Give Thanks to the Lord

Friday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time

By Melanie Rigney

(Joshua told the tribes of Israel gathered at Shechem:) “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I gave you a land that you had not tilled and cities that you had not built, to dwell in; you have eaten of vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.” (Joshua 24:2, 13)

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever. (Psalms 136:1)

(Jesus said to the disciples:) “Whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) and marries another commits adultery.” (His) disciples said to him, “If that is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” He answered, “Not all can accept (this) word, but only those to whom that is granted. Some are incapable of marriage because they were born so; some, because they were made so by others; some, because they have renounced marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Whoever can accept this ought to accept it.” (Matthew 19:9-19)

Piety

Lord, I beseech You for help often, but I’m not as good at saying thank You. I pledge to be more mindful today of the wondrous things You do for me.

Study

It’s easy to focus on the things that drive us a little nuts about God: those admonitions to love not only our neighbors, but ourselves. The reminders that our goal in this life is not to amass possessions or wealth, but to lead souls to the Kingdom. The need to be consistent and treat those we despise or distrust or don’t know with the same gentleness and kindness with which we greet those we love. The need to trust and have faith when bad things happen.

By contrast, what a joyous reminder today’s first reading, from Joshua, provides. God reminds the Israelites of the good things in their lives that they did nothing, absolutely nothing to create.

Like the Israelites, we can take God and His mind-blowing generosity for granted. Let this be the day that that changes. Let this be the day we begin to take note of His goodnesses, large and small, and give thanks.

Action

Select one hour today when you can write down your gratitude for everything the Lord gives you during that time: breath, sun, air, health, clothing, a place to live or work, family, friends, a sense of humor, social media, a vehicle and the means to keep it maintained… whatever you encounter. Put the list somewhere that it can be accessed easily when you question God’s love for you.

The Mother of My Lord Should Come To Me

Solemnity of the Assumption of the BlessedVirgin Mary

She gave birth to a son, a male child, destined to rule all the nations with an iron rod.  Her child was caught up to God and his throne.  The woman herself fled into the desert where she had a place prepared by God.  Revelation 12:5-6a

For since death came through man, the resurrection of the dead came also through man.  For just as in Adam all die, so too in Christ shall all be brought to life. 1 COR 15:21-22

And how does this happen to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?  Luke 1:43

Piety

Father, just as the Lord is with Mary, Mary is with us.  Mother of Sorrows, our Lady of Pity, please intercede for us and carry our prayers to the Father in Heaven.  Holy Spirit, take these prayers up to Mary just as you took a Mother to heaven to rejoin her Son.  Amen.

Study

We are all Elizabeth.  And how does this happen to us that the mother of my Lord should come to visit us?

Despite her pregnancy, Mary set out to bring happiness and joy to Elizabeth.  Since Good Friday, Jesus bequeathed to us his mother as ours.  “Behold your mother.”  Despite the obstacles we might construct, Mary will set out to carry our petitions to her Son. 

If Jesus’ great bequest to us was his mother and his mercy, Mary’s great bequest for us is her attitude and disposition.  The first great mystery of our faith is the incarnation.  To make it possible, we needed a willing participant in the miracle.  Mary’s disposition (Be it done to me according to Your word) made her the ideal candidate.

Action

As first among saints, our Mother of Sorrows gives us that model of that attitude to take on and practice.  How can you be humble in the spirit of Mary today? 

God Always Has the Last Word

Memorial of Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Priest and Martyr

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

By Colleen O'Sullivan

Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, the headland of Pisgah which faces Jericho, and the Lord showed him all the land – Gilead, and as far as Dan, all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea, the Negeb, the circuit of the Jordan with the lowlands at Jericho, city of palms, and as far as Zoar.  The Lord then said to him, “This is the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that I would give to their descendants.  I have let you feast your eyes upon it, but you shall not cross over.”  So there, in the land of Moab, Moses, the servant of the Lord, died as the Lord had said, and he was buried in the ravine opposite Beth-peor in the land of Moab, but to this day no one knows the place of his burial.   (Deuteronomy 34:1-6)

Piety

Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will, All I have and call my own.  You have given all to me.  To you, Lord, I return it.  Everything is yours; do with it what you will.  Give me only your love and your grace, That is enough for me.

