TWENTY SIXTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Lk 16:19-31

Dear Friends,

Luke’ Gospel has a consistent theme of reversal. Today’s parable continues this pattern. Right at the beginning of Luke we have in Mary’s great hymn, the Magnificat: “He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly. The hungry he has filled with good things, the rich he has sent away empty. (Lk: 1: 52-53)” In the Sermon on the Plain this theme of reversal dominates. The first blessing and the first Woe of the Sermon on the Plain are a concrete expression of today’s message. “Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours.” (Lk 6:20). Then in Lk 6:24 we read: “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.” Then in Lk 13:30 we read: “For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last”.

Jesus’ entry into the human scene has had many consequences. The great reversal is one of them that await us. Today’s parable about Lazarus and the unidentified rich man is a significant example of this turn-around. The two characters experience a deep transformation of their fortunes. There is a profound message in this story for us.

We learn that we have limits to the time for us to act in accord with Jesus’ call. Death offers a finality to our time of decision. In this framework, there are consequences. The rich man shows the transient nature of wealth. We can put off our commitment to charity and justice only so long.

Another contradiction that Luke offers is the challenge to the mindset about wealth and poverty in Jesus’ time. People believed wealth was a blessing from God and poverty a sign of God’s rejection. Luke’s great reversal has a different lesson.

Today’s parable is making it quite clear. In God’s scheme of things, all wealth, status, prestige, privilege and power are transitory. Secondly, we need to learn that ownership is not absolute. It has consequences. When we do not accept these realities, we are subject to the great reversal. These great changes flow from the radically Good News that Jesus offers us.

Today’s story does not describe either character as particularly good or bad. The problem is neglect and blindness. Luke, in this parable which is found only in his Gospel, goes deeply into the details of the reversal between Lazarus and the rich man. First, in contrast to almost all of history, the poor man is identified and the rich man is nameless. Then, the disparity in physical comfort is dramatically transformed. Now the powerful rich man sees Lazarus as the one who can give him what he wants. First, it is water and secondly, it is help for his brothers.

In his lifetime the rich man was driven in an endless search for comfort. His wealth was a source of prestige and power. His possessions were a vehicle of security and control. Death destroyed these deceptions and revealed the truth. There is a social mortgage on God’s blessings. They need to be an instrument of justice. In the story of Lazarus, Jesus is teaching us to open our eyes to the poor around us. Our heart needs to move us to respond to the needy at our doorstep whether that doorstep is in our family or neighborhood or the many borders we create to protect our comfort personally, communally or nationally.

Pope Francis said that a lifestyle that is too comfortable leads to the gentrification of the heart. The results of a lifestyle driven by ever-expanding consumption diminishes the spirit which leads to an isolation and neglect of the poor in our midst. It does damage to the eyes of the heart. It is setting up our slippery slope into the wrong side of the great reversal that confronts us in the story of Lazarus.

Like the brothers of the rich man, the Word of God offers us a clear call to conversion. We also have the added advantage of experiencing the Risen Christ. The question we have to ask ourselves is whether we can see the poor in our midst? Does the message of the Risen Christ allow us to see in our possessions an instrument of love and service for those who are in need in our world?

Today’s parable has a simple and clear implication for us. We need to cast off our comfortable blindness and begin to see with a new heart rooted in the call of Jesus to walk in the light.

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TWENTY-FIFTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Lk 16:1-13

Dear Friends,

Today’s parable of the dishonest servant is one of the most puzzling in all of the Gospels. In the end, however, the message is clear and strong. We need to use our money and possessions to help us enter into the Kingdom. You can call it a plea for Kingdom economics. It is an invitation to a rather difficult task: how to use our material gifts to facilitate, not obstruct, our journey to the Kingdom and ever-lasting life.

The key to understanding the parable and its forceful teaching is to determine where the steward committed the injustice. On reflection, it had to be in the earlier use of the owner’s goods. This is why he is being dismissed. The heart of the puzzle is the owner’s praise of the seeming theft involved in the steward’s reduction of the bill to the various debtors. This had to involve the steward’s personal commission on the deal. Thus, the owner commended his foresight and action. This is our call: act to enter the kingdom.

Jesus is inviting his followers to use their time, treasure and talent with similar foresight. Like the steward, we have to realize that our possessions have a mortgage on them. Their actual ownership belongs to another. In the disciples’ case, and in our case, God is the owner. The material blessings are to be shared to benefit the Kingdom. The wise use of wealth that Jesus is calling for needs to include the priorities of the Kingdom. This places the poor, the forgotten and the marginalized in a position of privilege that is far different from the reality of our consumer society.

In this section of his Gospel, chapters ten to nineteen, known as The Road to Jerusalem, Luke is showing Jesus teaching the consequences of his Messiahship as the Suffering Servant. To be a follower of Christ demands a deep price. Discipleship comes at a real cost.

Discipleship demands a total commitment. Luke is consistently bringing up the challenge of wealth and the role of money for the followers of Jesus. How we use our possessions reveals our priorities. If Jesus is truly our priority, the approach to wealth and its trappings will be measured by how it draws us into the Kingdom values that Jesus proclaims.

Jesus’ message in today’s parable is strong and simple: we are called to make a clear-cut choice. The steward did this in his short-run vision of reality. As disciples, we are called to the wisdom of a similar decisive conclusion in the long -range vision of the Kingdom.



In the fourth century St. Ambrose had a great insight about wealth and the poor. He was commenting on the rich man and his barns (Lk 12:16-21): “The bosoms of the poor, the houses of widows, the mouths of children are the barns that last forever.”

Luke’s message today, as with the rich man’s barns, and throughout his Gospel, offers a test for the true disciple to make the wise decision. We are constantly confronted to choose between what is necessary and what we want. This is no easy choice. We are engulfed in the possessive claws of a multibillion-dollar advertising industry. We are constantly being bombarded with a definition of happiness that is rooted in values far removed from the Gospel of Jesus. We are being told that our total satisfaction is at our fingertips if we just buy the next product which surely will gratify all the hungers in our heart.

