For What We Do Not See

Tuesday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

By Melanie Rigney

For in hope we were saved. Now hope that sees for itself is not hope. For who hopes for what one sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait with endurance. (Romans 8:24-25)

The Lord has done marvels for us.  (Psalm 126:3a)

Again he said, “To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch of dough was leavened.” (Luke 13:20-21)

Piety

Lord, I give You thanks and praise for Your presence in my life.

Study

Maybe it starts in childhood.

We hope for a pony. We get a tricycle.

Kazimierz Wojniakowski [Public domain],
via Wikimedia Commons.

We hope for a particular doll or bat or tablet or game subscription. The one we get is fine… but it’s not exactly the one we had our heart set on. And so we become more specific, more defined in what we want in gifts or people. We set up our wish list on Amazon and our non-negotiables on CatholicMatch or elsewhere because we think in the tangible, the specific. We hope for what we have seen, what we know will make us happy. We pray for that too: Give me that promotion. Provide the money for that new house. Bring me a spouse. Often, we had these things once, and they were lost along the way. Other times, we pray for them because we’ve seen how happy they make others, and surely they will do the same for us. We waste time and hope pining for the things we know or once knew, things that everyone else except us seems to have. After all, we know best what we need.

Paul advises us today to develop the faith to have hope, for one necessarily follows the other for Christians. Our greatest hope, that of eternal life, comes through our belief in the Resurrection and the promise that it is available to us as well. What does heaven look like? Our brains cannot begin to imagine, most likely. And so we hope to be worthy of it, as we work and wait, confident of the Lord’s presence here and His constant love for us.

Put aside those childhood disappointments of hope unrealized. The Lord will not disappoint.

Action

There’s a definite place for intentional prayer. But just for today, consider focusing your time with the Lord on adoration instead.

Set Free

Monday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. Romans 8:16-17

The Lord said to him in reply, “Hypocrites! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his ass from the manger and lead it out for watering? This daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound for eighteen years now, ought she not to have been set free on the Sabbath day from this bondage?”  Luke 13:15-16

Piety

Rembrandt's The Prodigal

“As I look at my own aging hands, I know that they have been given to me to stretch out to all who suffer, to rest upon the shoulders of all who come, and to offer the blessing that emerges from the immensity of God’s love.” (Henri Nouwen, “The Return of the Prodigal Son,” Epilogue.)

Study

Christians, by reason of the Spirit’s presence within them, enjoy not only new life but also a new relationship to God, that of adopted children and heirs through Christ, whose sufferings and glory they share.  Jesus puts that new relationship on display as he heals the crippled woman on the Sabbath. 

This new relationship as heirs to his same suffering destiny may not be what we have in mind when we think about an inheritance.  To us, inheritance is (usually) something good.  Money.  Property.  Family jewelry.  Heirlooms.  Inheritance has an almost universally positive meaning. 

We would not typically equate suffering with inheritance.  However, we do inherit a genetic makeup from our birth parents.  Sometimes that passes on to us negative factors and a propensity for disease like heart problems, cancer or more.  In addition, an inheritance also might create for us a tax obligation based upon the value of the estate that we receive.  We have to take the good with the bad.

The same is true of our inheritance with Christ.  We have to accept the good (Glory) with the need for the bad (Suffering).  We cannot have one without the other.

In addition, inheritance also means we might be gaining something but we have lost out on a relationship which was close to us.  In the case of Jesus, we inherit his estate yet we have not lost him. 

Jesus accepts the good and the bad of his inheritance.  Today, the good is his healing of the crippled woman.  The bad is the betrayal that is brewing among the leaders of the temple after he humiliates them publicly. 

Action

As you look at your aging hands, what will be your non-monetary estate?  What have you inherited that cannot be counted on a balance sheet of assets and liabilities?

One hundred years from now
It won't matter
What kind of car I drove
What kind of house I lived in
How much money I had in the bank
Nor what my cloths looked like
BUT
The world may be a little better
Because, I was important
In the life of a child.

 Excerpt from "Within My Power" by Forest Witcraft

A Journey Towards Mercy

Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

By Lisa Helene Bacalski

They departed in tears, but I will console them and guide them; I will lead them to brooks of water, on a level road, so that none shall stumble. --Jeremiah 31:9a

Although they go forth weeping,

carrying the seed to be sown,

They shall come back rejoicing,

carrying their sheaves.

