Unless Your Faith is Firm

Memorial of St. Bonaventure

By Beth DeCristofaro

Thus says the LORD:  This shall not stand, it shall not be!  ….  But within sixty years and five, Ephraim shall be crushed, no longer a nation.  Unless your faith is firm you shall not be firm! (Isaiah 7: 7,9)

(Jesus said) But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. …  For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Sodom,  it would have remained until this day.  But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.  (Matthew 11:22,23-24)

Piety

Blessed is that servant, whom his lord finds awake when he comes and knocks at the gate. (Communion Antiphon for the Mass of the day)

Study

Raised in the D.C. area, I lived in a rather safe neighborhood, certainly not with enemy armies marching toward my community   We were taught to anticipate then avoid dangerous situations and what behaviors might be chancy.  I walked often to my favoritelibrary to lay reading in the stacks for hours but always left before dark usually walking with a friend or at least boldly striding as if I had a friend with me.  My parents and teachers also emphasized that God’s protection was a reality.  To my simple understanding, my guardian angel and God were there for the immediate rescue if need be while Isaiah asserts the Lord’s time is within sixty years.

Action

“Woe to you!” proclaims both the prophet and Jesus to those who strike out on their own making deals with the enemy rather than relying on God.  I wonder if Jesus would say the same to the USA which has chosen guns for self-protection and individual rights over the safety of our children.  Arguments include “Bad guys have guns so should we for oursecurity”.  Jesus admonished those who might harm children that they would be punished.  Might I have been hurt during my childhood?  Yes.  Might any one of usindividually or as a nation face hurt, tragedy, failure?  Yes.  May we defend ourselves?  Yes.  However, Jesus tells us to do everything with love.   

Action

Seize the day and look closely at how you might be complicit in the gun violence racking our country.  Do you vote for leaders who prioritize the right to gun ownership over the need to keep our children and neighbors safe from gun violence?  Does self-protection trump faith in the Lord who will keep us from all ultimate harm?  Is there a letter you can write to a politician or a group you might join today to speak out about the need to cease violence before we too, like the “house of David”, Chorizin or Bethsaida hear God’s voice saying “Woe to you!”

Make Justice Your Aim

​Memorial of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, Virgin  

Wash yourselves clean!  Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes;  cease doing evil; learn to do good.  Make justice your aim: redress the wronged,  hear the orphan’s plea, defend the widow.  Isaiah 1:16-17  

"Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.  Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.  Matthew 10:37-39 

Piety  
Come, let us set things right. 

Study  
Establishing "right relations" with the Lord and with each other is the aim of Jesus' preaching and teaching especially this difficult passage from Matthew. Jesus wants to be first on our dance card, our hit parade and in our proverbial black book. Ahead of our mothers and fathers. Ahead of our brothers and sisters. ahead of our sons and daughters. In addition, Jesus wants to take that new relationship to a higher level. It is not about the kind of relationship we have had with Him in the past full of sacrifices and giving things up for Lent. Jesus wants us to take things up for Him. Starting with the cross and then moving on to the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. Then to the precepts and the Catechism. Maybe then even finding way for piety, study and action. 

Action  
Seize the moment. How will you start to set things right with The Lord this week?  A little more prayer and contemplation, renewing your study or doing some new volunteer work or charitable giving?

On Rich Soil

Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time 2014 A

By Rev. Joe McCloskey, SJ

Thus says the LORD: Just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down and do not return there till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, giving seed to the one who sows and bread to the one who eats, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; my word shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.  Isaiah 55:10-11

We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now; and not only that, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, we also groan within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.  Romans 18:22-23

“But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. Whoever has ears ought to hear.”  Matthew 13:8-9

Piety

Our piety makes it possible for the seed of God’s word to fall on rich soil.  Piety gives us ears to hear God’s word.  The eyes of our soul make it possible to see the presence of Christ in another and recognize Christ in each other.  Piety also makes it possible to preach always even when we are using few words.  Our piety is recognized in all the ways Christ calls us to be his presence in our world today.  Our piety is what the Word has accomplished in us because we have the good soil of our piety.  Piety is also the history of all the ways we have been nourished by the word of God.  Piety is how we have grown into Christ in our living out the word and absorbing Christ as our body and blood made rich by his Body and Blood.

