You Don’t Know What You’re Asking! Glory is so attractive! Who doesn’t want to be wealthy and famous? Who doesn’t want a shelf lined with trophies and awards? The attraction of glory spurs us to greater achievement. This is especially true of our baptismal life in the risen Christ. What glory attracts us? What do we aspire to achieve to share in this glory? “Do whatever we ask of you,” James and John demand of Jesus. But they have it backwards. They should have said, “Lord, what do you ask of us?” Are we willing to ask Jesus this question? If so, it will mean redefining our understanding of glory. It will mean shaping our life around choosing to serve others rather than be served. It will mean drinking the cup of suffering and undergoing the baptism of Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection. Can we do this? What spurs us to faithful baptismal, Gospel living is the attraction of sharing in Jesus’ glory. Increasing this attraction increases our willingness to drink Jesus’ cup of suffering through serving others. We do this, for example, when we live a joy-filled life in face of prolonged illness; see the good in others despite their hurtful actions; take time to reach out to the lonely, the outcast, the needy. Being the servant of all isn’t always something extra or big; most of the time it is simply doing our everyday tasks generously and with integrity while keeping in mind that others are the Body of Christ and to serve them is to serve Christ. Can we do this? Will we do this? Adapted from Renew International Year B
In My Name Read the Gospel: Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48 Gospel Summary The struggles in our Gospel today is about power. Bishop Barron says, if you want power be holy .. The real power is in its holiness. Bishop Barron cites Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta and Saint Therese as examples. They were powerful women. ,Jesus taught his disciples two different things in today’s gospel. First, when John came to him saying that someone, not one of them, was exorcizing demons in Jesus’ name, Jesus explained that anyone who was not against them was with them. If the person acted in Jesus’ name, he would not be capable of speaking out against him. The second teaching involved the way a person should respond to temptation. Not that Jesus proposed that people inflict wounds on themselves, but to make his point clearly, he suggested ridding ourselves of the parts of our bodies that lead us to sinfulness. Rather than commit sinful acts using our hands, eyes, feet, or ears, it would be better to enter heaven without those body parts than to use them sinfully and live in eternal damnation. Discussion Love is one of those things that grows in itself. The more you give, the more it grows. There probably is no scientific way to measure why love works that way, but we just know it does. The same is true with acts of kindness—which in a way are the same thing as love. Like the person exorcizing demons in Jesus’ name, the more the better. That’s how Jesus saw it, even though the disciples in their human jealousy and desire for ownership thought the person was an intruder. Parents see this in their own lives and try to pass it on to our children. It’s hard to be mean to someone who just said, “I love you,” or gave you a hug, or climbed up on your lap. As we try to get along with each other and teach each other to get along with siblings, friends, and classmates, we will make significant progress by acting and reacting in kindness and love. Bringing the Gospel into Your Family Share your ideas with one another about who some of the people are in our society that give of themselves and their resources to further God’s Kingdom. It will probably be easy to come up with wealthy people who give large sums of money to charities, but what about the people who give other resources like time, energy, talent? Ask yourselves if there is more you can do as a family to bring kindness into someone else’s life.
This Is How It Is As a child, I listened to the news each night, not really understanding what I heard. However, one phrase repeated each night: “And that’s the way it is.” The familiar voice of Walter Cronkite, his factual details and his faithful coverage all helped us to believe ‘And that’s the way it is.” It was his person that made that line believable. It was his person that entered homes each night for so many years. Our Gospel today, points to “This is how it is.” Jesus shares with us more than events, more than facts. He is reporting the “mystery of the kingdom.” A kingdom not of this world, but it is in this world. It is divine presence, our growth and eternal life. The kingdom of God is a call to us to live lives as faithful disciples. It is a call to live divine life even while we are caught up in our own human life and events.The kingdom is found in the intersection of our work [plant the seed] and God’s work [mystery of life growing and bearing fruit]. The Good News is that God’s kingdom is assured – the seed will yield a harvest; the tiny seed will grow into a large plant. [Living Liturgy 2015] It doesn’t matter if we do tiny things or earth-shaking things. What matters is that we take up God’s work of planting life. Our cooperation with God is simply to be faithful followers of Jesus. Our tiniest acts of kindness – a simple smile or hello- bring forth life and make the kingdom present. Our lifelong journey is to live the gospel making the kingdom of God present. God uses us to make the divine presence known. This is how it is!