--Psalm 126:6

In the same way, it was not Christ who glorified himself in becoming high priest,

but rather the one who said to him: You are my son: this day I have begotten you. --Hebrews 5:5

Jesus told him, "Go your way; your faith has saved you." Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way. --Mark 10:51-52

Piety

Lord Jesus Christ,

you have taught us to be merciful like the heavenly Father,

and have told us that whoever sees you sees Him.

Show us your face and we will be saved.

        (excerpt from Prayer of Pope Francis for the Jubilee of Mercy)

Study

This week’s readings reveal the dynamic nature of God’s mercy. It is not a static gift in a box, but a journey and a transformation. God’s people are on the road in Jeremiah and today’s Psalm, leaving with tears but returning with great joy and carrying the graces of their challenging journey. Jesus traveled from heaven to become Emmanuel, God-With-Us, to be glorified by God and to offer his priestly sacrifice on the cross.

And finally, the blind man “threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus” who gave him the gift of sight. How daring and terrifying it must have been to walk in total darkness through a crowd of strangers. What if it was a trick? What if he was actually being led away from that preacher he’d heard so much about? Yet he followed the call. Like the blind man, we seek the face of Jesus with faith and hope, and like him, our faith will be rewarded in a transformative way through the mercy of God’s love.

Action

As the universal church prepares to celebrate the Jubilee of Mercy, schedule time each week for your journey towards mercy. Whether you choose more frequent confession, corporal works of mercy, spiritual works of mercy, or simply spend time with challenging people in your life, seek opportunities within your parish and diocese to see the face of Jesus. Don’t just make a date - take a journey!

Bear Fruit in the Future

Saturday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time

If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit that dwells in you.  Romans 8:11

“He said to him in reply, ‘Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.’” Luke 13:8-9

Piety

Have mercy on me, God, in accord with your merciful love; in your abundant compassion blot out my transgressions. Thoroughly wash away my guilt; and from my sin cleanse me. For I know my transgressions; my sin is always before me. Against you, you alone have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your eyes so that you are just in your word, and without reproach in your judgment. (Psalm 51:3-6)

Study

We are pulled in two directions…one way leads to life and peace while the other leads to hostility and death. How perfect life could be if we made decisions 100 percent of the time toward life and peace.   However, it is not that easy because we are constantly called to holiness via repentance (change) AND called to the pleasures of the flesh.  Our loving God awaits our decision and action daily.

Fortunately, through the redemptive work of Christ, Christians have been liberated from the terrible forces of sin and death. Holiness was impossible so long as the flesh (or our “old self”), that is, self-interested hostility toward God, frustrated the divine objectives expressed in the law. The same Spirit who enlivens Christians for holiness will also resurrect their bodies at the last day. [i]

The parable of the barren fig tree presents a story about the continuing patience of God with those who have not yet given evidence of their repentance from the sins of the flesh to the righteousness of the spirit. 

Action

“If you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!”

In a recent homily, Pope Francis acknowledged that because of weakness, original sin and the devil, the temptation to fall back into old habits is constant. The path to conversion, he said, is made "a little bit each day" even when there are difficulties. Like an athlete, he said that Christians must train in sanctity in order to win the "great victory of heaven."

“Let us ask this grace from the Lord: to be strong, to be strong in this training of life toward the encounter, that we might receive the gift of justification, the gift of grace, the gift of the Spirit in Christ Jesus," the pope said.[ii]  In this way, we may bear the fruits of the spirit in the future.

---

[i] http://www.usccb.org/bible/romans/8:1#53008001-1

[ii] http://ncronline.org/blogs/francis-chronicles/victory-heaven-won-through-small-efforts-pope-says

Do the Good I Want

Friday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time

By Colleen O’Sullivan

For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want…  Miserable one that I am!  Who will deliver me from this mortal body?  Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.  (Romans 7:19, 24-25a)

“You hypocrites!  You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky; why do you not know how to interpret the present time?”   (Luke 12:56)

Piety

Hear, Lord, the prayers we offer from contrite hearts.

Have pity on us as we acknowledge our sins.