On the other hand, in the depths of our being, we have the gentle but unyielding whisper of the Gospel message. A faithful response to the word of God will be like the mustard seed in the heart, growing steadily in the wisdom and power of God. The discipleship called for by Jesus is a long and arduous trip. This perennial battle of the heart is the stuff of our way forward in the footsteps of Jesus.

Today’s parable is an invitation to begin the process of embracing the Kingdom economics of Jesus. Our garage sales need to constantly grow more expansive as we seek funds for those in need. In the Kingdom that Jesus is proclaiming, less is actually more, much more!

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CALL TO HOLINESS-2

The Liturgy: The Source and Summit of our Faith

The incorporation of the teachings of Vatican II into the Catholic life has been very uneven. The common experience of the Liturgy has been the biggest area of change and the most accepted by the faithful.

I would like to share a personal story leading into some reflections on liturgical reform and the call to universal holiness.

It was about twenty years before the beginning of Vatican II. I was at the Sunday school mass with my fourth grade class. The nuns kept a great discipline and order among the eight hundred students.

My crisis began when the priest placed two hosts on my tongue at Communion time. I became terrified and lost any common sense perspective. I tried to stay in line on the way back to my seat. I placed the extra host on the side of my mouth with the hope of bringing it back to the Monsignor right after the mass.

I was becoming consumed in a sense of horror as the host was rapidly melting in my mouth. My dilemma was that I could never touch the host nor receive two hosts. Likewise, I had to stay in place and keep quiet. Today we would call it the perfect storm of horror. As the host melted in my mouth, I was expecting the floor to open up and I would plunge straight down to the consuming fires of hell. To my utter amazement, I was somehow spared my eternal punishment at that moment. The floor at my feet held steady.

As soon as I got outside, I ran to the sacristy and told the Monsignor about my two host horror story. He said simply, “That’s all right boy. “Don’t worry about it.” While I was relieved, I also was terribly confused. I said to myself, “What the hell is this about?” Somehow I just avoided the eternal fires of hell and he says, “Don’t worry about it!”

This was the beginning of Vatican II for me. It was the first unraveling of the “Catholic world” that was my inflexible and non-negotiable heritage. This was the culture that had evolved from the defensive stance against the Protestants over the previous four centuries since the Council of Trent.

Vatican II became a process of stripping off the rigid strait-jacket that maintained the Catholic discipline centered around the sixth commandment, Mass on Sunday and fish on Friday. Walking with Jesus had become hidden somewhere along the way.

The Dominance of the Priestly Role

In the pre-Vatican II world, liturgy centered around the priest. Only the priest touching the host was one among many common practices that were established in response to the Protestant reformation.

The priest was seen as the mediator between the people and God. The priest was viewed as special, holy and outside the ordinary lives of the people. An entire culture of exclusiveness developed to support this view and help create a warped clericalism.

In the liturgy, the mass centered on the exclusive role of the priest. He prayed quietly in Latin with his back to the people and separated by the communion rail. The main part of the Mass became the special words of the priest changing the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. This was identified by the ringing of the bell at the elevation of the host and chalice.

This emphasis on the importance of the priest led to the greatly diminished role of the laity. My crisis of not touching the sacred host was crossing the sacred division between the exalted role of the priest and the inconsequential role of the laity. The reality was clear. The priest was the holy one. The laity were along for the ride. They just needed to follow the rules and all would be well because the priest was bringing God to them.

The Church as the People of God

The changes in the liturgy mandated by Vatican II were a radical transformation from the priest-dominated reality in the centuries following the Council of Trent. The basic change was the Church was now seen as the People of God. Priests were part of the common people of faith. They are distinguished by a role as is the laity. The main difference at the Eucharist is not the change of the bread and wine but the transformation of the entire community into the Body of Christ.

This relates strongly to the call for universal holiness. This is why we call the liturgy the source and summit of our faith. Many other changes flow from these basic insights of the new emphasis on the People of God celebrating the Eucharist. The priest no longer is the celebrant. The entire community celebrates in unity. The priest presides over the communal celebration.

The laity have increased roles as lectors, Eucharistic ministers and ministers of hospitality. Likewise, the role of the musician and choirs have grown in importance. The Eucharist is placed on the hand without the separation of the communion rail or the posture of kneeling.

Most importantly, the message of the celebration and the liturgical seasons and scripture readings are all leading into a central and governing emphasis on the Pascal Mystery of Christ. All are defined most accurately not as priest or laity. All are Disciples of Christ, gathered to journey through life in the footsteps of Jesus. That is why we call the liturgy the source and summit of our faith. We are all, first and foremost, Disciples of Christ.

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Twentieth-Fouth Sunday of Ordinary Time

Lk 15: 1-32

Dear Friends,
The parables of the Two Sons and the Good Samaritan have been a major factor in the development of Christianity as we experience it today. Without the impact of these two parables, our perception of Christianity would be quite different. They offer an incredible breakthrough in our exposure to the mercy of God.

The three parables in today’s passage have one overriding and common theme. They are just too much in their contradiction of common sense. They all point to an extravagance without measure of God’s mercy. The story of the father and the sons presents a new slant to our relationship to God. The father has no concern about sin and repentance. It is about lost and found, dead and alive.

 
In the father’s attitude, we are invited to move away from a sin and forgiveness approach to a much more personal understanding. In this view, we see the issue as a lost person being found. This connects to the sheep and coin in the first parables.

 
We need to see ourselves in both sons. When we repent, like the first son, we have our story ready. The father has no interest in the story. His son was dead and now is alive. The father will have nothing to do with hired servant nonsense. This is his son. The ring and sandals and feast are all symbols of his unconditional welcoming of the son in his merciful embrace. Like the shepherd and the woman, the father knows what was lost and has been found. It is time to celebrate. We need to see ourselves as the recipient of the feast of Gd’s mercy

As we move on to the second son, it is ever so easy to recognize ourselves, like him, as victims in so many of life’s broken experiences. Similar to the angry and hostile brother, our hurts have a good deal of merit.

