September 26, 2008
Friday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
What advantage has the worker from his toil? I have considered the task which God has appointed for men to be busied about. He has made everything appropriate to its time, and has put the timeless into their hearts, without men's ever discovering, from beginning to end, the work which God has done. Ecclesiastes 3:9-11
But who do you say that I am? Luke 9:20
Piety
LORD, what are mortals that you notice them; human beings, that you take thought of them? They are but a breath; their days are like a passing shadow. LORD, incline your heavens and come; touch the mountains and make them smoke. Psalm 144:3-5
Study
http://www.usccb.org/nab/092608.shtml
Jesus is in prayer. In solitude. After his prayer to the Father in silence, he immediately immerses himself back into the world. Jesus never wants to remain alone or aloof from those around him.
Jesus knows that his ways are not our ways yet he still wants to know how much progress he is making influencing our conversion and catechesis. One gauge of that is how we perceive his ministry in our own ways.
So, after communicating and communing with God, Jesus turns to his closest friends and asks them about the impact of his public ministry and identity. He wants to know if his message is getting across to the people. Once he hears that answer, he probes deeper. He wants to know what is in the hearts and minds of his closest disciples.
Jesus starts questioning Peter…Cephas…the Rock. But through the timeless scriptures, the question no longer hangs in the air of ancient
What has God put there? Who do you say that I am?
Action
What advantage has the worker from his toil?
Who will protect us from failure? There is talk of the $700 billion bailout, the government takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the rescue of AIG. In the midst of all this macro-economic activity, the singer Bono offers a thought that we all should ponder: It's extraordinary to me that the
Evangelical preacher Jim Wallis has often talked about the silent tsunami that is killing millions of children every day. In fact these diseases kill as many children every day as the South Asian tsunami killed the day after Christmas in 2006.
What advantage has the worker from his toil?
Was it only last Sunday that Scriptures pushed us to consider the question of equity between workers who came “into the vineyard” at different times throughout the day.
Maybe we should all take a break and read a little of Alex Counts book Small Loans, Big Dreams: How Nobel Prize Winner Muhammad Yunus and Microfinance are Changing the World. The book details how the Grameen Foundation’s small loans of $75 to $150 help people in the developing world or inner cities start businesses and start to make their dreams come true.
According to the description on the web site, “Microfinancing is considered one of the most effective strategies in the fight against global poverty….Nobel [Peace] Prize Winner Muhammad Yunus revolutionized global antipoverty efforts through the development of this approach. This book presents compelling stories of women benefiting from Yunus’s microcredit in rural Bangladesh and urban Chicago
Yet if we turn our attention away from Wall Street and consider organizations that engage in mirco-lending, we see how small amounts of capital bail people out of a life in poverty for an amount so small it can not even be called a fraction of the amounts talked about in today’s headlines.
What advantage has the worker from his toil?
So, if everything has a season, maybe this is the season to consider giving some financial support to organizations doing micro-lending. Here is an on-line directory of many groups that engage in this mission for you to consider supporting.
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