Lead us back to the way of holiness.

Protect us now and always from the wounds of sin.

May we ever keep safe in all its fullness

the gift your love one gave us

and your mercy now restores.

(Prayer for Avoiding Sin)

Study

Enough blue in the sky to patch a sailor’s pants – a sure sign, according to my grandmother, that the clouds would give way to a sunny day. 

Red sky at night, sailors’ delight.  Red sky at morning, sailors take warning – a saying I’ve heard all my life that often pans out.  If the sunrise is deep red gorgeous, it will likely rain at some point during the day.  A beautiful sunset with lots of red is almost a guarantee of nice weather the next day.

Jesus is right.  Even without the benefit of the National Weather Service or Doppler radar, people have always been fairly capable of predicting the weather by observing the signs around them.  But then Jesus goes on to wonder why those same people, who are so observant about the next day’s forecast, can’t discern the presence of the Kingdom of God in their midst. 

Here we see Jesus talking to the crowds, not just his disciples.  By now, he hopes that at least a few of the disciples have some clue to his identity and his purpose for being on earth.  He is painfully aware, however, that the majority of the people he’s addressing in this gathering have no idea who he is or why he’s journeying from village to village, healing, teaching and preaching, nor do they really care.  They’re there to be entertained.  The Kingdom of God is all around them and they don’t see it or feel it!

If you are reading this, I’m assuming you’re not among the clueless crowd Jesus is talking to.  We know who Jesus is.  We know what he’s done for us.  We see and feel his presence in our lives. 

Then we come to Paul’s words to the Romans.  And we have to admit that even though we are able to discern Christ’s presence in our midst and know how Jesus wants us to live our lives, there’s always that huge stumbling block – SIN.  We truly want to follow in Jesus’ footsteps, but something keeps pulling us off the path, luring us on detours to places we never meant to go.

“Help!” we call.  “We’re lost.  We can’t find the way.  We’re sorry we left the marked route.  Can anyone lead us back?”  And along comes Jesus, who picks us up, dusts us off, takes us by the hand, and leads us back to where we got off-track.  And does it time and again when we do the evil we do not want.  “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Action

What is it that derails you on your journey with Christ?  For many of us, if we’re honest with God and ourselves, it’s often the very thing we least wanted to do.  When you are praying today, ask for Jesus’ forgiveness and for his deliverance from whatever it is that conspires to separate you from him.

Set the Earth on Fire

Thursday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time

By Beth DeCristofaro

But now that you have been freed from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit that you have leads to sanctification, and its end is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:22-23)

Jesus said to his disciples: “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! (Luke 12:49)

Piety

Spirit of God,
give us the openness, deep within us to recognize, daily, all people as made in your image and likeness.

Help us to learn from one another the ways of being fully alive, at peace with ourselves and with those around us.
Give us the courage to transform those parts of ourselves and our world
that separate and create enmity.

Help us to take steps to stop the cycle of violence in our homes, in our workplaces,
in our neighborhoods, in our country, in our world.

May we be open to our deepest yearning for a world alive with your justice and truth, to dream of a society where all are treated with respect, and, with the power of your Spirit, to take steps to bring it about.

  Australian Catholic Social Justice Council

  http://www.socialjustice.catholic.org.au/spirituality-for-justice/prayers

Study

Day after day we receive tragic news that causes us to shake our heads or clench hands tight in anguish. Many times these accounts are followed up by stories of individuals and communities reaching out to those who were hurt, displaced, lost, or attacked.  Although it is appalling that so many atrocities occur, it is hopeful that people continue to step forward to respond.

In a reflection from “Give Us this Day”, Kate Ritger describes what it means to be “rich toward God”.  Ritger says “If I am rich toward my sister, I make visiting her a priority, I listen carefully when we talk on the phone, I appreciate who she is and I share important parts of my life with her.  Being ‘rich toward God’ asks us to extend that generosity, intentionality and vulnerability to the world, especially the poorest and most vulnerable around us.”[i]

Imagine if we were to make visiting the homeless a priority.  What would happen if we listened carefully to someone who has been incarcerated or is tormented by mental illness?  What if we appreciated a person with whom we have significant differences or shared our lives and even our homes with someone who has had to flee their own home?  The world would blaze with a love inspired by Christ even as the world is divided against itself, suspicious of such a love. 