Study

Our study reveals the presence of God in our lives.  Study is how we prepare the soil of our souls for the coming of the word.  Study includes all the ways we take the wax out of the ears of our soul.  Attractions can be soul stoppers in their addictive potential.  The examination of our consciousness of the Lord’s presences in our lives is one of the most profitable studies of our own life.  We study how well God uses us. We learn from the discovery of ways he has been active in our lives how to build a life style that keeps active our awareness of how to be closer to God is in our lives.  We study how to continue to do what we have learned from the Lord touching our lives with good spiritual books.  That is how we better recognize the actions of the Lord in others and ourselves.

Action

The Corporeal and Spiritual Works of Mercy are what we are trying to increase in the actions of our lives.  What we do for the hungry, thirsty, naked, prisoners and the sick is enriched by how the Spiritual Works of Mercy elevate our lives to a higher plane.  Therein lies the work of the Lord in our lives.  What we try to do for the last, lowest and least one of our companions is what Christ sees us doing for him.  We try to be more than his companion imitating his life.  We try to be saints who are in their time and circumstance updates of the Christ we are serving.  We too try to be a real Christ by the way we accept his word into our lives and live it.

Send Me!

Saturday of the Fourteenth Week In Ordinary Time

He touched my mouth with it and said, “See, now that this has touched your lips, your wickedness is removed, your sin purged.”  Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?”  “Here I am,” I said; “send me!”  Isaiah 6:7-8

Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known.  What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.  Matthew 10:26-27

Piety

I place my words in your mouth!  Jeremiah 1:9b

Study

What do we cultivate in this world?  Today’s sacred scriptures remind us to have courage and to persevere in our mission no matter what face of danger we encounter.  When we have the courage to proclaim the word in the world, then the Lord will advocate for us.  Proclamation equals intervention.

Just like in Isaiah, through grace (God’s friendship), we are forgiven for our sins.  In return, the Lord places His words (concealed and secret) in our mouth and asks us to carry them into the world and make them known to the world.  The concealed and secret coming of the kingdom is to be proclaimed by all of us and no fear must be allowed to deter us from making such a proclamation.  This is not something we should whisper in secret in the dark of night.  It is something to make known for all to see. 

The reward when we carry this out is great.  Basically, Jesus Himself will be there to intervene on our behalf.  No one less than the Son of Man himself will acknowledge us if we have acknowledged Jesus.  Surely there are saints to pray to for assistance.  And Mary.  They can put in a good word for us with the Lord.  However, when we carry out the great commission and speak it in the light, Jesus (the Son of Man) will then acknowledge or deny us before his heavenly Father and speak it in the light.

Action

“Our mission as Church is to defend the rights of the migrant, no matter what the political situation or polls may dictate,” said Bishop Eusebio Elizondo, auxiliary bishop of Seattle and chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Migration.  “We must continue to push our lawmakers on both sides to act on this important national issue, as our fellow human beings continue to suffer under this broken system.”

It may not be very popular in this political climate to make such a remark, but the Church has consistently spoken out for just reforms of our immigration laws.  In light of the humanitarian crisis on our southern border, we cannot keep this secret and concealed.

“As advocates for the most vulnerable, we are committed to shining the light of the Gospel on these migration issues and being the voice of the voiceless,” Bishop Elizondo said. “This is a crucial time for us to remind our lawmakers of their responsibilities to the common good, especially when it concerns the strangers among us.”

A few years ago, my daughter spent a year working at an orphanage near San Pedro Sula, Honduras.  As I hear the stories of children escaping the crisis there, I wonder if any of the boys that were in the care of Amigos de Jesus are among those who have make the trek to our southern border.

