The People Grumbled March 19

Jesus, we are not strangers to you. Yet, like the people Moses set free, we grumble. In our times of doubt, be there with us to have the perseverance to continue to do your work. We know and do what is easy, but we need your help when you ask us to do what is hard. So we can, as St. Paul says, die for the ungodly. “Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” Help us to recognize the difficult tasks you have ahead of us when we meet you at the well. Help us to accept those duties like St. Joseph did quietly and with your grace. And help us to lead other people to that grace because we know you do not grumble about our weaknesses. Amen.

Study

http://www.usccb.org/nab/031906b.shtml

The people grumbled.

Probably not a more accurate phrase was ever written about the People of God.

The parking lot was crowded. The people grumbled.
The pastor asked for money to build a new parking lot. The people grumbled.
The new parking lot was under construction. The people grumbled.
You had to park far away in the new parking lot. The people grumbled.

OK, I won't criticize all the people. But I have been there. Have you? Maybe you grumble about other things.

Imagine sitting in your quiet place getting ready for Mass. You have a bag of food to donate to Brown Bag Sunday. You have your “envelope” stuffed with a generous check. You have your Bible in hand. You are expecting to go to Church today and sit in the comfortable chair among friends and hear a nice homily receive Eucharist and then head home. Maybe you'll watch some "March Madness" or go shopping or entertain friends and family or just relax on the Lord’s Day.

As you get to church, you hear that there is a guest homilist. Before Mass, the guest comes to you to talk just like Jesus did with the Samaritan woman. He takes you aside where the two of you can talk quietly. You are feeling very important and get ready to share your deep insights about the congregation.

The guest begins asking you very probing questions.

Why is the food in your Brown Bag just the old cans of vegetables that you and your family don’t particularly like? Why not go pick up some of your favorite foods to give? Is the check in your envelope given out of your extra cash or is it really a gift as generous as the widow’s mite? You don’t know where this talk is leading but you are all of a sudden getting very uncomfortable. Do you have any arguments with your sisters and brothers that should be healed before coming to Mass?

That’s when you realize that this isn’t just any guest homilist. Jesus is asking you these questions.

As you encounter him, imagine that you too respond as clearly and as ardently as the Samaritan Woman at the Well so that the next time you encounter Christ, you are bringing others to Him just as enthusiastlically as she did.

Action

Do you have stones of grumbling in the way of your relationship with God? If so, what grumbling do you need to put aside today? What distractions do you need to drive out of your temple to make sure there is room in your heart for Jesus?

When those are out of the way, where can you then turn for the life-giving waters that flowed from the rock at Horab? When those stones are out of the way, how can you better enter into a personal relationship with Jesus?

Maybe today is a good day to plan to receive the sacrament of Reconciliation? There will be a Lenten Reconciliation Service on March 27 at St. Mary of Sorrows. In addition, here is the Weekly Confession Schedule at the St. Mary of Sorrows Worship Center
Sat: 3:30 to 4:45PM
Mon: 10:00 to 10:30AM Wed: 6:30 to 7:00PM

Check your own parish bulletin for times in your neighborhood.

Admission: Free to all believers. Contributions of penance accepted on the way out.

PS: Happy St. Joseph's Day! Someday, maybe he will get out of the shadow cast by his Irish cousin Patrick two day earlier. Here's a web page devoted to the tireless worker and devoted husband of Mary http://www.bulin.com/stjoe/