Before You Ask

Thursday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

Blessed is he who shall have seen you and who falls asleep in your friendship.  For we live only in our life, but after death our name will not be such.  O Elijah, enveloped in the whirlwind!  Sirach 48:11

Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.  Matthew 6:8b

Piety

LORD, you are king and the earth -- held up to you -- is a poor image.  Its clouds and darkness surround you but your fire, like Elijah, consumes your foes and lights up the world with love.  Ignite our lives with that fire so that we may live in your friendship overcoming all obstacles.

Study

When you are with a friend, sometimes that person knows what you are thinking before you say anything.  A friend wants to do the same thing you want to do. 

Jesus showed us that at the Last Supper when he predicted that Judas would be the Betrayer before he left the room and that Paul would be the Denier despite his close friendship. 

We, like Paul, have to get over the source or sources of our denial.  Ben Sirach tells us that holy is the person who falls asleep in the friendship of the Lord.  Mathew reminds us that when we have a friendship with the Lord, the Father knows what you need before you ask.  Yet that does not negate or minimize the need to ask and to hold up our portion of the crucial conversation. 

Action

The psalm today is filled with imagery of the purifying work of fire.  Light a candle and watch how the wax melts and drips away.  When we live in friendship with the Lord and each other, the obstacles in our path melt away. 

Who or what is the obstacle in your path today?  Can you turn over that person to the Lord to let his fire melt that obstacle into something good? 

Endings Become Beginnings

Wednesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

By Colleen O’Sullivan

When they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask for whatever I may do for you, before I am taken from you.”  Elisha answered, “May I receive a double portion of your spirit.”  “You have asked something that is not easy,” Elijah replied.  “Still, if you see me taken up from you, your wish will be granted; otherwise not.”  As they walked on conversing, a flaming chariot and flaming horses came between them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.   When Elisha saw it happen he cried out, “My father!  My father!  Israel’s chariots and drivers!”  But when he could no longer see him, Elisha gripped his own garment and tore it in two.  (2 Kings 2:9-12)

Piety

Some journeys end so that others may begin.

(Kevin O’Brien, SJ, “For Reflection,”  Ignatian Prayer Adventure, Week 8, Day 7)

Study

Having accompanied his beloved spiritual father as far as he can on that final journey, Elisha is on his own now, standing there all alone on the far side of the Jordan River.  We can imagine the desolation he is feeling.  He even rips his clothing in anguish and grief. 

None of us have ever witnessed anyone being taken up to heaven, let alone by a fiery chariot and horses but most of us have been right where Elisha is.  We know the anticipatory grief as a beloved friend or family member prepares to leave us, the finality of the funeral service, the emptiness once the formalities have been observed. 

Fortunately, that’s not the end of the story.  Elisha picks up Elijah’s fallen cloak, rolls it up and strikes the water with it as he had seen his mentor do.  Immediately, the younger man senses the presence of the Lord.  The waters part, just as they had for Elijah and, with this, Elisha knows that he has inherited Elijah’s prophetic powers and spirit.  He has now become the instrument of God for God’s people.  Where Elijah’s journey ended, Elisha’s is now beginning.  What an inheritance he has received!

Death is never the end of the story when we’re talking about those who have served as our spiritual guides.  My maternal grandmother was my first “spiritual director.”  I often wish I had asked her who passed the faith on to her.  Gram was born in the late 1800’s.  Her father was married three times, and all three wives died, one from disease and the other two in childbirth, not an unusual turn of events in those days.  Altogether, there were 13 children left behind when he, too, died. My grandmother became an orphan at the age of four.  The children were parceled out to various relatives, and my grandmother went to live with an aunt who greatly resented having another mouth to feed and treated her as a servant.  Gram could have grown up an embittered woman, but instead she became a loving person of great faith.  Jesus was her Savior and friend, and she introduced him to me when I was very young.  My grandmother left me many years before she died, disappearing into the misty realm of dementia, but her legacy to me lives on.  Thanks to Gram, God is in my heart.  Jesus is the foundation and underpinning of my life.  No matter what may befall me, no one can ever take that away.  Gram knew how to make friends, how to be a friend, and how to bring her friends to Christ, and she’d never heard of Cursillo!

Action

From whom have you received a spiritual bequest?  When you pray today, give thanks for that person’s involvement in your life.