All of us (or our grandparents or great-grandparents) came from somewhere else.  We benefitted from the ability to have the accident of our birth in the USA.  How can we deny that to others if the courts rule that they are escaping unjust conditions? 

Where were your ancestors born?  When did they come here?  Why did they come here?  How can you put a human face on the immigration crisis?

The Spirit of Your Father

Memorial of St. Benedict, Abbot

By Melanie Rigney

I will heal their defection, says the Lord, I will love them freely; for my wrath is turned away from them. (Hosea 14:5)

Behold, you are pleased with sincerity of heart, and in my inmost being you teach me wisdom. (Psalm 51:8)

Jesus said to his Apostles: “Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves. But beware of men, for they will hand you over to courts and scourge you in their synagogues, and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake as a witness before them and the pagans. When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say. You will be given at that moment what you are to say. For it will not be you who speak but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” (Matthew 10:16-20)

Piety

Lord, free me from concern about earthly opinions. I ask for the courage to do Your will always.

Study

“My political views are those of the Lord’s Prayer.” That quote from St. John Bosco pretty much sums it up for me, in terms of the United States and the Catholic Church. Am I loyal to the Magisterium? Yes. Do I think it’s my job to police members of the clergy, locally or up to and including Pope Francis? No. I’m not that smart or educated. I struggle enough with obedience in my own life.

And so, I found it a bit humorous recently when in the space of twenty-four hours, I was challenged twice on my view of the Church’s relationship with women religious: that there’s always been friction; that friction helps smooth the rough ends of anything; and that women religious do and always have done many amazing things for those living on the margins financially, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually.

One person who contacted me in essence said I was naïve, that there’s no room for conciliation and compromise today, only confrontation and combativeness. The other challenge came from an acquaintance who advised me I’m being “watched” because a few years ago here at Your Daily Tripod I wrote an essay acknowledging some people’s frustration over the issue and advising prayer for the strength to remain faithful... which was about the same advice I gave the first person who contacted me.

For the longer I’m at this, the more I understand that it’s not about loudly arguing with others about what my views may or may not be on any Church or secular political issue. It’s about bringing souls to the Kingdom in whatever way God chooses to use us and, in my case, the way is in writing about the struggle in us all to love and believe. God provides the words and the grace; we provide the faith.

Action

Today, consider a challenging relationship. What are the words the Lord desires you to say? Use His, rather than your own.

Heaven is at Hand

Thursday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, who took them in my arms; I drew them with human cords, with bands of love; I fostered them like one who raises an infant to his cheeks; Yet, though I stooped to feed my child, they did not know that I was their healer.  Hosea 11:3-4

Jesus said to his Apostles: “As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.’  Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, drive out demons.  Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.”  Matthew 10:7-8

Piety

Prodigal Son’s Prayer

Lord, I lay my heart before You
And I pour out my very soul.
Desperate, You know what I need
As empty before You I go.

Lord, strengthen my weary heart--
Make it strong once again.
For only You can meet this need,
Hold me tight, my Savior Friend.

I know no other way to go
I’m spent beyond my measure.
Fill me Lord, my Life, my Song
Spin my life with peace, Your Treasure.

(See more at: http://www.allaboutprayer.org/prodigal-sons-prayer-faq.htm#sthash.ox2yRnQ1.dpuf)

Study

Gone are the majestic royal terms that many of the prophets of the Hebrew Bible used to portray the Lord.  Hosea personalizes the image of the Lord and the relationship which the Lord has with His people – even if they do not understand it.  After all that the Lord has and will do, “[T]hough I stooped to feed my child, they did not know that I was their healer.”  (Hosea 11:4b)

However, that relationship is not a one-way street.  In return for the grace of His friendship, Jesus issues instructions for the ministry of his disciples.  Today, Christians are instructed to carry out the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, and the seven precepts of the church to start. These lead us to want a deeper relationship and to explore how to get there through pious practices, studying sacred scripture and putting love into action.