(Suscipe, St. Ignatius of Loyola)

Study

This has to have been a bittersweet moment for Moses.  The greater part of his life has been spent leading God’s people to the Promised Land.  Here they are at last, and God permits him only to gaze upon the vista from the mountaintop before his death.  Entry is forbidden to him. (God said this was the consequence of Moses not acknowledging God’s holiness before the people at Meribah –-Numbers 20:8-12.)  A divine “No” is spoken.

What amazes me is Moses’ humility in accepting this.  No begging God to relent.  No spewing forth of disappointment or bitterness.  It’s as though Moses has managed to make the words of the Suscipe prayer his own.  I surrender my will to you, Lord.  You are my God, and I am your servant. Your will, not mine, be done.

I want to say those things and mean them with all my heart, but most days I am far from being able to do so with any shred of integrity.  Some days the desire for the desire is all I have to offer the Lord.  But that is a start.  (For a brief talk on our deepest desires by Paul Campbell, SJ, watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnHGKiJpcMc).

Action

What keeps me from total surrender of my will to God’s is the illusion that I am in control.  I very conveniently manage to ignore the fact that much in my life is not of my choosing – when and where I was born, what family I am a part of, or how and when I will die.   I’m the queen of making plans, keeping lists, maintaining a calendar, etc., as though that puts me in charge.  I keep forgetting that I am not the lord of my life.  One way or another, though, God always manages to remind me of the proper order of things in the universe.

What is it that keeps you from acknowledging that God is in control?  Pray for the desire to let it go, whatever it is.  God is always listening.

God Will Never Fail or Forsake You

Tuesday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time 

By Beth DeCristofaro

When Moses had finished speaking to all Israel, he said to them, “I am now one hundred and twenty years old and am no longer able to move about freely; besides, the LORD has told me that I shall not cross this Jordan. … it is the LORD, your God, who marches with you; he will never fail you or forsake you.” (Deuteronomy 31:1-2, 6)

“Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me."  (Matthew 18:3-5) 

Piety

Lord, in the moments in which I cannot move freely because of infirmity, life circumstance, compulsions, distractions, fears or doubts, fill me with the certainty that you march with me and will never fail or forsake me.  I give you thanks for my life and for the many opportunities which lead to you.  Amen

Study 

Developmental theories of human growth speak about the need to differentiate oneself from a parent, to see the parent and accept the parent as fallible yet loving.  Popular parlance speaks of “cutting the apron strings.”  We seek as humans to come into our own, to assert ourselves, to find out who we truly are.

Perhaps Moses and Jesus would smile at these theories.  While helpful to a maturing individual, they do not do much good explaining what our relationship with a loving God might look like – and perhaps such theories even steer us a bit off course.  Moses certainly had proven himself in so many ways – leader, faithful, committed, brave (or at least persistent under fire), advocate, priest, mystic.  The list can go on.  But in this speech, Moses truly shows himself as humble child.  He does not stand on his experience and his age.  Rather he knows his place before his God and trusts without reservation in God’s love, mercy and justice.  Like a child, Moses accepts what God’s hands entrusts to him rather than what Moses, himself, thinks he deserves. 

Action 

It takes Moses a good 40 years to get to the place where he can say sincerely and without bitterness that while God has forbidden him to enter the land of plenty, God does not forsake Him or God’s chosen people.  Are there vistas which I am surveying, ideas which I hold, items or people which I want to possess rather than choosing to be God’s humble and trusting child?  Give them up.  Leave them so that God instead will fill you.  

Circumcise Your Hearts

Monday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time 

Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and be no longer stiff-necked.  For the LORD, your God, is the God of gods, the LORD of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who has no favorites, accepts no bribes; who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and befriends the alien, feeding and clothing him.  So you too must befriend the alien, for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.  Deuteronomy 10:16-19

But that we may not offend them, go to the sea, drop in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up.  Open its mouth and you will find a coin worth twice the temple tax.  Give that to them for me and for you.”  Matthew 7:27

Piety

Tend the tiny seeds in the garden of your life today if you want flowers to bloom in the springtime of tomorrow. (By St. Therese of Lisieux in The Little Way)

Study

The theme of change gets a double underline today.  Moses is not just resorting the words which would be used by Jesus and John the Baptist.  He could have just said, “Repent.”  But no.  Moses has to be even more explicit about the need for us to change.  “Circumcise your heart.”  Cut out of your heart anything which keeps you from respecting the awesome power of God, following his ways exactly, and loving and serving Him all our days. 