Action

Christ asks us to love, one at a time, a neighbor, a person, a living sister or brother not an abstract.  Who might I stretch myself to meet?  Tiny fires unite into magnificent blazes in Christ.

---

[i] “Rich in What Matters”, Kate Ritger, from Give Us this Day: Daily Prayer for Today’s Catholic, Liturgical Press, October 2015, p. 196.

Weapons for Righteousness

Wednesday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time

Brothers and sisters: Sin must not reign over your mortal bodies so that you obey their desires. And do not present the parts of your bodies to sin as weapons for wickedness, but present yourselves to God as raised from the dead to life and the parts of your bodies to God as weapons for righteousness.   Romans 6:12-13

“Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.”  Luke 12:48

Piety

Let us arise, then, at last, for the Scripture stirs us up, saying, "Now is the hour for us to rise from sleep of sin." Rule of St. Benedict, Prologue

Study

The Boy Scout motto is “Be prepared.”  Maybe they got inspired to make it such by the Good News according to Saint Luke for he writes that “You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”

Luke emphasizes for his readers the importance of being faithful to the instructions of Jesus.  He also cautions his readers against counting on an unknown delay in when Jesus will return.  If we count on the delay and act irresponsibly, we may be caught unprepared for the final judgement.

While Luke is writing about the unknown future, he cautions that we should handle it like the present.  St. Paul, in Romans, issues a similar warning but is more focused on how we present ourselves in the present time.  He cautions not to give in to sin but to save ourselves to stay in a right relationship with God.

The bottom line:  we must renounce own will by taking up the strong, bright weapons of obedience to do battle against sin for Christ.

Action

Was this also yesterday’s message?  Certainly.  Will this also be tomorrow’s message?   You bet.  Jesus is consistent in his life affirming teachings to his disciples in his day and to us today and to our children after us. “So for one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, it is a sin.” (James 4:17)

What weapons will you have to use when the thief comes in the night? Will those weapons of righteousness be ready to use?  Are you practicing with them daily or are you falling into bad habits thinking that you have more time before they will be put to use?

As you sharpen the sword of your piety, study and action, you will be preparing for the battle of life. Christ is, after all, counting on you. Are you counting on Christ?

When He Comes and Knocks

Tuesday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time

By Melanie Rigney

Just as through one transgression condemnation came upon all, so, through one righteous act acquittal and life came to all. For just as through the disobedience of one man the many were made sinners, so through the obedience of the one the many will be made righteous. (Romans 5:18-19)

Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.  (Psalm 40:8a and 9a)

“Gird your loins and light your lamps and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival.” (Luke 12:35-37)

Piety

Lord, help me to be ever-present and responsive to your call.

Study

A dear friend likes to tell a story about a chart, designed to open up dialogue with others or private recollections about pivotal points in your life. It breaks the journey into seven-year segments and aligns them with months of the year. A member of her family was shocked to find while he was in April, she was in November. It didn’t bother her; it worried him.

Another friend once commented that she wouldn’t be around when some of the grand kids graduated from college. I immediately contradicted her; it would only be twenty-one years, of course she’d still be around. Then I realized that would put her in her mid-nineties, and the odds were she’d be right.

It feels like we all and our loved ones have oceans of time on the planet until those little moments bring us up short, oceans of time to get our act together, to start loving instead of hating, to accept instead of judge, to help rather than criticize. But we don’t have oceans of time, not when we are toddlers, not when we are teenagers, not when we are in our thirties and not when we are in our sixties and beyond. We have this moment to prepare for the Lord’s arrival. There’s no need to wring our hands about the way we wasted yesterday, nor do our grandiose plans for how we’ll serve Him “someday” matter much. What we have is today. May we make the most of it in the way we serve and love so that we may be ready no matter when He knocks.

Action

Identify a place in your life where the Lord would find you less than vigilant. Ask for His help in changing that.

What Matters

Memorial of Saints John de Brébeuf and Isaac Jogues, Priests, and Companions, Martyrs

Abraham did not doubt God’s promise in unbelief; rather, he was empowered by faith and gave glory to God and was fully convinced that what God had promised he was also able to do.  Romans 4:20-21

“Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.”  Luke 12:15

Piety

…This is what we are about.  We plant the seeds that one day will grow.  We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.