Action

These days, it is hard NOT to know who your healer is.  The obvious choice are your health care providers: nurses, doctors, dentists, medical technicians, and aids of all types (even the medical equipment salespeople may instruct the surgeons in the operating room).  However, when I have visited hospitals like George Washington University Hospital or Fairfax Hospital for scheduled or emergency procedures, the steady stream of people coming into my room or to my bedside are hard to track.  Sometimes I may encounter a person for only one critical procedure but that might mean the different between life and death.  Heaven may be at hand but if you get through this illness, then we can finish a little more of our work on earth. 

Plus, I have usually been so drugged up or had so many IV lines into my arms and hands, that it is hard to write down the names of everyone who comes into you room. One good development that I like is at some hospitals, your regular team signs a little white board in the morning and then later when the night shift changes.  Nurse: Joe.  Tech: Paula.  Aide: Susan. 

Whose healer are you going to be today?  (Will you sign in so they know who you are or will you serve them anonymously?) 

Who will be your healer?  How will you know when they show up and have done their job?

Break Up For Yourselves a New Field

Wednesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

By John Guerre

Israel is a luxuriant vine whose fruit matches its growth.  The more abundant his fruit, the more altars he built; the more productive his land, the more sacred pillars he set up.  Their heart is false, now they pay for their guilt; God shall break down their altars and destroy their sacred pillars.  If they would say, “We have no king” – since they do not fear the LORD, what can the king do for them?

The king of Samaria shall disappear, like foam upon the waters.  The high places of Aven shall be destroyed, the sin of Israel; thorns and thistles shall overgrow their altars.  Then they shall cry out to the mountains, “Cover us!” and to the hills, “Fall upon us!”

“Sow for yourselves justice, reap the fruit of piety;  break up for yourselves a new field, for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain down justice upon you.”  (Hosea 10:1-3, 7-8, 12)

Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town.  Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  As you go, make this proclamation: “The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  (Mathew 10:7)

Piety

Look to the LORD in his strength: seek to serve him constantly.  Recall the wondrous deeds that he has wrought, his portents, and the judgments he has uttered.  (Psalm 105: 4-5)

Study

Prayerful reading and reflection on these readings for today has brought for me two key messages and two key challenges – how to be spiritually “in this world but not of this world,” and what does the concept of “discipleship” really mean for me.  As I read daily of terrible wars fought predominantly by young, ideologically driven and unemployed young men, and an ever-expanding social and financial inequality in our society and the world, I am struck by Pope Francis’ warning that the global economic system is near collapse because of a ‘throwaway culture’ of greed and the ‘atrocity’ of youth unemployment.  What am I to do?

In the first reading, Hosea warns the people of his time of the foolishness of gaining more and more “abundant fruit” and “sacred pillars” in life, a life centered not on our Lord God and love of neighbor, but on the accumulation of more and more abundance, building more “altars” and “sacred pillars,” and doing so with a “false heart.”  Today, we live in the Western World and an American culture that continues to be organized and driven in large part, not by love of neighbor but by the accumulation of wealth, consumerism, and ever-increasing consumption of goods and leisure.  The gap between the “haves” and the “have not’s” of our society - the poor, the sick, the elderly, the chronically unemployed, the handicapped, the immigrants, and other marginalized groups continues to grow. 

As Pope Francis says “….we have put money at the center, the god of money.  We have fallen into a sin of idolatry, the idolatry of money.”  Am I doing my part to close this gap?

In the second reading, Mathew chronicles the first occasion of “discipleship”; Jesus names His first Twelve Apostles.  The mission Jesus gives to them is: “…make this proclamation: The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  As modern-day believers and followers of Christ, we are continually challenged to discern our own calling in this modern world in which we each find ourselves – a world of family, work, parish, relationships, community, and country.  Just as the First Twelve, we, too, are charged by Jesus to proclaim the Good News of the Gospel to the world in which we live.  But how to do on a daily basis is my continuing challenge?

