of time thinking only of ourselves and because of our self-centeredness, our selfishness we just might be missing our time of visitation. Let us look around today not out of fear and self-centeredness but let us look around for the saving power of God in our midst. Have a holy and blessed Thursday everyone! Today’s Thought: There are perhaps many ways to interpret today's Gospel; one way that I have often used is to ask the questions, "What is your image of God? And are you afraid of God?" In the story the man gives his servants gold coins and says go out and trade with them. Some of the servants go and trade and make more coins. One servant hides the coin in a handkerchief, so he has it ready when the master wants it back. The servants who traded are rewarded and servant who stored the coin in the handkerchief has the coin taken away. The servants who trade took a risk, they could have lost. The third servant took no risk, why? As the story tells us because he was afraid of the master!
We are given many gifts from God and all we are asked to do is use them as we live out our life. I have come to the conclusion that our image of God makes all the difference in how we use our gifts. If we are afraid of God, afraid of making a mistake then we probably will not take any risks with God's gifts. We will hang on to them, hide them away. If we see God as a friend, a companion, someone who takes risks, who wants us to take risks then we will probably invest God’s gifts. For example, if we see Jesus as someone who took one risk after another; if we see him as someone who invested his life every day then we hopefully will do the same. So, I believe that it comes down to how we envision, understand and live out our relationship with God. Another question I often ask is, "What if the first two servants had traded with the coins and lost them?" I cannot answer the question for sure, but my guess is the king says the exact same thing, "Well done, good servant!" Why because no investment is ever lost it is always out there working in some way. Thus, the challenge for today is to ask ourselves the question, "Are we willing to take a risk and bring God to the world today or are we going to hide God safely away?" Have a holy and blessed Wednesday everyone. Today’s Thoughts: We encounter the famous story of Zacchaeus in today's Gospel (Luke 19:1-10). Zacchaeus had two liabilities, one was that he was short, and the other was that he was a tax collector.
Now he could not do anything about his shortness that was with him to stay. Being a tax collector seemed to be his choice. We do not know how he got the job or why he wanted it but it put him in a bad light with many people and the religious leadership. He was seen as a sinner, someone who sold out to the Romans and someone who was cheating his own people just to get ahead in life. However, there was something honest and interesting about Zacchaeus. When he heard that Jesus was in town, he wanted to see him, catch a glimpse. So as the story goes, he climbed a tree, and we might say the rest was history. Jesus saw him and invited him down for a closer look. We find out through the conversation between Jesus and Zacchaeus that Zacchaeus is trying to be an honest man and he is willing to go the extra mile if he has hurt or harmed anyone by his position and he is rewarded for his honesty and good heart as Jesus comes to his house. Zacchaeus was able to take his shortcomings, his liabilities and turn them into strengths. He was able to make a positive situation out of what seemed to be a negative. All he needed to do was seek out God in his life. With this story Jesus once again reminds us that good things, faithful things, can come from unexpected situations and people. Like Zacchaeus we need to be on the lookout for the presence of God in our life and be bold when our chance comes to encounter that presence! Have a holy and blessed Tuesday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: I have a couple of thoughts about our Gospel today...
Perhaps my first thought is not directly related to today Gospel, but it is a good starting point for my thoughts today. I was wandering around the internet a couple of years or so ago and came across a video of Denzel Washington giving a commencement address at a college. In his talk he gave the students 5 or 6 suggestions or principles for living their life. His first principle or suggestion was – “Put God first, make God a part of everything that you do!” He told them a story about his college days and how he was not doing well, his grade point was 1.7 and he had an experience in his mother beauty shop that changed his focus. Since that time, he has tried to “put God first” in everything that he has done. I think Mr. Washington’s principle reminded me of one of my own principles of life that God asks of me each day, "stay in love with me and live out of that love!" At a community mass a couple of years ago one of my brother Passionist reflected on today's Gospel and he challenged us with the point that sometimes we would prefer not to see. The blind man in the Gospel wants to see but sometimes we find it easier not to see, it means less responsibility, less hurt or pain, less expectations on us. If I look at my own life, I would have to say his observation is true. I think there have been times when I really didn't want to see, it was easier not to! If we can “put God first,” if we can find and enliven our first love for God, others and ourselves then we will always want to see! Or perhaps if we ask God in faith to see then our first love will once again come to life! May this day be one of seeing, of putting God first and rich in energy grounded in love! Have a blessed and holy Monday everyone. Today’s Thoughts: “You do not need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith and hope.” (Thomas Merton)
These few words from Thomas Merton might help us understand our readings especially our Gospel today. In today’s Gospel Jesus advises his disciples and anyone who will listen about false prophets and silver-tongued teachers. Jesus knows that external appearances and teachers can be deceiving. We are challenged each day to discern the true and often underlying meaning of many teachers of faith. However, not all false prophets are religious. Much of the noise of information we are exposed to on a regular basis includes things that are false. We see get-rich-quick schemes that preach a gospel of stocks, bonds and real estate. There are all kinds of schemers out there, who will prey on the elderly and the less fortunate in society. We are called to practice active discernment as a habit of our spiritual life and not just in a religious context but in all parts of our life. A second challenge by Jesus today is much harder to hear. He tells us that we are not promised a worry-free, easy life on earth. In fact, Jesus explicitly makes it clear that his disciples and us will be hated and persecuted—but those painful moments are wonderful opportunities for us to show our witness to the Gospel. We who believe in and serve Christ in the world will inevitably face resistance, recrimination for our faith and even persecution. However, we are promised hope, strength and support from God in those moments—if we have the wisdom to trust in God. The Holy Spirit will carry us with God’s thoughts and words when on our own wisdom and effort is empty. Jesus’ message today is that we can always be comforted by the fact that we are not pioneers, the first to encounter these struggles but we are followers, and that God will hold us in his heart throughout our journey through this life. Have a blessed and holy Sunday everyone and don’t forget to give God a little time today. Today’s Thoughts: I was struck today by Jesus’ closing words in the Gospel today, "But when the Son of Man comes will he find faith on earth?" (Luke 18:1-8) My guess is that Jesus’ question in today’s Gospel is always the underlying question when it come to our human condition. There are so many experiences that seem to make faith difficult. So many experiences that direct our attention away from our relationship with God.
In the Gospel today, Jesus reminds us to pay attention and be persistent especially in prayer. In many ways it is these two qualities that will help keep our faith alive so that when Jesus does return he will find faith! ... Key thought for our journey of life today..."Being attentive to God especially through persistence in prayer!" Have a holy and blessed Saturday everyone! Today’s Thoughts: In our Gospel today, we are presented with a difficult lesson. Jesus emphasizes over and over to his disciples and to those listening to him that they will not know the day or the hour that the Son of Man will come. Jesus stresses that they will be going about their normal routines when they will need to stop what they are doing, leave their belongings, there stuff, leave loved ones and friends to take note of his coming.
Jesus implies that they will otherwise be lost as the people in Noah and Lot’s time. “One will be taken, the other left.” The people, it seems, were confused by Jesus’ words, and respond, “[taken] where, Lord?” Jesus says, with a bit of frustration, “Where the body is, there also the vultures will gather.” This passage, I think, might just be saying to us that our true future, eternal life, is not about the body, but more about the spirit. If we do not take note of the coming of the Lord and ignore Jesus’ warning that we must put matters of everyday life aside to follow him, we will be subject to death. The “vultures” will gather around us. We do have a choice, as our Alleluia verse tells us, to “Stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand.” Today, let us choose to lose our life and follow Jesus. Have a blessed and holy Friday 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
May 2023
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