Take Up Your Cross I doubt that anyone reading this would plan ‘salvation’ in just the way that Jesus offers it to us. Our instinct is for a Saviour, great and glorious, that comes and takes from us our suffering, especially innocent, undeserved and useless suffering. We can accept, maybe grudgingly, pain we deserve because of our actions but the rest, especially of the weak and innocent, we find scandalous to watch, and incomprehensible to undergo. In the salvation Jesus offers, the truly Innocent One accepts a shameful and ignominious death, rejected and abused by the people he loved so much. Peter well expressed our revulsion with such a way of salvation: ‘God forbid!’ But Jesus told him to get behind him and follow like a disciple. Jesus turned, faced and accepted his cross, so, as his disciples, we too must face the cross in our life. As we cling to our cross and bleed, our strength and consolation is that God, in the weakness of our humanity has gone before us making this painful, difficult, incomprehensible suffering the path to the fullness of divine life. We do not understand this but as we accept and undergo this path, some intimations of God’s wisdom are given to us: that God’s love and presence are revealed here; that salvation is offered as a free, undeserved gift to all; that God’s grace will work powerfully through the experience of weakness. But that understanding comes later, after we have accepted our cross and walked with our Saviour God. In the beginning, in our pain and confusion, we remain faithful to our cross because Jesus remains faithful to us. Adapted from Renew International Prayer Time Year A
Come To Me and I Will Give You Rest When Jesus says that he offers us an easy yoke we may well object given that a yoke was used on animals and slaves to do hard and difficult work. The image appears, at first, demeaning. Be that as it may, let us leave aside this first emotional reaction to the image and ask just what a yoke does. A yoke was a device, usually put around the neck of an animal, or even a person, to enable them to perform a task that was usually beyond them. No animal is ever going to be able to plough a field using only their hooves or their brute strength. A man yoked to a plough is far more effective in preparing a paddock for planting than trying to do it with a spade. Essentially, a yoke was not only a labour saving device, it was something that enabled a far superior job to be done.[Living Liturgy 2014] Still that leaves the issue of its use being demeaning to a person. The yoke most often used in Jesus times was a double yoke – one in which two beasts or people dragged the plough or load. When Jesus calls on us to take up his yoke and says that it easy, his burden light, it is because he is there alongside of us. We journey in tandem with Jesus, when, we respond positively to think more openly, persevere through a difficult situation or letting go of our pretenses. In other words, when we seek God’s will in our lives. Jesus fully recognises how hard and difficult our lives may be at times. We may well feel like beasts or slaves caught in situations beyond our control. He, too, has not only lived our life and died our death, he desires to be yoked to us sharing our burden and strengthening us in bearing our load. Life is only bearable when we are in union with Christ. All we need to do is come to him and he will give us rest. This is surely a gracious God with a gracious will for us. Adapted from Renew Internqational, Prayer Time Cycle A
Pentecost Sunday We celebrate this Sunday a wondrous and unprecedented gift of God—“the Spirit of truth” given to us. This Spirit of truth God gives is relational. This Spirit of truth changes us—through the Spirit we share a common identity as the Body of Christ and take up a common mission to proclaim the Gospel by the sheer goodness of our lives. The Spirit enables us to live with one another in a new way: with “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity,” etc. The Spirit propels us to engage with the world in a new way: we “testify” to the “mighty acts of God” through the very way that we live. The truth God gives transforms us and, through us, transforms the world According to this gospel, both the Spirit and the disciples testify to Jesus. What is this testimony? It is the revelation that Jesus is of the Father, is the divine Son. Furthermore, this gospel says that the Spirit glorifies Jesus by testifying. So then do we. What is this glory? It is Jesus himself who is the visible Presence of the Father. Like the Spirit of truth, when we testify we also glorify. This Pentecost commemoration does not simply recall a past event, but celebrates what God is doing within us now. Our daily living is to “testify” to the Spirit of truth who dwells within us. We often think of “truth” in terms of “truths”—dogmas to believe. The gospel leads us to something far more dynamic, relational. The Spirit who dwells in each of us enfleshes within us the “mighty acts of God.” Truth is being faithful to the identity and mission offered us. Truth is what is of God. If we are to be living icons of the Spirit of truth dwelling within us, then the good choices we make daily testify to this divine indwelling. Simply put, Pente¬cost invites us to act like