However, also like the second son, we miss the point that the father sees so clearly. It is not about things, but people. Possessions and privileges just do not make sense when measured against life, love and mercy. “My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours. But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found” (Lk 15: 32).

This story opens itself into an immeasurable panorama of interpretations. They all expose our human condition in the depth and breadth of its fractured reality. It is this very brokenness that displays the mercy of God. We are fond of saying that this mercy knows no limits. The actions of the father help us journey from the head to the heart when pondering this great mystery of a God calling us to the banquet of life despite our sinfulness.

All the great spiritual teachers of the Christian tradition emphasize the only way to know God is to know ourselves first. The story of the two sons shows us this profound truth. Only when they accept their own weakness are they able to begin to appreciate the wonder and magnificence of the love and mercy of the father.

We never find out if the older brother was able to break through his blindness of the commercial relationship by which he defined the father. What we do know is that the father was relentless in his pursuit of both sons. Their choice was to accept or reject this love and mercy. On the father’s part, there was only the continuing offer of love and the invitation to the banquet.

The message comes across in so many different levels. God is always accepting us. God is always forgiving us. God is always pursuing us. In the end, the call could not be clearer. We need to let God’s mercy and love define and direct our lives in every way possible.

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CALL TO HOLINESS-1

Baptism’s Call to Holiness

This blog, Praying Alone Together, has a clear goal. It hopes to teach people to pray with a depth that will produce the significant personal changes. It aims to achieve personal purification to move away from hidden selfishness and sinfulness. It hopes to enlighten one to gospel values. Finally, it seeks a personal transformation to prepare one for a deeper and purer experience of God.

It is problematic to lay out such a clear goal for most Catholics. They are participants in a Catholic culture that is much less demanding. For most Catholics, the issue is to go to church regularly, say their prayers, and make sure all the family has a clear understanding of the faith and to live a good life. Basically, it is an effort to cover one’s bets by the religious rituals and practices and then live your life until the next crisis.

Vatican II has two basic teachings about spirituality that challenge that religious practice that is less demanding. The first is this. There is a universal call to holiness. The second is that this holiness comes through a spirituality that participates and engages with the world. The will of God for every human being is their personal sanctification. The average Catholic has no interest in being a saint. Most just want to be a good Catholic.

Herein we come face to face with the problem. There are at least three factors in general Catholic culture that secretly rejects this Vatican II call to holiness which is foundational to this blog, Praying Alone Together.

The first difficulty is how we look at saints. The second is our perspective on those who have left the world for religious life to more authentically follow the gospel. The third is how we view priests as mediators between God and the lay people.

Catholic culture views the saints as spectacularly holy. They are in a totally different level than the ordinary folks. This leads most people to feel they are not called to be holy. Yet, all are called in an ordinary and simple manner to be holy by living an authentic and loving way. We need to move beyond the obstacle of the wildly heroic saints. We need to realize that we have the opportunity of being holy in the flow of the commonplace events of our life.

The second obstacle to lay holiness inherent to Catholic culture is the idea that holiness is for those who withdraw from the world and have entered religious life. They left all to help their pursuit of holiness. The rest are seen as second class citizens and are held excused in the holiness game.

The third deterrent is the perceived role of the priest. The priest is seen as on a pedestal and called to a much greater degree of holiness. He is another Christ. He is identified as a mediator with God.

Role of Baptism

Vatican II’s call to universal holiness is rooted in the proper understanding of baptism. All baptized are members of the community of faith, the body of Christ. All baptized are called to live the fullness of the gospel call. The vows of religious are simply a different means to achieve this common goal. The priest is not separate from the community but has a particular role in the people of God. Baptism is the great sacrament of equality and entrance into this holy community.

In the early Church, all the members were called saints. St. Thomas Aquinas saw the Christian vocation as charity, loving God and loving neighbor. The vows of religious are simply a different means to that common goal shared by all. Like so many other things related with religion, this basic truth of the universal call to holiness was distorted over the centuries. It put vowed religious in an unrealistic and distorted role in the faith community.

A good example of this was the shock when many nuns chose not to wear the religious habit. This had nothing to do with their pursuit of the gospel. Most of the nuns saw it as a step toward freedom in seeking God.

The basic and truly overwhelming truth is this. Baptism, which unites us all with Christ, makes us members of the People of God. It is as members of the People of God that we share the call to holiness. This universal call needs to be the guiding force in the life of all, no matter what role they may have in the community. The roots of this baptismal call to sanctity do not allow for separation, elevation or hierarchy among the members of the faith community. The basic norm is equality.

All are brothers and sisters. Some have roles of service in the common quest to be one with God in love.

Catholic Culture

It is impossible to practice our religion without a culture. However, all cultures share in the human condition of sin and grace. Every religious culture must be evaluated by the standards of the gospel. This is what Vatican II did in relationship to spirituality and the call to holiness.

The point of interest here is that inherent in Catholic culture there are at least three hindrances to the common acceptance of the baptismal call to holiness.

In the following few blogs in this series I will attempt to further develop these points of interest about the universal call to holiness along with the need to live it out in the midst of our daily lives in this world.

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TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Lk 14:25-33

Dear Friends,

These words of Jesus are very strong. In fact, they are the most extreme in expressing the demands of discipleship in all of the Gospels. Likewise, they probably are the most neglected.