Jesus steps up his efforts to differentiate between His disciples and the subjects of the belligerent Roman rulers.  To avoid even so much as the appearance of divided loyalty, he tells Simon how to pay the tax as a foreigner so that Simon and Jesus would not be seen as royal subjects of the king. In this way, Simon befriends the alien by becoming like a foreigner. 

At this stage in Matthew’s Good News, I can not imagine Simon Peter not going out to retrieve that coin from the bottom of the stomach of the fish at the bottom of the sea.  That is the coin of freedom.  Just as Jonah was borne anew when he emerged from the belly of the whale, this coin will free Simon from the temple tax so he can fully rely upon God. 

Action

How are you being asked to act according to the ways of God and not the ways of the world? 

“The primary duty of every disciple is to listen to the word of God and to put it into practice,” writes Theodore Cardinal McCarrick in the foreword to “The Sant’ Egidio Book of Prayer.”  He goes on to quote a Russian writer who observed: “Faith without works is dead, and prayer is the first work and principle of every true action; in it we approach God and God works in us.  This is already the principle of a new spiritual life.”  

How is today’s Good News asking you to look at life in a different way?

Still More Will Be Demanded

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 2013

By Rev. Joe McCloskey, SJ

Your people awaited the salvation of the just and the destruction of their foes.  For when you punished our adversaries, in this you glorified us whom you had summoned.  Wisdom 18:7-8

Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.   Hebrews 11:1

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

Piety

Our piety is seen in our preparation for the coming of the Lord.  God comes to us in unexpected ways.  Our readiness for the coming of the Lord is the essence of our piety.  Our God of love gives us himself in each now moment of our lives.  Piety is how we accept the love of the Lord.  He does not force his love on us.  He gives us moment by moment the max of his love for us in the realty of our lives.  His love holds us in existence.  The only limit of God’s love for us is in how much of his love we welcome into our lives.  Naked we came into this world and naked we will go out with the one exception of the good we have done that is waiting for us as our credentials of heavenly citizenship.  Our claim to fame in heaven will be what we have done in the name of the Lord.

Study

Our faith is the realization of what we are hoping for.  We study the lives of the saints to discover what God is looking for in us.  Our faith is seen in our confidence in the good people that have gone before us that we want to follow.  The heroic of their lives is seen in the way they do the ordinary of their lives in a loving way.  They put their hearts and their souls into what they are doing for the Lord.  Our faith is put to the test in the difficult moments of our lives when we perhaps do not feel like doing the right thing and do it anyway because that is how we love the Lord for himself.  The good we do provides money bags for ourselves in the treasure that is waiting for us in heaven.

Action

We provide money bags for ourselves in heaven by the way we take care of the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the prisoners and the sick.  What we do for the least person in our lives is what we do for Christ.  Our lives reach a cosmic scope when we reach out to the least person of our lives in the name of Christ.  Love is the only limit on any action of our lives.  How much of ourselves we give to the Lord is measured by how much of ourselves we offer to those who need our help right now.  If we take care of the needs of this hour we give Christ who we are.

Reap Bountifully

Feast of Saint Lawrence, deacon and martyr

Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.  Each must do as already determined, without sadness or compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.  2 Corinthians 9:6-7

“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.  Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life.  Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be.  The Father will honor whoever serves me.”  John 12:24-26

Piety

Lavishly he gives to the poor; his righteousness shall endure forever; his horn shall be exalted in honor.  Psalm 112:9

Study

Change we must.  No matter how much we want to remain in our comfort zone, change is required.  Take Peter…a good Apostle to study because Jesus starts with him.  Peter was just a simple fisherman.  Jesus was preaching nearby and he needed a better perch so all the people could hear his teaching.  Jesus asked Peter – whom he did not know at the time -- to take him out on the fishing boat so Jesus could address the crowds.  Even though Peter might have been very busy trying haul in his catch, he put down his nets and complied with the request.    