God! Although our testimony is not about ourselves—it is about the risen Jesus as the Son of God present among us and bringing us to salvation—in one respect it truly is about ourselves. Through the indwelling Spirit we are made members of the Body of Christ. We are living icons of the Spirit of truth, and living icons of the risen Jesus who dwells within and among us. If we are to exude the fruits of the Spirit, we must be willing to die to ourselves. We cannot love another if we do not give of ourselves to others. We cannot have joy if we are turned in on ourselves. We cannot have peace if we are distracted by getting and doing only what we want. We cannot have patience if we do not respect the dignity of others. We cannot have gentleness if we do not see the need in others. We cannot have self-control if we don’t put the good of others first. We cannot have any of these fruits if we do not live the wondrous mystery of the Spirit dwelling within us. Come, Holy Spirit! Adapted from Renew International Prayer Time Cycle A </p> <p></p> </div><!-- .entry-content --> <footer class="entry-footer"> <span class="cat-links">Posted in <a href="https://www.ursulinesistersmission.org/category/weekly-reflection/" rel="category tag">Weekly Reflection</a></span> | <span class="tags-links">Tagged <a href="https://www.ursulinesistersmission.org/tag/cost-of-discipleship/" rel="tag">cost of discipleship</a>, <a href="https://www.ursulinesistersmission.org/tag/pentecost/" rel="tag">Pentecost</a></span> </footer><!-- .entry-footer --> </article><!-- #post-## --> <article id="post-8175" class="post-8175 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-weekly-reflection tag-cost-of-discipleship tag-discipleship tag-leave-your-nets"> <header class="entry-header"><p><br /></p> <h2 class="entry-title"><a href="https://www.ursulinesistersmission.org/the-kingdom-of-heaven-is-at-hand/" rel="bookmark">The Kingdom of Heaven Is At Hand</a></h2> </header><!-- .entry-header --> <div class="entry-content"> <div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img decoding="async" src="https://www.theursulines.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/fishing-nets.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-8178"/></figure></div> <p>Nets corral, confine, capture. Fish are corralled by the nets of fishermen. Hair is confined by the nets worn by cooks. Butterflies are captured by the nets of lepidopterists. In all these cases nets bind. Jesus called the first disciples to leave their nets, to cut the ties binding them to their present way of life. Instead of restricting them, Jesus released them to enter into a new way of looking at themselves, a new way of living, and a new way of ministering.</p> <p>When John is arrested, Jesus moves to a new place and begins his ministry. When Jesus calls Peter, Andrew, James and John, they drop their nets to follow him. Discipleship is prompted by circumstances around us and persons who enter our lives. Discipleship requires the insight that these circumstances and these persons are calling us to make a move in our life – to go to new places and to take up the new work for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.<br> <br>We spend our whole life trying to see the great Light that is the Savior of the world. We spend our whole life encountering Jesus, hearing his call and working to be faithful in continuing his ministry.<br> <br>We practice following Jesus in the simple practical ways, the everyday things of life: the friend who needs a listening ear; the elderly parent who needs a comforting phone call; the sick child who interrupts our sleep. Jesus invites us to turn from ourselves to those in need.<br> <br>In all of this we move from darkness into a great light. In all of this we are freed to follow Jesus as faithful disciples.</p> <p class="has-small-font-size">Adapted from <strong>Renew Internatiomal <em>Prayer Time Cyle A </em></strong></p> <figure class="wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> <iframe loading="lazy" title="Go Make a Difference" width="1170" height="878" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dNDDDFVnEy4?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen>
Twenty-Third Sunday In Ordinary Time We are always told to read the fine print before signing a contract. We want no surprises. We want to make sure that all parties of the contract receive their agreed share. As much as possible we want to be assured that the cost of whatever we are signing—whether in money, time, or work—is worth every ounce of ourselves we put into fulfilling the contract. This Sunday’s gospel begins with the statement that “great crowds were traveling with Jesus.” Interesting: they didn’t know the fine print yet! Jesus bluntly challenges the crowd to take up the demands of discipleship with eyes wide open. He clearly spells out the fine print in large, large letters: disciples must put Jesus ahead of their families and even their own lives, carry their cross, and renounce all they have. Discipleship is total and unconditional. By the time Jesus arrives in Jerusalem, is tried and condemned, is nailed to the cross, the crowd had diminished greatly. Few were left. Most of his disciples abandoned him. The people turned on him. Fine print can be costly. [Living