It is clear from the rest of Gospel that Jesus does not mean that we “hate” our loved ones. What he does mean is that we must place Jesus first. It is simply a question of priorities expressed in the style of the language in Jesus’ time. This leaves plenty of room for concern and compassion for our loved ones

Secondly, the carrying of the cross is a non-negotiable component of walking with Jesus, of being a disciple. It is a clear and evident. Following Jesus has a steep price. We have to die to our selfishness. We have to cast off the world’s values of success and prosperity. We have to free ourselves from the clutches of a pervasive consumer mentality of bigger and better. Jesus’ forceful words leave no doubt about it; true discipleship is a costly affair.

The clarity and power of Jesus’ terms and the call to decision too often lead to either the neglect of true discipleship or its reduction as a commitment to a more convenient and comfortable Jesus. This distortion of a popular Jesus has been a challenge down through Christian history. The very elements of power riches, privilege and power that Jesus attacked in all his teachings, ministry and life too often are the operative values of his followers and Church. The Church has always been burdened by far more token disciples than true followers of Christ.

Today’s Gospel passage makes it quite evident. Jesus demands that we follow him on his terms. Jesus makes it obvious that everything else must make sense in light of this commitment. All other loves must find their true meaning and direction from the love of Jesus.

When we place this mandate of taking up the cross in isolation, it is both frightening and more than difficult. However, we encounter a much more enticing view when we place this call of true discipleship in the context of Jesus’ call to the Kingdom. Here we are invited to share the conquest of sin, injustice and eventual death of this life. We are invited to the Kingdom’s way of love and everlasting life. Jesus words, “My yoke is easy and my burden light” (Mt 11:30) make true sense.

Jesus asks us to calculate our decision on the basis of the final victory. That victory will not come from comfort and wealth, indulgence and prestige. All this will pass away. The ultimate victory is the conquest of the cross over all the evil of this world. The decisive victory is the cross as the instrument of the new life and everlasting love that comes in true discipleship to the risen Christ. There is no payment too high for this treasure that begins now when we walk with Jesus in the way of love. This love that flows from true discipleship begins with our loved ones but is always expanding to new horizons. It reaches out to the peripheries of the forgotten and neglected.

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THE TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Lk 14:1, 7-14

Dear Friends,

The Gospel passage generally has many levels. Today it seems that Jesus is offering some practical advice. It touches on two strong customs in his day: hospitality and reciprocity. Both were wedded to the idea of status and recognition rooted in false values of prestige, power and privilege: “You do something for me and I will return the favor” “I welcome you to my private and special club!”

Jesus, however, is going much deeper. Jesus’ teaching is about the transformation of the false values of the world. He is proclaiming the truth of the Kingdom. The foundational teaching is humility. This means recognizing who God is and who we are. It is about the Creator and the creature. We are being called to a humble discipleship that recognizes the presence of God in all, especially, the poor, neglected and marginalized. We are being called to a new mindset, a sharing of the vision with Jesus in identifying and serving in a humble attitude that exalts the other not ourself.

Jesus offers us two practical ways that have far ramifications in opening the wonders of the gospel message. This enlightenment draws us into the mystery of Luke’s theme of reversal. Service prevails over prestige and privilege. Humility reigns so clearly in contrast to the world’s exaltation of self in wealth, power and prominence.

The honor/shame system and the self- serving reciprocity program of Jesus’ day and our day gives way to the challenge of the gospel. Jesus is calling for a revolutionary change of mindset that penetrates our heart and lifestyle.

Luke places today’s teaching in the context of a meal. Much of the evangelist’s teachings are presented in the sharing of a meal. It has been said we can eat our way through the Gospel of Luke. Obviously, Jesus was always inviting his followers into a much more profound level of human experience than practical table know-how. He is always drawing us into the presence of God that opens the stuff of daily life to the deepest mystery.

Luke puts special emphasis on Jesus’ mission to turn the world upside down. He puts great importance on the theme of reversal: “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted” (Lk 14:11).

Today’ teachings are given in the form of parables. The message is about the Kingdom: the great reversal that is to come. We are called to receive the poor and the lowly. There we will find God. The great and powerful of this world will find their fate woefully lacking and diminished in the new upside-down world of the Kingdom. The call for us in this great reversal is to go beyond writing a check or giving a handout to true hospitality.

Hospitality in Jesus’ teaching is not a token gesture but true sacrifice and involvement with those in need in our midst. Too often, it is about fundraising and not service, feeling good and not self-giving that draws us out of our narrow comfort zone.

Jesus was challenging the deeply entrenched and self-serving customs of his day: a distorted sense of hospitality and reciprocity. Jesus is calling us to truly go beyond our self-interest to share our table and our life with those in our midst in need. This is no easy task. It shares the uprooting and world-shattering dimensions of all of Jesus’ teaching. Too often, the ordinary practices of our helping those in need prove to be an obstacle and a hindrance to the message of Jesus in today’s Gospel. More frequently than not, it is about self-satisfaction rather than personal sacrifice.

In the great reversal of God’s Kingdom, God will be the host. As Luke teaches us in the Magnificat (Lk 1:51-53) and the Beatitudes and the Woes (Lk 6:20-26) the poor and neglected will have a special place. The way of the world that wraps self-serving activity in the twisted activities of false hospitality and reciprocity, will come to a crashing conclusion. God, as the host of the heavenly banquet, will readily take care of all the humbling and exalting. This is the Good News: all have an invitation to the table. The guests will be measured by service not by prestige and wealth. The ticket is a heart and life committed to truly helping those who are in need.

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THE TWENTY FIRST SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Luke 13:22-30

Dear Friends, Religion is always a many-sided issue. The weeds and the wheat are an ever-present concern. A lot of selfishness takes place in the name of Jesus. Often, what seems righteous is a search for personal grandiosity. St. Luke is very strong in presenting the theme of reversal which addresses the issue of spiritual self-seeking. Today, we close the Gospel with another expression of Luke’s often repeated theme of reversal, “For behold, some are last who will be first and, some are first, who will be last.” (Lk 13:30)

There are many who call themselves Christian and often image themselves as Christian warriors. Their main job is to attack the “sins” of others. Some are full time against abortion and homosexuals, others are crusaders against the racists and those opposing immigration reform. They are occupied completely pointing out how horrible other people are. Others make it a full time job finger pointing at certain people who do not follow the minor laws of the Church in the liturgy and sacraments.