When the talk was over, Jesus told Peter where to go out to catch fish.  What would this carpenter know about where to catch fish?  Peter probably rolled his eyes and thought that this itinerant preacher was out of his league.  However, Peter went there anyway.  He cast his nets and caught a lot of fish.

Then, Jesus made a third request (evidently he liked doing things in threes).  He asked Peter to follow him.  Peter changed.  The grain of Peter who was a fisherman fell to the ground and the grain of Peter who became a fisher of men sprouted in its place.

Action

What part of you has to fall to the ground to change?  

O God, Your Way Is Holy

O God, Your Way Is Holy

Friday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

By Melanie Rigney

“Out of the heavens he let you hear his voice to discipline you; on earth he let you see his great fire, and you heard him speaking out of the fire. For love of your fathers he chose their descendants and personally led you out of Egypt by his great power, driving out of your way nations greater and mightier than you, so as to bring you in and to make their land your heritage, as it is today. This is why you must now know, and fix in your heart, that the LORD is God in the heavens above and on earth below, and that there is no other.” (Deuteronomy 4:36-40)

O God, your way is holy; what great god is there like our God? (Psalms 77:14)

Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?”(Matthew 16:24-26)

Piety

Lord, your lessons can be hard, but are always needed. Thank you.

 Study

So there you are, tooling along with your little life and everything’s going fine and wham, out of nowhere, something throws you for a loop. Maybe it’s something big and tragic, like the unexpected death of a loved one. Or maybe it’s something big and wonderful but a surprise nonetheless, like a pregnancy or an unanticipated professional opportunity. Or maybe it’s a small annoyance or joy, like that the beach house you usually rent is already booked for the week you wanted or that your new book is out six weeks early and your marketing plan isn’t totally in place.

Does God send us bad things to show us who’s boss, the way Moses reminds the Israelites that God showed them his great fire? I’m not enough of a theologian to posit on that. I just know that when those surprises happen, our first reaction can be shock or disbelief or sometimes even anger at God and why the order in our lives that we have worked so hard to achieve had to be upset. Hours, days, weeks, months, years later, we often can look back and say, “Oh, I get it. I’m stronger/more loving/more patient/calmer for that bump or cavern in the road.”

May we all work at denying ourselves that bit of egoism that allows us to think we’re actually in control of much of anything that matters here on earth. With God’s help, may we reach that holy place where our initial reaction to change is internal peace… and trust.

Action

Where are you being challenged by change, good or bad? Journal about your feelings, and make a note to review the entry in six months to see how your attitude changed.

Ingratitude, the Root of All Sin

Ingratitude, the Root of All Sin

Wednesday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

By Colleen O’Sullivan

The Lord said to Moses [in the desert of Paran,] “Send men to reconnoiter the land of Canaan, which I am giving the children of Israel…  They told Moses:  “We went into the land to which you sent us.  It does indeed flow with milk and honey, and here is its fruit.  However, the people who are living in the land are fierce, and the towns are fortified and very strong”…  So they spread discouraging reports among the children of Israel about the land they had scouted…  At this, the whole community broke out with loud cries, and even in the night the people wailed.  (Numbers 13:1-2a, 27-28a, 32a, 14:1)

They forgot the God who had saved them, who had done great deeds in Egypt,

Wondrous deeds in the land of Ham, terrible things at the Red Sea.  (Psalm 106:21-22)

Piety

O Lord, may I never forget your loving kindness.  May my heart always be filled with gratitude and love for you.

Study

Almost there!  The Israelites are so close to the Promised Land, they send scouts to look over the territory.  And what happens?  They return with reports that the land to which God has led them does, in fact, flow with milk and honey.  But they’ve become frightened by the size of the towns and the power of its inhabitants, so some of them exaggerate the situation and tell their fellow Israelites that they would be like grasshoppers going up against giants.  Entering the land would spell certain disaster.  So near and yet so far, as the saying goes.  The people break down in despair, and sounds of weeping and wailing fill the night.