The good news, as Pope Francis explained in his June 13, 2014 daily Mass, is that “When the Lord wants to give us a mission, wants to give us a task, He prepares us. He prepares us to do it well, as he prepared Elijah.  The most important part of this……is the whole journey by which we arrive at the mission the Lord entrusts to us.” 

Hosea’s “new field” for me began with my Cursillo in 1969, but it was not until 5 years ago that I was invited to became active in a “fourth day” Post-Cursillo Group Reunion.  Weekly, I am now blessed to be on my journey, joining with my Group Brothers and Sisters in Christ, as we mutually continue to discern Christ in our lives and better understand through one another’s experiences, God’s unique mission for each one of us in our own families and individual circumstances. 

Action

Given that the ultimate goal of our “discipleship” and the Cursillo Movement is “the transformation into a living Christianity of a society which had ceased to be Christian,” my suggestion is to begin “Grouping” - if you are not already doing so. Although long in coming, my Post-Cursillo – Fourth Day experience continues to be a much-needed weekly blessing in my continuous discernment of what discipleship means for me personally - in a world of false “altars and sacred pillars.”

Choose the Heart of Jesus

Tuesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

By Beth DeCristofaro

Cast away your calf, O Samaria!  My wrath is kindled against them; How long will they be unable to attain innocence in Israel?  The work of an artisan, no god at all, Destined for the flames—such is the calf of Samaria!  (Hosea 8:5-6)

Jesus went around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom, and curing every disease and illness.  At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.  (Matthew 9:35-36)

Piety

Father God help me recognize your glorious creation around me all day and remain gratefully joyous.  Walk beside me, Brother Jesus that I might experience and share your mercy today.   Breathe Grace into me today, Holy Spirit, to shine with your light not the flames of worldly illusion.

Study

We are still experienced artisans fashioning our own calves of idolatry even to this day.  And they still lead us into destructive behaviors, stunted personal growth, deadened relationships and even disillusionment with God who doesn’t answer the entreaties we utter to our idols.  Jesus is the Shepherd, compassionate, bestowing mercy no matter  a person’s economic status, what border he crossed, whether she was properly introduced to him or not or was even an adversary. 

It’s a tall order to look at people with empathy all the time but it is life-sucking to view people as antagonists, competitors, threats or inferior as viewed from the back of my golden calf.  God gave the people of Samaria the chance to turn back just like God gave second chances to the Israelites time and again.  Should I do less than offer mercy in Jesus’ name and expect God’s mercy in return?  

Action

Such divisive times.  Where could I today offer reconciliation?  I can start by looking honestly and clearly at the golden calves I have elevated in my life and which obstruct my view and my actions toward Jesus’ brothers and sisters around me.  Cast away any calf and touch Jesus’ robe in a request for healing.

He Took Her by the Hand

Monday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

I will espouse you to me forever: I will espouse you in right and in justice, in love and in mercy; I will espouse you in fidelity, and you shall know the LORD.  Hosea 2:21-22

While Jesus was speaking, an official came forward, knelt down before him, and said, “My daughter has just died.  But come, lay your hand on her, and she will live.”  Matthew 9:18

Piety

Father, the sacraments are very dependent upon our senses.  The waters of Baptism wash us.  The bread of Eucharist nourishes us.  The words of Penance heal us.  The exchange of vows join us.  The oils of confirmation anoint us with your healing touch. May we accept these signs in our lives and reach out to others to touch them with your love and kindness. 

Study

The relationship with the Lord is not some distant, remote subject of worship.  Hosea changes the tone of prophetic writing by building the relationship as one of husband and wife, not master to slave or monarch to subjects.  This analogy is carried into throughout the New Testament in John (where Jesus performs his first sign at the wedding in Cana) and in the synoptic Gospels with the analogy of Jesus as bridegroom. It reaches it crescendo in John when Jesus calls us “Friend.”