We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest…

(From a prayer by Bishop Ken Untener)

Study

What matters to God? 

Let’s look to the first reading for a clue.  Any doubts Abraham might have had about what God asked of him were resolved in his commitment to God’s promise.  Abraham and Sarah are marked for our study to emulate their faith.  Rather than react as would be expected to Sarah’s infertility until a very advanced age or the command to sacrifice their long-awaited son, they trusted in what God wanted, not what they wanted nor what society said that they should do or say.

Our second clue comes as Jesus explains his comments about the parable of the rich fool.  Building barns in which to store his harvest would not seem foolish to his neighbors.  Yet amassing great wealth when you will not live to use it for the good of society is what is foolish.  “Thus will it be for the one who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich in what matters to God.” (Luke 12:21)

What matters to God is not what matters to us unless we – like Abraham and Sarah – place our trust in God.  Such guidance builds upon the lessons of the Sunday Good News when James and John asked to sit at Jesus’ left and right side in heaven.  Jesus stressed that all he could give them was the cup and baptism, not power or status. 

Action

On any given Sunday, many red-blooded American men are spending the afternoon watching the local professional football team play on the gridiron…or having a tailgate party before the game…or having friends over to watch those games on TV (the bigger the screen the better).  But for the Men of the 131^st Cursillo that concluded at San Damiano Retreat House yesterday, it was spent getting to know themselves better, getting to know Jesus better and getting to know what to do in the community.

Today is the start of the first and only Fourth Day of the rest of their lives.  Welcome these new Cursillistas back into your parish, into your group reunion, and into the ways you dedicate your life to piety, study and action. Help them to keep on doing what they learned on this weekend and throughout life.

Through His Suffering

Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary

By Jim Bayne

Because of his affliction he shall see the light in fullness of days; through his suffering, my servant shall justify many, and their guilt he shall bear. Isaiah 53:11)

Whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. (Mark 10:43-44)

Piety

The Rule of Saint Benedict

The first rule is simply this:

Live this life and do whatever is done, in a spirit of Thanksgiving.

Abandon attempts to achieve security, they are futile,

Give up the search for wealth, it is demeaning,

Quit the search for salvation, it is selfish, and

Come to comfortable rest in the certainty that those who participate in this life with an attitude of Thanksgiving will receive its full promise.

– (From Always We Begin Again by John McQuiston II)

Study

Our American culture of consumerism tells us that we must drive the latest car, have bright white and straight teeth, and use the fastest smartphone if we expect to be at the top of the heap. In today’s Gospel, James and John are asking Jesus to do for them what today’s hucksters promise they can do for us: put us ahead of our brothers and sisters; put us at the top of the heap. 

Jesus tells James and John and us that that is not the way it works. Joy is to be found in being a servant leader. Our true calling is to be servant leaders. True joy is to be found in doing for others. Pope Francis models this behavior.

The Piety segment above is taken from a modern adaptation of The Rule of Saint Benedict which tells us with some precision what we have to do and the attitude we need to adopt in order to find what James and John - and us - are really looking for. It is what Jesus taught. It is the very opposite of what our current culture values.

By taking time at the beginning and end of each day to reflect on all of the graces we have received that day, we can begin to appreciate God’s great love for us. Out of this gratitude, springs the desire to serve others; to become a servant leader.

Action

Take time this week to reflect each day on the graces you have received: a parking space just when you needed it; reconnecting with an old friend; a good night’s sleep; a great dinner; a good report card for the kids. As you grow in awareness of how blessed you are, see if you don’t feel drawn to share your joy with others through service.

It Depends on Faith

Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr

For this reason, it depends on faith, so that it may be a gift, and the promise may be guaranteed to all his descendants, not to those who only adhere to the law but to those who follow the faith of Abraham, who is the father of all of us, as it is written, I have made you father of many nations.  Romans 4:16-17A

"Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.  When they take you before synagogues and before rulers and authorities, do not worry about how or what your defense will be or about what you are to say.  For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you should say."  Luke 12:10-12

Piety

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will; That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him Forever in the next.  Amen.  --Reinhold Niebuhr

Study

Sacred texts and holy books are filled with inspiring writing.  Yet connected to the lofty praise and prayer in today's reading is perhaps one of the most serious condemnations uttered by Jesus. 