A clear message in today’s gospel is that everybody is invited. However, we need to work at it; we need a personal responsibility first and foremost if we are going to participate in the grand feast that is the kingdom of God.

Universality is a central part of Jesus’ message that is always under attack. Yet we are in constant battle with exclusivity whether it is a matter of race or sexual orientation, immigrant status of ethnic origin. There is always some item out front as transgender issues hold sway today. “Them versus us” is never far below the headlines.

Jesus’ statement today is a wake-up call for us. “I do not know where you are from.” (Lk 13:25)

Jesus is pretty clear on these issues. “Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye…You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your own eye first.” (Mt. 7:3-5)

It is very clear that being an usher or lector or Eucharistic minister or a member of the liturgy committee or school board, while admirable, are not the main concerns. Jesus invites us to be humble and forgiving servants in a Church of sinners seeking the mercy of God together.

St Teresa of Avila has two fundamental teachings that address today’s Gospel. Jesus is telling us to listen to his message and live it. To do this, we need to know ourselves. Teresa repeats over and over that the way to God is first and foremost guided by self-knowledge. We need to know we are sinners, but sinners who are loved and forgiven. That is why the great Carmelite mystic says the story of our lives is always, in the final analysis, the story of God’s mercy.

This theme of mercy was at the center of Pope Francis’ message that delighted and inspired the world. He said that to be a Christian is not to never fall down and fail. That human weakness is part of the journey for all of us. It is to get up again and embrace God’s mercy that is always there as a critical option for all of us.

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TWENTIETH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

LK 12:49-53

Dear Friends, Any true version of the gospel must balance two elements in tension with one another. This is the experience of genuine comfort and an uprooting challenge. The promise of peace from the angels at the birth of Jesus must be incorporated into Jesus’ journey on the road to Jerusalem and the Passion and Death. Today’s gospel passage invites us to search for the balance between the message of hope and the prophetic encounter of pain and conflict that always confronts us when we choose to place Jesus first above all else.

In today’s gospel we find ourselves joining Jesus on the journey to Jerusalem. Luke’s ten chapters dedicated to this passage are mostly an invitation to enter into the teachings of Jesus. This large selection of Luke’s Gospel is a fundamental and clarifying experience of the basic human reality: the conflict of good and evil.

Whether we are aware of it, or not, we are totally immersed in this conflict. Through Luke, Jesus is telling us we must make a choice. This choice has consequences. There will be fire and division. Jesus sees his mission, made very concrete on the road to Jerusalem, to expose the reality hidden by deception and corruption wrapped in the false face of a religious practice that does not want to offend anybody.

Any authentic religious experience is always in need of the prophetic dimension. Jesus embraced this role of the prophet. He came to attack the world’s mediocrity, its indifference and, most of all, its captivity in evil. Jesus states his desire for fire and baptism. This was his destiny from the beginning: the redemptive death on the cross that would unleash the firestorm of the Holy Spirit.

This ultimate conflict of good and evil was revealed in Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. His proclamation of the Kingdom exposes a reality that is already in place even though it is hidden. He seeks to destroy the divisions that flow from sin and injustice. The fire and baptism of the saving love of the Cross lead to true unity and peace that the human our hungers for. However, his message and his life, and especially the death and resurrection, attack the superficial façade of peace that avoids and is blind to the true violence of rampant poverty, suffering, separation and isolation of “others.” True peace will always come at the cost of sacrifice for all others whether in our family or in distant countries.

When Jesus speaks of division in the family in today’s Gospel selection, he was laying out the harsh realities his presence unleashed in the world. Fire and division are non-negotiables on the road to Jerusalem. We as a church, as a parish and as individuals need to examine ourselves in light of this encounter with God’s word. Do we upset anyone by our commitment to Jesus? Does the level of our comfort allow for sufficient space to live the challenge of the true gospel? Have we reduced Jesus’ message to an inoffensive religious practice that upsets no one?

God’s word always challenges the unthinking acceptance of the false peace. God’s word will constantly produce confusion and uprooting as it leads to the true path of peace that hears and responds to the cry of the poor and the cry of the earth. Love is never without a cost. Jesus challenges us to be on fire for the Lord. This is why his priorities transcend even the deepest of human loves in the family or elsewhere.

True peace demands conversion. This is the personal transformation that accepts Jesus as the center. Only a heart committed to Christ will experience this true peace. Jesus will create a heart in true harmony that will deliver us from the deception of evil and a comfortable mediocrity of indulgence and indifference. True peace in Christ transforms all human love into the true love that springs from the divine Mystery of Love.

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NINETEENTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Luke 12:32-48

Dear Friends, When people come to worship on Sunday they always share with varying degrees of intensity the burden of the human condition. This means real problems and concerns. Sometimes the issues are more urgent than others. Nevertheless, the problems are always there. They are always real.

Most worshippers have a plan for what is necessary for them and their loved ones to be happy. They eventually recognize that they need God’s help to implement their plan. They believe with God’s cooperation they can wipe out the tensions and difficulties. Therefore, they come to pray for deliverance. A major part of their prayer is asking God to buy into their plan.

On the other hand, God also has a plan. God wants us to change. God wants us to share in his love for all creation and especially our brothers and sisters in all their human flaws. God wants us to know we are loved beyond our wildest dreams. God wants us to embrace that love and share it especially with the most marginalized and forgotten.

In today’s gospel passage there are eight references to Jesus “returning or “coming”. Everything about our Christian calling urges us to be ready. Our expectations need to be clear. The Lord is coming. We need to be vigilant. We need to have our act together. Today’s message is that God judges us both now and later. We are being judged in how we are treating our neighbor. We are being judged how we are using the gift of God’s creation and our personal time, talent and treasure. We need to know how we live and use our goods have consequences.