We Are Children of Our God

Tuesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

By Beth DeCristofaro

“Because you have given yourself up to doing evil in the LORD’s sight, I am bringing evil upon you … because you have provoked me by leading Israel into sin.”  (1 Kings 21: 20-21, 22)

(Jesus said) But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. (Matthew 5:44-45)

Piety

Jesus, Prince of Peace,
you have asked us to love our enemies
and pray for those who persecute us.
We pray for our enemies and those who oppose us.
With the help of the Holy Spirit,
may all people learn to work together
for that justice which brings true and lasting peace.
To you be glory and honor for ever and ever.

        (www.catholic.org )

Study

At some point in my life I realized how awful it must be to be in the body, mind and heart of someone who feels the need to bully, to pull power trips, to hurt others intentionally, to choose to “do evil in the Lord’s sight”.  It took this personal insight to help me begin to pray for those who persecute me.   Before it I preferred to simply judge, dismiss, look for payback.  And in Ahab’s case his evil is even compounded because he lets his wife do his dirty work while he sulks. 

But that insight led me also to acknowledge those parts of me that step on others, pull power trips, hurt out of my sense of pique, choose evil based on my sanctimonious sense of myself.  No I can’t see that I would ever kill over the ownership of property but I can envision myself killing to defend someone I care about.  It’s a slippery slope.

Jesus’ image of God placing the life-giving sun in transit above the good and the bad both humbles me and frees me.  God loves me just as much as God loves the bad person.  God loves the bad person just as much as God loves me.  It’s freeing to accept that God loves as God wills.  And God protects as God loves even as tragedy and evil befall me. 

Action

Bring to mind someone who has hurt you deeply, personally.  In your imagination, stand with that person in the presence of Jesus.  Pray for her/him.  Ask Jesus to help you love more fully and to know in your bones that God loves you and every one of His children.

Offer No Resistance

Monday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

When Jezebel learned that Naboth had been stoned to death, she said to Ahab, “Go on, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite that he refused to sell you, because Naboth is not alive, but dead.”  1 Kings 21:15

“But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil.  When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one to him as well…Give to the one who asks of you, and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow.”  Matthew 5:39,42

Piety

May our prayers today echo the thoughts of the psalmist.  At dawn and midday and noon and night, we bring our plea expectantly before the Lord for peace in our hearts and our heads and our world.  God delights not in wickedness but hates all evildoers like Ahab and Jezebel.  Cultivate a nature of peace within us and our nation as we look to the events unfolding around us.   

Study

Can there be two more opposite readings paired in the liturgical calendar?  The reading from Matthew preaches altruism, generosity, obedience and humility.  The first reading from the Book of Kings tells the story of conniving, deceit, murder, false witness, conspiracy and theft. 

Jezebel outright manipulated the economic and social order, law, and religious observance to eliminate a faithful Israelite landowner who frustrates Ahab’s will.  Perhaps had Naboth been “generous,” and given his vineyard over to Ahab, then Jezebel would not have woven the plot against him.  But what made either of them feel entitled to own or obtain legally or otherwise, Naboth’s land?

Naboth did not have the legal right to sell the vineyard.  According to sources that explain the Jewish system of land tenure and distribution, land was held in common within a social unit such as the family. The ancestral land was not private property, to be sold at will by Naboth.  And both Ahab and Jezebel knew this.    

Matthew, on the other hand, explains the ideal of generosity in the face of the enemy and the person in need.  Rather than building up stores of riches, Jesus advocates for sharing everything – even the clothes on your back. 

Action

This weekend, the drums of war were being beaten again and again over the situation in Iraq.  The situation calls to mind the analogy that former National Security Adviser Colin Powell told President George W. Bush.   In his advice to President Bush before the Iraq invasion in 2003, Powell warned the president of the Pottery Barn rule: you break it, you own it. The United States would be responsible, Powell implied, for whatever wreckage the military incurred in its headlong dash to unseat Saddam Hussein.

Now, after US troops pulled out of Iraq, unrest throughout the country is rampant and insurgents are tearing it apart at the borders.  The Iraqi army seems powerless to defend the country and the government is ineffective.

What should we do?  Clearly, we do not want to allow another nation to become the breeding ground for terrorists who are intent on attacking America or its allies and interests.  Yet, after more than ten years of occupation, thousands of lives lost, countless bodies maimed, and billions of dollars spent, we could not fix Iraq. 