Even as he knows the fate of the cross that his future holds, Jesus offers compassionate forgiveness for any act and any word spoken against him.  However, Jesus adds an important clause to that forgiveness. "Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. 

The Bible says in 1 John 1:9, "If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing." (NAB) This verse, and many others that speak of God's forgiveness, seem to be in contrast with Luke 12:10-12 and this concept of an unforgivable sin. So what constitutes blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, the eternal sin that can never be forgiven?

Could it be that rejection of Jesus' gift to us is rejection of the Holy Spirit?  Jesus, through his life, death and resurrection ransomed for us eternal life.  Our lives of piety, study and action are intended for us to imitate that life and obtain what it promises.  However, what if we reject Christ's offer of salvation, His free gift of eternal life, and thus, His forgiveness from sin. If we do not accept His gift, we cannot be forgiven. If we refuse to open the door of our heart to the Holy Spirit's so that we may be worthy of the promises of Christ, then Jesus has no place to work in our lives.  We cannot be forgiven if we do not want to be forgiven.

Action

When there is a baptism, we meditate upon and repeat our baptismal vows.  We reject Satan and all his works and all his empty promises. 

Think of these empty promises and the fulfillment of the promises of Christ as the alternative.  What empty promises are likely to tempt you today?  Reject them and accept the gift of wisdom from the Holy Spirit that allows you to tell the difference.  May the ear of your heart be enlightened so that the eye of your heart allows you to see the way to walk with the Lord.

Exterior: A Reflection of the Interior

Friday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time

By Colleen O’Sullivan

Brothers and sisters:  What can we say that Abraham found, our ancestor according to the flesh?  Indeed, if Abraham was justified on the basis of his works, he has reason to boast; but this was not so in the sight of God.  For what does the Scripture say?  “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”   (Romans 4:1-3)

At that time:  So many people were crowding together that they were trampling one another underfoot.  Jesus began to speak, first to his disciples, “Beware of the leaven – that is, the hypocrisy – of the Pharisees.  There is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known  Therefore whatever you have said in the darkness will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed on the housetops.”   (Luke 12:1-3)

Piety

May the face I show to the world be a true reflection of my inner self.  May my love for you and my faith in you, O Lord, be evidenced in what I say and do.

Study

I know I’m dating myself, but when I got out of school, the TV series Dallas was just beginning.  Every Friday night, I made sure I would be home in time to see the next episode.  Each week as the show began, I thought how South Fork was such a beautiful ranch.  All the Ewings had gorgeous clothes.  None of them ever seemed to work very hard.  They had servants and hired help to take care of their every little whim.  It only took watching it once, though, to realize how far the façade was from being a true reflection of the Ewings’ lives.  Behind the scenes, they had drug problems, alcohol problems, and relationship problems.  The women were treated like numskulls.  JR was the most scurrilous business tycoon imaginable.  (The impetus for watching may have been loving to hate JR Ewing!)  In short, for all their wealth and beautiful surroundings, these were miserable people at the core.

Jesus is warning his disciples in today’s Gospel about this very sort of thing – the hypocrisy of showing the world a glittering, gleaming image that bears no relation to who we are on the inside.  Specifically, he’s talking about our relationship with God.  We can get away with being impressive on the outside for a while, but eventually the truth will come out.  The Pharisees consider themselves the religious people of their day.  They follow all the rules.  They are educated and know the Scriptures.  And they make it their business to let everyone know how upstanding they are and to serve as “policemen” of the Law.  They get away with this until Jesus comes on the scene and exposes them for the frauds they really are.  It’s all window dressing.  None of it stems from an inner relationship with the Father.  If they were close to Jesus’ Father, they would look much different on the outside.  They would be loving, caring, and merciful.  They would look after the needs of the poor and disenfranchised in their midst.  They would lose the self-righteous attitude.

In today’s first reading, the apostle Paul talks about Abraham.  What God calls righteousness in Abraham isn’t an impressive resume of all he’s done but the sincerity of his faith and trust in God.  When that’s what’s at our core, good works take care of themselves; they flow naturally from the relationship. 