Instead of there being a remote God to whom we cannot even utter his name (as the Jewish people did not talk of “Yahweh”), ours is a personal God-seeking relationship.  Just like friends reach out to each other, today’s Good News is a reading of touching and being touched by the Roman official, his daughter or the woman who was bleeding.  The woman bleeding needed only to touch His cloak to be healed.  When Jesus prayed over the official’s daughter, he took her by the hand to cure her and bring her back to life. 

A God of Study can be academic and remote.  But the lessons we learn from our God of Study must be as close as a library book we open with our own hands and eyes.  A God of Piety can be mystical and distant. But the prayers we pray to our God of Piety must come from our heart and go to the Lord’s heart.  A God of Action can issues orders like a Master to a servant.  However, the deeds we do for our God of Action has to get our hands dirty as we reach out where the Lord can no longer act.  A God of Action has to be close enough to be touched by a Doubting Thomas, to have his feet anointed by the oils of Mary, and to serve the eternal banquet hand-to-hand with his closest friends or five thousand people needing the loaves and fishes. 

Action

Whom will you touch today?  Will you reach out to someone who would normally repulse you – like the man or woman begging outside the Metro station, bus stop or office building?  

Your King Shall Come

Fourteenth Sunday in OrdinaryTime 2014

By Rev. Joe McCloskey, SJ

Rejoice heartily, O daughter Zion, shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem!  See, your king shall come to you; a just savior is he, meek, and riding on an ass, on a colt, the foal of an ass.  Zechariah 9:9

“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”  Matthew 11:29-30

Piety

Our piety is made up of the history of our relationship to Christ. It does not require brilliance or smarts. It requires what the Father has revealed to the little ones. The Illuminative Way is spoken of as learning greater than years of the University, books read or visions had. God teaches us what we need to know in many different ways. The Church is the guardian of the Truth and a great teacher. The Bible gives us the Revealed wisdom of God. The holy people of our lives teach us much by the example of their lives. God has created us with a desire to know.  Intellectual curiosity leads us to the experience of God in our lives. How we study life has its most important source in how we look at Christ.

Study

God can give us such great knowledge in our lives that we could easily wonder why we spend so much time learning. The answer is simple. Grace builds on nature. We grow up into God if we study. Spiritual reading is more important than most people realize. Exposure to the presence of God in our lives opens the eyes of our souls to see God and to see visions. We do not become who we are meant to be by accident. Study is the gateway to finding God in our lives. God has a plan for each of us that our study unfolds in the closer look we take at what is happening in our spiritual journey.

Action

Wherever there is love, God is there. Love is shown by deeds. What we do for self, others and for our community, can be translated into our love of God.  Spiritual reading needs to be a part of our lives. Prayer at certain times keeps us tuned into what God is doing in our lives. Plans of action follow from the study of God we have in our day. God is forever waiting for us to open our hearts to what he has in store for us if we follow the plan of action we form. There are no accidents in our relationship to God. He is forever waiting for us to put our hands and our feet where are mouths are saying we are going.

Bring About the Restoration

Saturday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Yes, days are coming, says the LORD, when the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the vintager, him who sows the seed; The juice of grapes shall drip down the mountains, and all the hills shall run with it.  I will bring about the restoration of my people Israel; they shall rebuild and inhabit their ruined cities, Plant vineyards and drink the wine, set out gardens and eat the fruits.  Amos 9:13-14

No one patches an old cloak with a piece of unshrunken cloth, for its fullness pulls away from the cloak and the tear gets worse.  People do not put new wine into old wineskins.  Otherwise the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined.  Rather, they pour new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”  Matthew 9:16-17

Piety

I will listen for what God, the LORD, has to say; surely he will speak of peace to his people and to his faithful.  May they not turn to foolishness!  Near indeed is his salvation for those who fear him; glory will dwell in our land.  Love and truth will meet; justice and peace will kiss.  (Psalm 85:9-11)

Study

How things change when people follow the Lord and do not reject His ways.  