In the Gospel today, Luke has the seemingly harsh and unrealistic plea for us to sell our goods and give alms to the poor. This is a theme about property that Luke repeats often in different ways throughout his Gospel.

Luke’s point is to put things in perspective. The perspective is that first of all there is more to life than our immediate security and convenience. Secondly, Luke teaches us that God’s love for us Is our invitation into the Kingdom. This is God’s plan where we will find our real treasure and our real peace. When we understand the wonder and beauty of this gracious gift of God revealed in Jesus and his teaching on the Kingdom, we then are able to put both our worries and possessions in perspective. This is how God wants us to change and to grow. We need to learn that God has a better plan than our plan. The message of the Gospel tells us to see our life and our possessions in light of God’s Kingdom that is taking place now. We share in that Kingdom when we walk with Jesus in love. This love will carry us beyond our mortality to life beyond death

When we put Jesus’ words in this context, they do not seem so harsh and unrealistic.

“Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the Kingdom. Sell your belongings and give alms. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no their can reach nor moth destroy.” (Luke 12:32-33)

God has a plan. It is the Kingdom. We are invited to buy in. That is how God wants us to change. That is what it means when we say. “Let go and let God.”

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JOHN’S DARK NIGHT AND TERESA’S MESSAGE-10

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Part Two

Self-knowledge Opens to God’s Mercy
People spend billions of dollars on advertising to encourage us to feed the exaggerated demands of the false self. The unending pulls of a consumer society are a singular and horrendous obstacle on the road to the true self. All these deviations work together to weaken, and even hide, the longing of the true self calling us to move on to the center for a more authentic life.

Here again, self-knowledge, an awareness of what is going on within us, is critical in the necessary conversion that comes when we hear God’s word and obey God’s will in prayer.

The Importance of Prayer
Prayer becomes an energizing force on the passage to this life-giving self- knowledge. The encounter with God’s word and God’s will in deep personal prayer is our ticket to our true destiny at the center. Prayer is an invitation to redirect our lives. The light of the Scriptures often opens new horizons in our normal awareness. This leads to deeper self-knowledge. This new spiritual maturity leads to novel ways of accepting others. Our relationships and responsibilities move out of a narrow world of self-concern. They grow into a more spacious stance of openness, acceptance and service for others.

For Teresa, prayer was the answer to almost all problems. However, she had an expansive notion of prayer. It took place in the context of the relationship between God at the center, our person and our life experience. In the interaction of these elements in prayer, self-knowledge has a pivotal role. The mystery of God unfolds in the dynamic of the person’s prayer and life experience. Self- understanding brings this process together. The movement, in accepting the reality of God’s place and our place, brings God’s mercy to the forefront. As Teresa advanced in self-knowledge, she became more convinced in her oft-repeated belief: “My life is the story of God’s mercy.”

The Loving and Merciful Creator and the Loved and Forgiven Creature
Teresa identified two elements as the foundation of her spirituality. The first was her sinfulness. Through self-knowledge, she slowly accepted her helplessness to change. Through the growing light of God’s presence within her, she truly saw herself as a world class sinner. Secondly, she realized she was loved and forgiven, in spite of her opinion, that she was deeply flawed. The path of self-knowledge gradually opened Teresa to the grandeur of God and her total dependence on God. She was the creature caught in sin but both forgiven and loved as a child of God. Her ever-expanding awareness of herself as a sinful creature let her realize that she lived in a sea of mercy. Self-knowledge was a critical component of Teresa’s fundamental grasp of her reality as a sinner both loved and forgiven.

Pope Francis echoes these insights of Teresa in Laudato Si. 1 He says any authentic spirituality must start with the recognition of God as the all-powerful Creator. Otherwise, we place ourselves or some other creature such as the state as the final measure of all things. This leads to destructive activity against God, our brothers and sisters, and all creation. The news each day tells us the story of the ravages of evil unleashed by this most fundamental denial of all reality.

The only answer is to accept ourselves as we are, creatures in need of liberation from the forces of evil through the mercy of God.

Conclusion
In the Dark Night, John is the theologian, offering an ever-expanding analysis of the issues leading to the experience of God. His gifts are clear and his message is powerful.

On the other hand, Teresa is a great balancing factor to John’s sometimes overwhelming analysis. The Interior Castle lays out the growth in spiritual experiences and the practical consequences of the unique spiritual journey to the center, the dwelling place of God. Self-knowledge and the search for the true self are helped by humility and love. Along the way, she describes many mystical gifts such as visions, locutions, and absorptions. However, she always keeps the focus clear.

The goal is to bring ones heart to the true center where God dwells. The entire spiritual search and journey is to move to the center. This can only happen with true self-knowledge, the unending gift of self-discovery. To Teresa, this wise woman of faith and true daughter of the Church, this journey of self-discovery brought her to the Trinity dwelling in the depth of her being.

Once again, John and Teresa discovered and described the same destiny, union with God. His gift was the clarity of analysis and precision in the details. Her gift was more the warm acceptance of the human experience with a much more delicate human touch.

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EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Lk 12:13-21

Dear Friends,

Jesus’ message in today’s gospel passage is straightforward. Nothing is more destructive in life than care about acquiring and holding onto wealth that is ultimately transient. The man of the bigger barns forgot that life itself is a temporary gift in this world. It is a loan that God can recall at any moment, regardless if we own the expanded wealth of newly filled barns or hefty bank accounts.

Hebrew Scriptures have a clear understanding of what constitutes a fool. This is a person who has denied or forgotten God. In this story, the neglect of God is manifested in the greedy farmer with the very productive land. He was rich because he had many crops. He was a fool because he thought that they made him secure. He failed to realize that you cannot bring the well-stocked barns through the pearly gates leading to heaven. “You have so many good things stored up for many years, rest, eat, drink and be merry” (Lk 12:19).