Action

Jesus desires that we be whole, from the inside out.  He has no time for hypocritical in-congruence.  If we are people of faith in our hearts, our works will reflect our trust in God’s goodness. 

What do others see when they look at you?  What image do you consciously project to the world?  Does who you are on the outside reflect who you are in your relationship with God?

Justified by God’s Grace

Memorial of Saint Teresa of Jesus, Doctor of the Church

By Beth DeCristofaro

For there is no distinction; all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God. They are justified freely by his grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:23-24)

Woe to you, scholars of the law! You have taken away the key of knowledge. You yourselves did not enter and you stopped those trying to enter. (Luke 11:52)

Piety

Like the deer that yearns for running streams, so my soul is yearning for you, my God; my soul is thirsting for God, the living God. (Psalm 42, Entrance Antiphon, Mass for the Day)

Study

Common wisdom says that if it’s free then it is of little worth.  Studies show that when people need to fork over a little money, or there is some effort in achieving, then they value the commodity.  This same idea leads executives to claim that extravagant salaries prove the value of the issues they espouse or the products they sell.  So what is God doing?

 

We are made justified or in right relationship with God who bestows freely, by the gift of Jesus Christ.  It is stunning that the Creator of All invites me to approach divinity because hand in hand, divinity walks with me should I accept the invitation.  All of my good works while loving and holy do not earn me that invitation.  No wonder Jesus is frustrated by the scholars who impart to the expression of law the same weight as the Life of the Word, Jesus. 

It would turn the world upside down if we would all live as freely justified as God would like us to live.  We can do this by rooting out entrenched prejudices, ideas or rituals that keep us from entering God’s freely given life in Christ. 

Action

Dying within several weeks of each other, Cursillo in Arlington lost two faith-filled, kind, generous-in-action Brothers in Christ.  They will be missed for so many reasons.  My life, our lives, have been enriched by Carlos and Art.  God created and gifted them, freely.  God justified me.  Who am I keeping from “entering”?  How can I best joyfully live, grateful to be justified in Christ and grateful for such irreplaceable Brothers? 

Did Not the Maker of the Outside Also Make the Inside

Tuesday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time

By Melanie Rigney

Brothers and sisters: I am not ashamed of the Gospel. It is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: for Jew first, then Greek. For in it is revealed the righteousness of God from faith to faith; as it is written, “The one who is righteous by faith will live.” (Romans 1:16-17)

The heavens proclaim the glory of God.  (Psalm 19:2a)

The Pharisee was amazed to see that (Jesus) did not observe the prescribed

James Tissot [Public domain],
via Wikimedia Commons

washing before the meal. The Lord said to him, “Oh you Pharisees! Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, inside you are filled with plunder and evil. You fools! Did not the maker of the outside also make the inside?” (Luke 11:38-40)

Piety

Lord, I beg you to cleanse my soul and mind in the same way I cleanse my body.

Study

My sister and I have a cleaning crew come in once a quarter. It’s not that our condo is often particularly messy; we’re both fairly tidy people. Rather, it’s because she’s often traveling and most nights and weekends I can be found at the computer, writing or editing something. We don’t get to the serious, tile-scrubbing, corner-vacuuming cleaning ourselves as often as we’d like. The place doesn’t look that much different on the surface after the crew is gone. But we notice, and it makes us happy.

The Pharisees’ attitude is somewhat analogous. They were so concerned with the outward trappings of religious practices, the ritualistic cleansing, that they were missing the importance of what the Lord was doing (or, not doing) in someone’s heart and soul. Jesus urged them to look beyond the surface at the “plunder and evil” that lurks within, the judgmental thoughts and attitudes that can take up residence within those who want everyone to live exactly the way they know is best.

Jesus wasn’t calling on the Pharisees or us to ignore ritual altogether. Rather, he calls on us not to be self-satisfied with the condition of our souls… and to let Him serve as the best cleaning crew ever. We might not look that much different on the surface as He does His work. But we will notice, and it will make us happy in this life and the next.

Action

Read Sister Margaret Halaska’s marvelous poem, “Covenant.” Ask God to help you clean up some more space for His Son.