St. Pope John Paul the Great spoke out strongly against a possible war in Iraq, saying military force must be “the very last option” and that its use would be a defeat for humanity.  Pope Francis echoes that call and just a week ago held a prayer summit in his garden.  He asks all people of good will to pray for peace in the Middle East rather than beating the drums of renewing a war in the cradle of civilization. 

Saved Through Him

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity 2014 A

By Rev. Joe McCloskey, SJ

Moses at once bowed down to the ground in worship.  Then he said, "If I find favor with you, O Lord, do come along in our company.  This is indeed a stiff-necked people; yet pardon our wickedness and sins, and receive us as your own."  Exodus 34:8-9

Mend your ways, encourage one another, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.  2 Corinthians 13:1

God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.  John 3:16-17

Piety

Our piety is expressed by our joining the mission of Christ.  All the ways we offer the sufferings and disappointments of our life in his name bring to realization in our lives the love of the Father in sending his Son to die for us.  All the ways we die to ourselves bring to life through the Sacramental life of the Church the dying of Christ for each and every one of us.  We accept the love of God in our willingness to give our lives for each other.  The “No greater Love” of John 15:13 is the giving of our lives for each other.  We join ourselves to Paul’s saying, “It gives me great joy to fill up what is wanting to the sufferings of Christ’s body, the Church.”

Study

Our study keeps us in touch with Christ’s oneness with all the little people of our world that suffer the slings and arrows of the outrageous fortune of those who are victims of tyranny and injustice.  Matthew 25:40 tell us that what we do for the little ones of our world, we do for Christ.  We also share our needs of others so that Christ may come to us in our need and allow us to be Christ for those who minister to our needs.

Action

We know the life of the Trinity because the Father sent his Son to die for us.  We live the life of Christ when we offer our time, energy and sufferings for those needy around us.  We give voice to the Spirit who cries out to the Father Abba, Abba in our name.   The life of the Trinity is given to us in our baptism when we are given God’s life through our baptism.  We could not know the Trinity if God had not revealed himself to us through the sending of his Son.  The depth of our relationship to Christ allows us to share the divine life through the Spirit.  How we live out the love of Christ gives the Spirit expression.  Our love for each other makes us God’s children and children of God.  Our work is to live the love of Christ for each other.  Thus, the Spirit brings a human expression of God’s life.  Wherever there is love, God is there.  We are the family of God in our Trinitarian life.   All the ‘threenesses’ of life around us allow life itself to be an expression of the mystery of God as Trinity.  We live Trinity by community and we bring God’s love to each other by the oneness life allows us with each other. 

Keep the Lord Always Before Me

Saturday of the Tenth Weekin Ordinary Time

Elisha left him and, taking the yoke of oxen, slaughtered them; he used the plowing equipment for fuel to boil their flesh, and gave it to his people to eat.  Then he left and followed Elijah as his attendant.  1 Kings 19:21

“…[M]ake good to the Lord all that you vow.”  Matthew 5:33

Piety

If we pray to take refuge in God, we cannot pursue a bigger house, a faster car or fancier furniture.  Our piety helps keep the Lord always in our lives.  Keep these words of Psalm 16:8-9 on your mind today:  I keep the LORD always before me; with him at my right hand, I shall never be shaken.  Therefore my heart is glad, my soul rejoices; my body also dwells secure.” 

Study

The purpose of an oath was to guarantee truthfulness by one’s calling on God as witness.  Once Elisha decided to devote his life to the Lord, he obliterated all signs of his former life.  He slaughtered his oxen, burned his plow and left that life behind.  Just like Peter left his boats behind and Matthew turned away from his tax rolls and the poor widow gave her last nickel to the temple.  They unhinged their lives from   

Elisha set himself up for success. He figuratively burned the bridges back to his former life so there was no comfort zone to which he could retreat. 

On our journeys, we have certain big oaths and decisions.  Baptism is when we make (and later renew) our faith.  When we reach confirmation, we promise to remain faithful to the Lord and then vow to "renounce Satan and all his work and ways, and surrender myself to You, O God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in belief, obedience, and the earnest resolution to remain faithful to You until my end."  Many then take vows during marriage.  Some take vows in Holy Orders of poverty, chastity and stability. 

Action

We may not need to burn all the symbols and possessions of our life to follow our faith journey but we have to make room in our days to pursue piety, study and action.  How will you make good on that promise to make good all that you vow to the Lord?  What obstacles can you remove (burn) in order to render unto the Lord all that are his due.