In choosing God, we do not drop out of life. We continue to use things and possessions. In fact, we would be irresponsible if we did not. Jesus’ message for us today is to clear up our priorities. We need to avoid the blinding and crippling power of greed. The constant pursuit for more is not the gateway to security. Discovering what is truly sufficient has to be the governing principle in dealing with our possessions. Our task has to be rooted in true wisdom if we are going to allow our wealth and belongings, large or small, lead us to God.

The owner of the new barns is clearly a person who is self-absorbed. The idea of sharing never entered into his planning. He placed his bet down on his crop. Material possessions were his gateway to happiness. He became a fool simply by not being real. Life is a passing venture. In spite of all the guarantees of the advertising world, there is no lasting happiness as long as the funeral directors continue to have a lucrative business and even if they go out of business. Death is universal and inevitable for all of us. The choice is between things and God. The fool choses things.

Jesus is pointing out that our possessions can be destructive. In life, concern about acquiring and holding onto wealth is a bottleneck to the gospel call. The irony is that the wealth, most often, leads to feeling more insecurity.

Chase or Bank of America or whatever bank is simply a means to an end. Jesus clearly shows us that we cannot store up our treasures in the banks or barns of this world. Greed and avarice always blind our heart to reality. Possessions create gross deceptions along life’s journey. We need to get our values clear. We need to free the heart so our wealth, no matter how small or grand, is a stepping stone into the Kingdom. All things either free us or constrict us in our effort to walk with Jesus.

All of Jesus’ teachings are a guide to free the heart from all that is not God. Just prior to todays’ passage, (Lk 12:1-12) Jesus counseled his disciples against all anxiety, telling them God knows their needs and wants. They will never be beyond God’s providential care.

Left to its own, the heart is an idol-making machine. Jeus is calling us away from the idols in whatever fashion they may come. He tells us to trust in God’s loving care for our security. Jesus was very clear in teaching his disciples and us this simple truth. Our efforts should not be directed to having more but to become more like him. We need to keep our eyes on the prize that is Jesus.

God’s tender presence will be the only sure ticket on the final, inevitable passage through death which is the most non-negotiable part of life. We should fill our barns with the only true and lasting grain of this life: trust, service, compassion, humility and love. “Then he said to the crowd, take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions” (Lk 12:15).

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SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Lk 11: 1-13

Dear Friends,

Today, we have the Lukan version of the Our Father. This special prayer is the culmination and deepest expression of all the prayers in the Bible. It has been described as the summary of the Gospel.

Down through the centuries, the saints, and particularly the Doctors of the Church, have sung its praises. St. Thomas Aquinas called it a prayer of the end times. At our present moment we experience the mystery of salvation in what has been described as “already but not yet.” This means that the Pascal Mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection has accomplished our salvation. Yet we are in a process of moving toward the completion of that reality in our Christian life and final destiny of human history. We are moving toward the fullness of the Kingdom of God, the restoration of the original innocence. It still remains an object of hope, a time where we will be completely free of the consequences of sin: no more sickness, division, hatred, violence, ignorance, de-humanizing poverty and prejudice and, finally, death gives way to eternal life. St. Thomas’ point is that the Our Father is a prayer for the coming of the New Day and the New Creation that is God’s Kingdom.

When Jesus gave his followers the Our father, he was offering a way of life. This prayer was a guide of how they were to live and relate to God. This is the prayer for those who wish to walk with Jesus on the journey to the Kingdom.

Our Father

The great gift of Jesus is that we have become adopted children, allowing us to address our God as Father. When addressing the Father, Luke has Jesus using the term “Abba” and invites us to do the same. This is the most intimate and familial expression a child would use in addressing a parent. Matthew uses the term we translate as “Father.” This term is more distinguished and majestic. Both Evangelists direct us into the great mystery that Jesus reveals in the Our Father.

The term “Our” identifies us as part of the family of God. Jesus is creating a community of believers to share his relationship with the Father. All our prayers include the personal needs but also take account of all God’s children. All the petitions in this prayer are communal as well as personal.

Hallowed Be thy Name

Hallowed means to make holy. The request here is that recognizing God’s holiness that we respond to that divine holiness. We are called to be witnesses to God’s holiness as we follow in the footsteps of Jesus in search of his Kingdom.

Thy Kingdom Come

Jesus reveals the Kingdom as God’s plan. His works and teachings and especially in the death and resurrection disclose God’s action. This is the initiation of the destruction of all the consequences of Adam and Eve’s sin.

Love, justice and mercy have the final say in the Kingdom. Our sins are forgiven, the sick healed, enemies are reconciled, the poor share the blessings of the Lord in abundance and the captives are freed. Every desire in harmony with God’s love is fulfilled. The human venture is brought to a just and peaceful resolution.

In the Lukan version, God’s will clearly is part of the Kingdom we seek in our prayer. Jesus showed us the way in fulfilling the Father’s will. God’s plan is for our freedom leading to eternal happiness. God invites us into that treasure beyond our dreams. In Gethsemane, Jesus showed the power of his surrender to the Father’s will. His acceptance of the divine will produced the passage from death to life for all humankind. God’s will for us, both personally and communally, continues to call us into the fullness of life.

The Thou Petitions

Give Us this Day Our Daily Bread

By saying give “us” we are again showing our communion with all our brothers and sisters. The bread we ask for includes all material needs of ourselves and others, a steady supply of sustenance. As part of a communion, the needs of others, especially the poor, must be a priority.

At the same time, we are praying for the Bread of Life which includes the Word of God and the Body of Christ in the Eucharist. These gifts of the spirit strengthen and enable us to respond generously in making the petitions real in our life.

Forgive Us Our Trespasses as We Forgive Those Who Trespass against Us

Reconciliation looks forward to the coming of the Lord in judgment. We are asking for the great gift necessary to enter the Kingdom: forgiveness. Only our willingness to forgive will open the passage to new life. Lack of forgiveness hardens our hearts and closes the way into the merciful love of our God.