It’s a story that, with a tweaking of the details, is played out in every one of our lives.  God loves us into being, names us, and calls us to follow his leading.  Along the way, when we stumble and fall, God mercifully picks us up, dusts us off and sets us back on our feet again.  But sometimes, when the path grows difficult, we give in to our fears.  We refuse to go another step.  We tell ourselves that God has abandoned us.

Actually, it’s the other way around.  We turn our backs on the One who loves us for all eternity.  Like the people of Israel, we easily forget all the good things God has done for us and given us.  We don’t remember all the times God has picked us up and carried us.  We are, in a word, ungrateful.

I have been reading God Finds Us, a book by Jim Manney of Loyola Press on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola.  In a chapter on sin, he writes that St. Ignatius saw ingratitude as the root of all sin.  When we forget the immeasurable love God pours upon us and fail to love God in return, we create the opportunity for all types of sin to be part of our lives.

Action

Spend some time in prayer today reflecting on the ways in which you have experienced God’s great love for you.  How have you responded to God’s gifts?  Where you have lacked gratitude, ask for God’s forgiveness.  God is merciful and compassionate when we turn to him with remorse in our hearts.

Help Me to Love Like You

Help Me to Love Like You 

Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord

By Beth DeCristofaro

Jesus took Peter, John, and James and went up a mountain to pray.  While he was praying his face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white.  And behold, two men were conversing with him, Moses and Elijah,  who appeared in glory  … Peter and his companions had been overcome by sleep,  but becoming fully awake,  they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. As they were about to part from him, Peter said to Jesus,  “Master, it is good that we are here; let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” But he did not know what he was saying. (Luke 9:28B-31, 32-33)

Piety

Open my eyes, Lord
Help me to see Your face
Open my eyes, Lord
Help me to see


Open my ears, Lord
Help me to hear Your voice
Open my ears, Lord
Help me to hear

Open my heart, Lord
Help me to love like You
Open my heart, Lord
Help me to love

I live within you
Deep in your heart, oh, love
I live within you
Rest now in me
            (John Michael Talbot)

Study

Cursillo calls on me to look frankly at each busy, stress-filled or even boring day to see where my closest moment to Christ has been.  This is such a joy to see that in what is mundane or difficult is in fact Christ’s presence.  Like the young, talkative cashier who, as I patiently wait through his gush of words gets to the point:  “I was a first responder at the Pentagon on September 11” and as another anniversary approaches he needs to talk.  Or my refusal to exchange angry words with a colleague even though I am so sure I am right!  We end up in a semi productive exchange and there are windows open for closer relationship.  Or in talking with my acquaintance who never asks about me but, if I am honest rather than intolerant, I must acknowledge her "unlooked-for" moments of generosity and even insight.

As I reflect on my days I am more able to see where I “have been overcome with sleep” and missed the glory of Jesus’ presence in the face, the words, the actions of others around me.  “I did not know what I was saying or doing.”  Becoming more aware I can become more loving of myself and others as Jesus was with Peter, James and John.

Action

The next time I become edgy, annoyed or impatient will I take the time to slow and look for Jesus in the moment?  The next time I am angry or afraid will I ask Jesus for help to turn powerful emotions into potent and active love?  

Christ is All

Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time 2013 C

By Rev. Joe McCloskey, SJ

For what profit comes to man from all the toil and anxiety of heart with which he has labored under the sun?  All his days sorrow and grief are his occupation; even at night his mind is not at rest.   Ecclesiastes 2:21-22

 Christ is all and in all.  Colossians 3:11

“But God said to him, ‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’  Thus will it be for all who store up treasure for themselves but are not rich in what matters to God.”  Luke 12:20-21

Piety

Our piety claims Christ as our life.  We put on Christ by our piety.  Scripture allows us by our prayer to grow into Christ.  We become what we read when it claims our hearts.  How we preach in life in the words of St.  Francis is the simplicity of our lives.  He teaches us to preach always by our lives and to occasionally use words.  It is wisdom at its best to be able to find Christ in all that we do.  Our piety invites Christ to come into our lives by what we are doing because it offers all we do to the Lord.  Ignatius instructs his followers to do all that they do in the name of the Lord.  Piety gradually claims the intentions of our hearts for the Lord.  We learn to discipline ourselves by piety.  We clear up the fogs that surround us by selfishness and work to give ourselves to those we serve in the name of Christ. 