A Light Silent Sound

Memorial of Saint Anthony of Padua, Priest and Doctor of the Church

By Melanie Rigney

Then the LORD said (to Elijah): Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD; the LORD will pass by. There was a strong and violent wind rending the mountains and crushing rocks before the LORD—but the LORD was not in the wind; after the wind, an earthquake—but the LORD was not in the earthquake; after the earthquake, fire—but the LORD was not in the fire; after the fire, a light silent sound. When he heard this, Elijah hid his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. A voice said to him, Why are you here, Elijah? (1 Kings 19: 11-13)

I long to see your face, O Lord. (Psalms 27:8)

(Jesus said to his disciples:) “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into Gehenna. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body go into Gehenna.” (Matthew 5:27-30)

Piety

Lord, thank You for the times You bless us with unmistakable signs of Your presence.

Study

Nothing, I could tell you, had worked out as planned. The dream of working for a major news service in New York, the weekend cottage on Cape Cod, filling it up with friends and family in the summer, solo walks on the beach in the winter.

Except that it did. The solo walks happen in quiet Arlington mornings instead of at Provincetown or Chatham, the friends and family come to the large apartment I share with my sister, and it turned out the stability of a government job suited the rest of my life better than the unpredictability of the news business.

Nothing, a woman said at a recent gathering, had worked out as planned. The house full of children, the extended family and friends wandering in and out.

Except that it did. A ragtag band of an adopted child’s friends, some with nowhere else to go, was forming a community and filling up that very house.

Nothing, a friend said in essence, was working out as planned. Eight more years of stirring ministry in a place that spoke to the heart, soul, and mind, snatched away, seemingly capriciously.

Except that it will.

And as a group of us prayed over him for healing and faith and confidence, the light silent sound was overwhelming. It tingled like electricity, steady, humming, stronger than any wind, earthquake, or fire. It was the Holy Spirit coursing through us, the Lord passing by, reminding us all that it always works out as planned and that in our souls, we know the reason we are here.

Action

Consider a major disappointment from five or ten or twenty years ago. How did it bring you closer to Christ? If the matter still is creating a distance, consider speaking with a spiritual adviser about this hurt.

Go First and Be Reconciled

Thursday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time

And the seventh time the youth reported, “There is a cloud as small as a man’s hand rising from the sea.”  Elijah said, “Go and say to Ahab, ‘Harness up and leave the mountain before the rain stops you.’”  In a trice the sky grew dark with clouds and wind, and a heavy rain fell.  Ahab mounted his chariot and made for Jezreel.  1 Kings 18:44-45

Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.  Matthew 5:23-24

Piety

You have visited the land and watered it;
greatly have you enriched it.
God’s watercourses are filled;
you have prepared the grain.  Psalm 65:10

Study

The New American Bible notes to the first reading explain that by claiming authority over the rain, the Lord was challenging Baal’s power in Baal’s own domain.  The entire drought story in Kings (chapters 17–18) implies what becomes explicit later in chapter 18:  this is both a literal and figurative struggle between the Lord and Baal for the loyalties of the people of Israel.

We see the “push-pull” of the Lord taking dominion over human emotions just as the Lord did in the physical world.  We cannot claim to serve the Lord if we do not set aside our petty jealousy and rivalry.  “Go first and be reconciled.” We have to take these steps before we can be forgiven.  The Lord asks that our reconciliation has to be “before-given” – we must take the first step.  After all, the Lord takes the first step in guaranteeing us His love and mercy.

Jesus also sets the bar within reach.  He does not challenge his listeners with being perfect but he challenges them with these words: “I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the Kingdom of heaven.” 

Action

In thanks for the blessings we have from the Lord, how can we put this scripture into practice? To whom do you have to be reconciled?  What first step can you take to right that relationship?  Don’t let the rain or anything else stop you.

Empowered to Spread the Good News

Memorial of Saint Barnabas, Apostle

By Colleen O’Sullivan

In those days a great number who believed turned to the Lord.  The news about them reached the ears of the Church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to go to Antioch.  When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to remain faithful to the Lord in firmness of heart, for he was a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and faith. Then he went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him he brought him to Antioch.  For a whole year they met with the Church and taught a large number of people, and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.