Earlier in the book of Amos, the prophet explained that the people would be cursed for their crimes and sins against justice: Therefore, because you tax the destitute and exact from them levies of grain, Though you have built houses of hewn stone, you shall not live in them; Though you have planted choice vineyards, you shall not drink their wine.  (Amos 5:11)

Obedience and humility are rewarded as we read in today’s first passage from the Hebrew Bible.  The same actions result in very different outcomes when the new orders are followed. Destruction is not the Lord’s final command.  Rather justice and peace will kiss.  The Lord’s mercy is enduring and plentiful despite what we do.  Those who follow will have abundance (dripping with new wine) while those who do not will know famine and thirst.  “The Lord speaks of peace to his people” (Psalm 85) not gloom and doom.

In exchange for this reward, Jesus is not looking for sacrifice but for action:  treating the poor and powerless with generosity and protection.  Fasting, while a worthy practice, is not the only worthy practice.  There is a time for action, a time to “go in peace to love and serve the world.”  The notes to the New American Bible point out that: “Fasting is a sign of mourning and would be as inappropriate at this time of joy, when Jesus is proclaiming the kingdom, as it would be at a marriage feast. Yet the saying looks forward to the time when Jesus will no longer be with the disciples visibly, the time of Matthew’s church.”

Jesus is not just patching up what is lacking in the old faith to restore it to newness.  Jesus is, in fact, establishing a new order that is open and welcoming to all.  Hos new wine would burst the old wine skins of the Hebrew church.  Therefore, Jesus introduces us to ways to dwell with Him in newness as He dwells within us.

Action

Reading today’s Psalm, I hear it echo as the Mass is celebrated along the U.S. Mexico border.  Angry mobs are turning away busses of unaccompanied children who tried to flee violence and oppression in their homeland for the promise of plenty in the United States. 

They hear and read the same Good News as we do.  That message preaches restoration and fulfillment.

If we listen for what God calls on us to do, we might hear the message that we are a people of hospitality, not hosptility.  Even as the government processes the undocumented immigrants to return them home, how can we live up to the ideals and actions toward these poor and destitute children and families?

Famine Upon the Land

Friday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time

By Melanie Rigney

Yes, days are coming, says the Lord God, when I will send famine upon the land: Not a famine of bread, or thirst for water, but for hearing the word of the Lord. Then shall they wander from sea to sea and rove from the north to the east in search of the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it. (Amos 8:11-12)

One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:4)

(Jesus said to the Pharisees who questioned his dining with sinners:) “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. Go and learn the meaning of the words, I desire mercy, not sacrifice. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.” (Matthew 9:12-13)

Piety

Open my ears, my mind, and my soul to Your words, Lord, difficult as I may find them to digest at times.

Study

We all go through spiritual droughts, those times that we seem to lack a connection to God. In those times, it can be difficult to discern just what He is asking from us.

Still harder, at least for some of us, are those times God is speaking perfectly clearly and plainly to us… and saying things that we so very much do not want to hear:

• End this relationship. It’s not pleasing to Me and it’s not good for you.
• Get help for this addictive behavior. You’re destroying the very body I provided so you could do My work.
• Take on this new ministry. I know it’s scary. I know it’s out of your comfort zone. But I’m here at your side as you attempt it, succeed or fail.

So we wander from pillar to post, consulting with this priest or that deacon, with this spiritual adviser or that trusted friend. We keep looking for someone to tell us that that hard choice isn’t really what God is saying, that the status quo is safe. And someone will be quite happy to tell us that, if we search long enough. He is the enemy, who preys upon our love of the known, no matter how unpleasant it may be. He counts on us not listening to the words that come from God and whispers to us that those words aren’t meant for sinners like us.

We may think that saying yes to the predictable protects us. But in actuality, it sets us on a course that leaves us restless, dissatisfied… and hungry for the only food that truly satisfies.

Action

What is God asking you to do that you are either studiously ignoring or pondering far too long? Let today be the day you listen and obey.

Unless I See

Thursday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Feast of St. Thomas the Apostle

You are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone.  Ephesians 2:19-20

Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.  So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”  But Thomas said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nail marks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”  John 20:24-25

Piety

May I know Thee more clearly,
Love Thee more dearly,
Follow Thee more nearly. 