Study

The toil and the anxiety of heart which comes from our vanity we study how to get around.  Naked we came into the world and naked we will go out teaches us the vanity of the riches we can give our souls away to obtain.  Study helps us to get rid of the earthy desires that are the result of immorality, impurity, passion and evil desires.  Idolatry is seen in the greed of our souls.  The things we sell ourselves short for we put aside when Christ claims our hearts and invites us to share his glory.  We let go of our old self with prayer, fasting and good works and thus we put on our new self.  Our study discovers that we are all one in Christ and there is not Greek and Jew, barbarian, slave or Free; we discover that Christ is all and in all.  We thus know that we are all created in the image and likeness of Christ.  He entered into our world by giving up all that belonged to him as God.  We enter into his world by losing ourselves in him by dying to ourselves to be born in Christ.  We put into practice Christ’s way of living life. 

Action

Our actions need to follow the example of Christ.  He emptied himself of his Godness so that he might be one of us.  God loved us so much that he was willing to surrender all to be like us.  Our journey is into creating in ourselves our own likeness to Christ.  There is no shortcut to putting on Christ.  We have to take up our crosses and follow him if we want to be all that we are meant to be.  We have to die with Christ to be raised with him.  We have to be true to the Christ image we find in our hearts.  We have to put to death the parts of ourselves that do not belong to Christ.  If we are going to hear the voice of Christ we need to put aside our selfish instincts and love our neighbors as ourselves.  This will allow us to be rich in what matters to God.  Then we will be able to say that Christ lives in us.

Make Sacred

Make Sacred

Saturday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

This fiftieth year you shall make sacred by proclaiming liberty in the land for all its inhabitants.  It shall be a jubilee for you, when every one of you shall return to his own property, everyone to his own family estate.  Leviticus 25:10

The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and the guests who were present, he ordered that it be given, and he had John beheaded in the prison.  His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl, who took it to her mother.  His disciples came and took away the corpse and buried him; and they went and told Jesus.  Matthew 14:9-12

Piety

Father, the world You created is abundant, with enough for everyone provided that we restrain our appetites and live within appropriate limits. Jesus, you and your cousin John pointed out that disparities in wealth and power are not, in fact, part of the natural order. They are the result of human sinfulness. Therefore, this sin must be mitigated in communities of faith through strategies of just sharing and distribution of goods. Holy Spirit, help us answer the call of the prophets to change the direction in which we look for happiness -- and turn to strategies of redistribution and liberty for all who are held captive by greed. Help us to change our world of great economic inequality and poverty. Amen. 

Study

The life and death of John the Baptist is a witness of the bold and the brave.  John was willing to speak truth to everyone – from the lowliest person who visited him in the desert to the King.  That message will cause us distress just like that felt by the King who had to live up to (or down to) his own bravado.  His message is the clarion call of the prophets and the call that Jesus echoed and amplified.  Change your ways. Repent.  Return to the family that the Lord has provided.

The first reading drills home the fact that when we deal with what is sacred, that we have to pay it special respect.  Yet, the sacred is not something which we encounter every 50 years – it is what we encounter every 50 seconds. 

We never know the price that we will pay for heeding this message.  We may not face beheading or crucifixion.  However, we know it will not be easy.

Action

Last night I heard a story on the news about retirement…a topic still too far away in my future to worry.  The gist was that people who earn MORE THAN $750,000 annually retire after they are seventy years old. 

John’s message to the king was that he had to be in the right relationship with his sister-in-law.  I have to question the relationship this people have with money and power that they are not willing to give up control of their companies and treasuries to another generation of leaders.  One CEO cited in the story was over 90 and still runs his company. 

What is our relationship with others, with money and with power?  Maybe we will never has as much as a King or a CEO.  But it never hurts to reassess the role that these play in our lives.  There are, however, positive examples abounding about people who wrestle with building their lives around the right relationship with the temporal world.  The Bartimeus Cooperative Ministries is one such group.   They believe that as followers of Jesus, we should stand for compassion and equity, and against all forms of oppression and violence.  To do this we must face our personal and political blindness to the realities of human suffering, as well as to God’s horizons of justice.  To do that, one of their practices is Sabbath Economics – making sure that money does not take too great a hold over our lives.