(Acts 11:21b-26)

All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation by our God.  Sing joyfully to the Lord, all you lands; break into song; sing praise. (Psalm 98:3c-4)

Piety

He’s my forever friend

My leave-me-never friend

From darkest night to rainbow’s end

He’s my forever friend

(from “My Forever Friend,” Charlie Landsborough)

Study

Years ago, when I was a United Methodist pastor, one of my churches was having a fundraiser.  The district superintendent, who was my immediate superior, happened to be in attendance and I encouraged him to buy whatever was being offered.  As he got out his wallet, he said, “Colleen, you could sell snow to Eskimos!”  I laughed and replied, “Only if I believed in the snow.” 

I’m a fairly quiet, reserved person, who, in general, would be a flop at sales.  But when I really care about something as deeply as I do about my faith, I lose the reticence.  I enjoyed preaching the Gospel for the 11 years I was a pastor.  Sharing reflections on the Wednesday Scripture readings in these Daily Tripods is a privilege and a highlight of my week.  Occasionally, co-workers or friends will initiate conversations with me about God, their beliefs, their fears and doubts, or their desire to have a closer relationship with the Lord, and I share with them out of my own relationship with Jesus.  The Holy Spirit empowers us to witness to what we know of God.

Before the Resurrection, the disciples weren’t great evangelists.  They weren’t even sure exactly who Jesus was before Easter Sunday!  But all that changed as the Risen Lord appeared to them on numerous occasions.  On Pentecost the Holy Spirit transformed them from mere believers into some of the best evangelizers the Church has ever known, as witnessed in our story about St. Barnabas in today’s reading from the Book of Acts.

Action

Our faith was never meant to be a private affair.  We are all called to sing the Lord’s praises. In order to do that, however, we need to have good news to share; we need to have a relationship with the Lord.  Jesus wants to be our closest friend, our forever friend.  Once that friendship becomes the bedrock of our lives, we’ll desire that same relationship for others.  With the help of the Holy Spirit, we’ll find the way to share it. 

What have you done this week to spread the Good News?

Shine

Tuesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time

By Beth DeCristofaro

The brook near where Elijah was hiding ran dry, because no rain had fallen in the land. So the LORD said to Elijah: “Move on to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have designated a widow there to provide for you.” (1 Kings 17:7)

You are the light of the world. … Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.” (Matthew 5:14, 16)

Piety

Lord, God of Abraham, God of the Prophets, God of Love, you created us and you call us to live as brothers and sisters.  Give us the strength daily to be instruments of peace; enable us to see everyone who crosses our path as our brother or sister.  Make us sensitive to the plea of our citizens who entreat us to turn our weapons of war into implements of peace, our trepidation into confident trust, and our quarreling into forgiveness.  (Pope Francis) http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-francis-a-prayer-for-peace

Study

Have you seen video of Sicilian nun Sr. Christina belting out songs on the Italian television version of “The Voice”?  She is a light not hiding in a basket!  In response to one of the judges, Sr. Christina said “I have a gift and I give it to you.”  She boldly declared that God asks her to evangelize and American pop is her mode of transmission, joy is her message.

Pope Francis’ prayer summit with Palestinian and Israeli Presidents and the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew was a much subtler light but a beacon none the less.  Not only did they pray communally and individually for peace but each shared prayer from their respective traditions - Jewish, Christian and Islamic – in the heart of the Vatican. 

If we listen, there are other lights shining.  Malala, shot in the face because she advocated for girls’ education, continues her mission with a message of non-violence.  The fathers of a mass murderer and one of his victims sat down together in their mutual loss.  Fr. Richard Martin, former pastor at Nativity Parish raised millions of dollars for Haiti and personally helped build homes there as well.   A dear friend volunteers at Fairfax Hospital visiting the sick with compassion and the gift of Communion.

People question the worth of such gestures.  Critics question the propriety of a nun taking part in a contest.  Analysis of the gathering at the Vatican includes disbelief that it will influence peace talks in the Middle East.  But being the light of the world is not cause and effect.  Elijah was asked to proclaim a drought and to put his faith in God’s command first to hide near a stream then take charity from a poor woman before God pardoned Israel who at last turned back to Him.  God’s glory is to be illumined. 

Action

It is said that even a small flame can be seen from 2 miles away in the dark.  God’s glory is present, do we see it?  Do we reflect it?  Do we trust in it enough to follow God to the ends of our comfort zone?  