(Prayer attributed to the 13th-century English bishop Saint Richard of Chichester that inspired lyrics to the song “Day by Day” in Godspell.)

Study

What makes a community?  Part of that answer is shared experience.  Thomas was a part of the community in the early church.  However, when the Lord appeared in the Upper Room, Thomas was not with the group.  He reacted with disbelief and denial when hearing about the experience his friends shared together.

Our Christian community has more in common with the disbelievers (Thomas) and deniers (Peter) than we might imagine.  We cannot see the mark of the nails in Christ’s hands and feet.  We cannot explore the wounds with our fingers or put our hands in his side. 

The body of Christ and the wounds we see today are the human condition on the individual and collective levels. 

Action

We can experience the wounds of Christ through our involvement with the wounds of our community and what we might do to heal them.  We can put out fingers into hunger by volunteering at a food pantry, soup kitchen or donating food to a food drive. We can put our hand into the gash of domestic violence by making sure families in crisis have someplace safe to go.  We can explore the nail marks of modern slavery by working to prevent human trafficking.  We can put our fingers into the nail marks of loneliness by visiting persons who are sick, homebound or hospitalized.

What wounds will you see today?  What can you do to heal them?

Who Are Your Demons?

Thirteenth Week of Ordinary Times

By Thelma Garry and Jack Finnerty

Seek good and not evil, that you may live; Then truly will the LORD, the God of hosts, be with you as you claim! Hate evil and love good, and let justice prevail at the gate; Then it may be that the LORD, the God of hosts, will have pity on the remnant of Joseph. Amos 5:14-15, 21-24

When Jesus came to the territory of the Gadarenes, two demoniacs who were coming from the tombs met him. They were so savage that no one could travel by that road. They cried out, “What have you to do with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the appointed time?” Some distance away a herd of many swine was feeding. The demons pleaded with him, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of swine.” And he said to them, “Go then!” They came out and entered the swine, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea where they drowned. Matthew 8:28-34

Piety

Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel

"St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan, and all the evil spirits, who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen."

This prayer was composed by Pope Leo XIII after he had a vision of St Michael sending Satan and his evil spirits to hell. After falling into disuse after Vatican II, it is now widely prayed within parishes at the conclusion of Masses.

Study

In today's Gospel, Jesus is driving away the demoniacs, the unclean spirits. This reading is widely interpreted to demonstrating the power and authority of Jesus. In addition, it also opens up the whole subject of those demons that we may encounter in our lives, or that may exist within us. Some say that there are "personal demons," that part of ourselves or personal issues that we are afraid to think about or talk about, or even a part of ourselves that we loathe.

Certainly, we don’t see herds of pigs jumping off cliffs as depicted in the Gospel, but we do see the results of evil inhabiting people in both subtle and more obvious ways. Demons come in many forms and are ingenious in their capability to convince us that there is no need to ward them off. Today, we are bombarded with advertisements and media stories that sometimes subtly try to entice us to embrace unhealthy products and to casually view moral decay and corruption.  Television, computers, Facebook and Twitter, DVD players, and movies are often vehicles that display poor role models and teach us and our children the wrong lessons. People often dwell in the world of unhealthy media entertainment for many hours each day; some become jaded. Many people enjoy large number of stories rife with violence, gore, and corruption, perhaps without recognizing that these stories are related to the evil and demons that Christ warns us about in the Gospels.

The promotion of “If it’s good for me then it is the right thing” has reigned in our culture for a long time.  This attitude has fostered such things as self-centeredness, greed, arrogance, pride etc., and promoted addictions. These and many other self-centered traits can be called our demons.

Action

What are your demons? Are there any that you are afraid to confront or to recognize? Do you have a need to screen out some of the media offerings to which you are exposed?  If so, follow the advice of St. Matthew by asking Jesus to free you from evil influences that are present in your daily life.