Visit http://www.bcm-net.org/wordpress/resources to learn more about their approach to making sure there are enough economic resources for all.  

Lack of Faith

Lack of Faith

Friday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

By Melanie Rigney

 “These, therefore, are the festivals of the Lord on which you shall proclaim a sacred assembly, and offer as an oblation to the Lord burnt offerings and cereal offerings, sacrifices and libations, as prescribed for each day.” (Leviticus 23:37)

Sing with joy to God our help. (Psalms 81:2)

Jesus said (to the people in his native place who took offense at him), “A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and in his own house.” And he did not work many mighty deeds there because of their lack of faith. (Matthew 13:57-58)

Piety

Lord, I humbly beg pardon for the times I have doubted your power in this world and in my life. Help me to put aside my human skepticism. Help me to be open to you.

 Study

What do we do when the hometown folks don’t want to acknowledge how much we've grown or how far we've come?

We might ramp up exhibitions of our talents, whether they be singing, acting, parenting, or general do-gooding and ministry, just to show them how great we are. Or, we might be inclined to argue with those silly fools who don’t appreciate just what they've got before them.

Jesus takes another tack. He doesn't get angry, nor does he storm off and leave town. Nor does he whip up a bunch of miracles to prove his powers. He simply chooses not to waste miracles on those who have openly doubted him because they knew him way back when.

We can learn from Jesus' example. We needn't waste our gifts on those who deride us for our faith or who reject what we bring in Christ’s name. But the lesson goes both ways. There is no problem, no challenge, no tragedy that God will not see us through. Perhaps it won’t be in the way we desire, but he will be there with us every step of the way, as long as we don’t reject him. We run into trouble, however, when we attempt to micromanage the situation and question God’s ability or desire to care for us. When we lose faith, we lose everything.

Action

Consider the Gospel reading. Where in your life do you not trust God’s help to guide you through a storm? Discuss with your prayer group or spiritual adviser; how can you open yourself up to trust and have faith in this situation?

Exactly as the Lord Commanded

Exactly as the Lord Commanded

Memorial of Saint Alphonsus Liguouri, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

Moses did exactly as the LORD had commanded him.  Exodus 40:16

“The Kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind.  When it is full they haul it ashore and sit down to put what is good into buckets.  What is bad they throw away.”  Matthew 13:47-48

Piety

Father, all your good gifts surround us.  Yet, rather than using these for the sake of others, we use them for our own comfort.  Jesus, lead us out of our comfort zone and into your discomfort zone of the Cross.  Holy Spirit, give us your gifts so that we might do exactly as the Lord commands. Amen.

Study

Outside of Jesus, can anyone since Moses claim to do exactly as the Lord had commanded?  We all fall away sometimes.  But do we return?  If we know that heaven is the final winnowing, will we change enough to be there in the dwelling place of the Lord the end?

As the psalmist reminds us, even the sparrow and the swallow – the smallest of birds -- find a nest for their young.  Are we “renewing” ourselves to sleep on the threshold of the Lord rather than in the “tents of the wicked.” 

We seek not to be popular.  Rather we seek to be authentic followers of Christ.  Sometimes, this might result in popularity.  However, that is not how we will be judged in the end.  The scale will be if we are in the right kind of relationship with the Lord and our fellow human beings.  Such a relationship is focused outside ourselves. 

Witness Moses.  He was NOT concerned with building a comfortable house for himself.  Rather, his focus was on making a proper dwelling place for the Lord and leading others to the Promised Land.   

Action

Today is a new month.  Happy August.  Is there one action you can take this month to take you out of your comfort zone?  These summer months are the long stretch between the holy seasons of Advent and Lent when we focus on alms-giving and sacrifice.  However, that does not mean we can not make August our Little Advent.

Maybe you can drive less and use the money you save on car expenses (gas, parking, insurance, etc.) to help others.  Maybe you can give up one restaurant meal per week to result in some savings.

Maybe now is the time to add a little exercise time and resist renting another movie from Netflix, Amazon Prime or Hulu. 

Each little step will give you something that you can use to add to building a little more of the Kingdom every day.