Be Satisfied

Monday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time

Leave here, go east and hide in the Wadi Cherith, east of the Jordan.  You shall drink of the wadi, and I have commanded ravens to feed you there.  1 Kings 17:3-4

Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.  Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.  Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.  Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.  Matthew 5:6-9

Piety

Father, help us to recognize that our help is not in our own hands but in another’s – Yours.  Let us look toward where that help will come and accept it when it is offered as we prayer the Serenity Prayer:

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

The prophet is not the grumbling Israelite.  The prophet is set apart from the regular citizen, as the notes in the New American Bible explain, because the holy ones receive the divine word and obey it.  In addition, they effectively convey the threat or promise contained in the revelation of the divine word – in the case of today’s first reading the threat of drought is balanced with the promise that the Lord will provide water to drink and meat and bread to eat.

Today’s reading harkens us back to the book of Exodus when the people were wandering in the desert and not satisfied with anything provided for them.  “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them: In the evening twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will have your fill of bread, and then you will know that I, the LORD, am your God.”  (Exodus 16:12).  However, today, we see Ahab get his fill.

Where are we to get our satisfaction?  Jesus recognizes the many needs, wants and desires in life.  He promises to fulfill them if we act as he acted.  In essence, if we want to be happy, we should realize that recently popular bracelet: “WWJD?” 

• Happy are the poor:  Jesus lived his life in the family of a hard-working carpenter and then as an itinerant preacher. 
• Happy are they who mourn:  We saw Jesus mourn and weep for his friend Lazarus.
• Happy are the meek:  Jesus was never boastful, or conceited or proud.
• Happy are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness: Jesus was concerned at how people treated the children, the poor widows, the outcasts and the sinners.
• Happy are the merciful:  Even as he hung from the nails of the cross, Jesus prayed to the Father for mercy (“Forgiven Father, for they know not what they do.”)
• Happy are the clean of heart: Jesus healed the words, “Go and sin no more.”
• Happy are the peacemakers:  Although Jesus said he came to bring division, he also came to bring people to his side of the division – the side or peace, love and happiness.
• Happy are they who are persecuted:  Despite preaching in the temple, the Pharisees and Sadducees plotted against him and frequently tried to trap Jesus in theological riddles.

Action
To where do you look for satisfaction?  Chances are good it will not come from Ford or Maytag or Safeway or Lord and Taylor or Sears or Target or eBay or Amazon.com.  We can get stuff from them but not stuff that will make us eternally happy.  

Receive

Pentecost 2014 A

By Rev. Joe McCloskey, SJ

As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ.  For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.  1 Corinthians 12:12-13

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”  And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”  John 20:21-22

Piety

Our piety is not simply a statement of how we give the gifts of the Spirit back to God.  Our piety is the uniqueness of our gifts of the Spirit shared with others.  The fruits of the Spirit develop from our use of the gifts.  Peace is what the Apostles received from Christ.  Peace keeps us from being a lot of noise and clanging cymbals.  Our peace makes people feel safe around us.  Our security in the Lord comes from our letting go and letting God handle our problems by our confidence in how well he can use us to make a difference.  Piety is the gentleness of a breeze that comes from we-know-not-where and takes us where all too often we are unaware.

Study

Pentecost gives us our freedom to proclaim the good news of Christ.  The Apostles were heard in other languages.  Speaking in tongues is a wonderful gift even as we make the holy sounds that are the expression of the peace of our hearts.  In a community praying there is the overlay of the voice of the spirit at work.  Tongues allow one to praise God without searching for words.  They are the language of the heart escaping from our hearts on fire with the love the Spirit shared through us.  Pentecost is where the Church has its real beginning.

Action

We join ourselves to the work of the Spirit by how our gifts are used for the building up of the church.  In John’s Gospel Christ comes to the apostles behind locked doors.  The action of Pentecost creates the audiences and gathers the people for the sharing of Christ.  Our fears make us hold back.  The result of Pentecost is seen in all the ways we share the Christ of our hearts.  All the ways the people of God share Christ is Pentecost at work.  The more we work at emptying ourselves out for the sake of Christ, the more we have of Christ to share.  Christ fills the emptiness that our sharing Christ makes possible.  Our emptiness is the call of our hearts for the coming of Christ.  The more we share of Christ, the more of Christ we will have to share. 