Do not subject us to the final test

We now recognize our human weakness caught in the battle of the spirit and the flesh. We are asking God to protect and guide us away from sin. We are asking for discernment, vigilance and perseverance.

This final test means deliverance from the Evil One who is Satan. We are asking for guidance through the harsh and horrible appeal of all elements in the world that are in total opposition to our salvation. We are asking God to deliver us from all the evils that are the relentless work of the Evil One whose overriding desire is to draw us away from God.

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SIXTEENTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Lk 10:38-42

Dear Friends, True hospitality is one of many important themes in the story of Martha and Mary. Martha, as is so often our own experience in life, lets her anxieties and concerns define her action. It is clear her desire is to put on a great culinary display. She is more present to herself than to Jesus. She is not in touch with Jesus’ situation. He is in the midst of a traumatic experience on the road to Jerusalem. On the other hand, Mary is focusing on Jesus. Her hospitality is defined by the needs of her guest.

It is no easy task to achieve a balancing posture that integrates prayer and service. The two elements of prayer and service are easily distorted by the ever-present demands of the ego. Only true spiritual maturity will allow us sufficient self-knowledge to be aware of the power of our self-deception. A pattern of deep personal prayer will free us to act with true faithfulness that actually integrates prayer and service.

Teresa of Avila tells us that it is in the conclusion of the spiritual journey that the traits that we characterize in Martha and Mary become one in us. Our goal is to achieve a freedom for the true love for God and neighbor. In the meanwhile, the grace is in our struggle to seek this integration and authenticity in our life.

Today’s short passage of Luke’s gospel seems like a simple story. It tells us there must be a balance between prayer and action, service and contemplation. However, when we are delving into the gospel of Jesus, we are always running into a mystery of profound depth. There are always new levels beckoning us into multilayered stages of understanding and action. Likewise, we are exposed to the shattering of our cultural norms.

• In today’s story, Jesus challenges us on the role of women in his day and ours. Here are five points where today’s gospel contests the status quo:

• In Jesus’ time women were not allowed to be students of the Law. In our story we have Mary in the position of a disciple, listening attentively at the feet of Jesus.

• When the guest is a prophet, the proper response is to listen the Word of God being proclaimed. Mary is attentive to this task. She again shatters the accepted function of her culture as a woman.

• In contrast to the multiple biblical stories of conflict between brothers, this is the singular story of conflict between sisters.

• Jesus entered into a house with only two women present according to the story. This was a deliberate violation of the expected behavior.

• The entire episode of Jesus’ interaction with two women contains multiple violations of the culture and proclaims the dignity of the two sisters. There is not much here to say the proper place for women is in the kitchen.

As always, the Gospel message invites us to delve deeply into our heart to see with new eyes the very ordinary things in life with the help of Jesus’ word and example. There is always more for; us to see and make the changes Jesus so desires for us.

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FIFTHTEENTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

LK 10:25-37

Dear Friends, The Jewish lawyer in today’s gospel passage was not interested in Jesus’ answer to the question, who is my neighbor? He had his own agenda. He was trying to draw Jesus into some kind of violation of Jewish law and tradition that would lead to his humiliation and punishment.

Meanwhile, Jesus uses the deceitful context to give us one of the great messages of God’s love and involvement in our human brokenness. It is an invitation into the wonder of Jesus’ redeeming love for all of us. Jesus is inviting us to participate in the great act of salvation by our serving and healing presence to our neighbor.

In the parable of the Good Samaritan Jesus reveals the depth and breadth of God’s presence to all human beings. This story of the Good Samaritan shatters any configuration of the narrow definition that prejudice continually spawns. Indeed, history has shown the incredible length we can go in isolating, dehumanizing, discriminating and simply hating our neighbor.

“Good Samaritan” is easily understood in our day. It even is defined in a dictionary as “an exceptionally charitable or helpful person”. It is quite problematic for us to grasp the power of the contradiction that Jesus set up in the parable for the Jewish community in his day. Depending on your personal sensitivities, the label “Good Samaritan” today might be a militant Al Qaeda or white supremist or a hateful anti-Semite or another far out contradiction of your creative imagination.

Jesus explodes all expressions of normality with the Samaritan individual, the most despicable of Jewish enemies. This explosive choice is followed up with a sense of grandiosity in service that continued the pattern of shock and awe. When the enemy benefactor pays the bill and promises more, we are well beyond any sense of generous decency. This all flows from Jesus’ new definition of neighbor as one in need.

The love Jesus unveils knows no limits. The human heart is capable and works constantly at drawing limits of this gospel love. Phrases like “Charity begins at home” are transcended by the message of Jesus: love begins with our concrete response to the suffering person in our midst.

We can easily identify three qualities of the Samaritan love in Jesus’ parable. First, it transcends all prejudice and is totally inclusive. All it saw was the pain and urgent need of the person. Secondly, the situation was seen as an opportunity not a burden and gross aggravation. Thirdly, Samaritan love does not count the cost, the inconvenience and the shattering of one’s schedule and comfort. It des not seek recompense or recognition.

We all have a challenge to embrace these three simple characteristics in our daily life with all of its demanding relationships and responsibilities. It is not so much that charity begins at home but charity begins wherever we encounter pain and suffering and all its variations in the human scene.

Today’s parable challenges us to see the problematic situations in our life from the vision of the gospel. We are called to share the extravagant hospitality of the Samaritan. Like the Samaritan, we are invited to see our goods as a means of assistance not exclusively an assurance of our personal security. This is only possible by a continual withdrawal from a narrow, fenced-in world-view. The flow of our daily life and responsibilities offers countless opportunities to reach out in loving service. Jesus’ words always remain the same. Our task is to “go and do the same” (Lk 10:37).

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