You Follow Me

Saturday of the Seventh Week of Easter

“But when the Jews objected, I was obliged to appeal to Caesar, even though I had no accusation to make against my own nation.  This is the reason, then, I have requested to see you and to speak with you, for it is on account of the hope of Israel that I wear these chains.”   Acts 28:19-20

“What concern is it of yours?  You follow me.”  John 21:22bc

Piety

Father, free us from the concerns of life.  Make us as carefree as the birds in the air and the lilies in the valley.  Help us to walk away from what preoccupies us and overcome all obstacles in the way of following you.  Send us your Pentecost that we can be on fire with desire to spread your Good News.

Study

Paul is chained up by the Romans.  However, those external chains may hinder his physical movement around the city but they do not hinder his journey toward Jesus and toward spreading the Good News even if he can only do that from his confined quarters.  He follow Jesus despite the physical obstacles.

Peter, however, while free remains chained by his own emotions and disposition.  Maybe there remains a hint of jealousy toward John.  Could there be a “You-love-him-more-than-me” sibling-type rivalry?  Beyond that, Peter may have walked away from his boats and his nets, but he cannot walk away from his inner nature.  Neither can we.  “You follow me.”

Yet THAT is exactly what Jesus has been asking ever since he walked under the waters of Baptism by his cousin.  Repent.  “You follow me.”

Action

What concerns do we have?  Leave those aside.  Wash those away in baptism.  Reject those in reconciliation.  Follow me to the altar.  Accept Jesus in Eucharist.  Accept a new journey in matrimony or holy orders.  Follow Jesus through thick and thin, through illness and healing.  Follow Jesus to the cross.  “You follow me to the cross and beyond.” 

What chains are we wearing?  Some are chains which have been thrust upon us externally.  Others are chains that we have donned all on our own.  Throw off those chains to freely follow Jesus. 

Where You Do Not Want to Go

By Melanie Rigney

Friday of the Seventh Week of Easter

(Speaking about Paul, Festus told King Agrippa:) “His accusers stood around him, but did not charge him with any of the crimes I suspected. Instead they had some issues with him about their own religions and about a certain Jesus who had died but who Paul claimed was alive.” (Acts 25:18-19)

Bless the Lord, all you his angels, you mighty in strength, who do his bidding. (Psalms 103:20)

(Jesus said to Peter:) “Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.” (John 21:18-19)

Piety

Lord, guide me through my earthly “deaths” as You increase my dependence on You.

Study

Back in late 2010 and early 2011, I was struggling. What I really enjoyed writing was Christian fiction, but other than the occasional contest honor, that was going nowhere. What was getting published was the Catholic nonfiction I was writing, here and in Living Faith and a book on setting up a parish program for returning Catholics I’d co-authored. It wasn’t that I disliked writing nonfiction, but I’d been doing it in the secular world for decades. It didn’t transport me the way writing fiction did. And, to be honest, I wasn’t sure I liked the idea of being pigeonholed as a Catholic writer. There’s still quite a market for Christian fiction, but as you likely know, many folks don’t consider Catholics to be Christians. I wanted to be obedient to God’s call to me as a writer. I just wasn’t sure what it was.

So I talked with a friend. He suggested I pursue both types of writing since they brought me joy in different ways. I explained the time and pigeonholing constraints. He listened a lot. He lent me his copy of James Martin’s The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything: A Spirituality for Real Life. He hadn’t read it yet, but he thought it might help. It did, annoying as I found the concept of spiritual indifference —accepting our situation as it is here on earth and focusing on the purpose for which we are created.

My friend and I talked a few more times. He prayed. I prayed. And a little more than a year later, God gifted me with the most wonderful writing opportunity of my life: telling the stories of 366 female saints and blesseds and relating them to our faith journeys today. You don’t get much more Catholic than writing about saints. Not only did I find a whole lot of new friends among those 366 women, I was humbled by the way those stories touched other people, some of whom I knew and some of whom I didn’t.

It turned out that once I stopped focusing on what I wanted and let my doubts and tendency to overanalyze die, God was more than happy to help me be both obedient and joyful. And, it appears that Christian novel I finished back in 2010 might get published after all—by a Catholic publisher.

Now, it’s my friend’s turn. He faces some decisions in the coming weeks that will mean death of some of the things he most loves, no matter which way things fall out. I’m praying for him, confident that like Peter, he will continue to say yes to Christ’s command to “Follow me,” no matter where that takes him.

Action

Pray for a family member or friend facing a crossroads in a relationship or his or her career, that the Lord illumines the person’s path.