Liturgy 2013] Jesus intends no surprises for those who choose discipleship. Here’s the fine print: we have to die if we wish to follow Jesus. The cost of discipleship seems disproportionately high compared to anything we could want or value as humans. This doesn’t seem like a very fair or advantageous contract. And this is the point: following Jesus to Jerusalem leads us beyond human calculations, beyond a signed deal. Following Jesus leads to death, to be sure, but to a death that grants us a share in God’s very Life, an outcome worth any price. Jesus forewarns the “great crowds” traveling with him that they must “calculate the cost” and the risk of journeying with him to Jerusalem. Even family relationships cannot come before the demands of following him. However, we really cannot calculate the cost of discipleship. Yes, we must follow Jesus with eyes wide open. We must read the fine print of the cost of following him. The cost of discipleship? Everything we have and are. The reward of discipleship? Everything God has and is. The amazing thing is that we know the cost of discipleship, yet we spend our whole lives trying to figure it out! Or trying to avoid expending the cost. There is no easy road for disciples. We must follow Jesus wherever he leads. We know that we must hand our lives over to Jesus. At the same time, we know we are not traveling this journey alone. Faced with calculating the cost of discipleship, do we choose to be part of Jesus’ faithful companions on the journey, or do we choose to become drifters? We are Jesus’ faithful companions when, for example, we take the necessary steps to forgive someone who has seriously hurt us or stay the course of living with less so those with little can have what they need. We drift away from Jesus when, for example, we follow the path of least resistance in face of an unjust situation or we insist on our own way despite the needs of others in our family or workplace. The cost of discipleship is this choice: to be Jesus’ companions—or drifter. That’s fine print we are pleased to read! Adapted from Renew International Prayer Time Cycle C
Friend, We Have A Better Place For You! Jesus often had confrontations with some of the religious leaders about meals or the Sabbath. He was sure to be tested in the circumstances of today’s Gospel since he was eating a meal with the religious leaders on the Sabbath! At the meal, Jesus noticed that the guests hurried to recline at the place of honor. He taught them that when they were invited to a wedding feast, they should sit at the lowest place. If they sat at the highest place and someone higher than they came in, their host would approach the lower guest and ask him to move down. This, of course, would be a source of humiliation. Instead, if the guest took the lower seat, the host would come to him as a friend and invite him to take a higher seat. Then, all would look on this person with great admiration. Jesus also advised them on giving a dinner. Instead of inviting close friends and relatives and all the people who might repay the invitation, Jesus encouraged his listeners to invite those who could never reciprocate. Jesus explained that by doing this the host’s place would be insured at the heavenly banquet. At Jesus’ “wedding banquet” all who hear and heed Jesus’ admonition to humility, inclusivity, and generosity sit in the one “place of honor.” There is one “place of honor” because we are all one Body in Christ. There needs to be only one place near our Host, symbolizing our unity and strength in his one Body. Further, we can never exhaust the gift of this “place of honor.” It is a share in the very Life and ministry of our Host. This “place of honor,” therefore, is not a limited space, a single seat, a physical arrangement of host and guests one to another. It is a spacious relationship of all of us to the risen Jesus that is a share in his divine Life. This “place of honor” is given to “the righteous,” all of us who have chosen to live and act as Jesus the Host. How blessed are we! [Benzinger, Lectionary Resources] To be invited to the one “place of honor” means that we must let go of anything that limits our relationship to our Host and to each other. If we wish God to raise us up (“repaid at the resurrection of the righteous”), then we must live our lives raising others up. We must build strong relationships of unity. We must forget about seeking our own paltry honor and instead give ourselves over to the “place of honor” to which our Host invites us. Each Sunday we are invited to God’s banquet table. We ourselves are nourished at the same time that we are called to share the abundance of God’s Life by reaching out to others in need. We eat and drink in order to be gracious to others. This is the most profound blessedness! Adapted from Renew International Prayer Time Cycle C
Fifth Sunday of Easter: Love One Another Among my family and friends, there are a number of couples who have very good marriages. Every person among them will affirm, and affirm vigorously, that making their marriage has been hard work. Not hard work in the sense of drudgery. Rather this hard work is more like that of an artist or an engineer bringing into being a new creation. It takes skill, imagination, the commitment of hours, attention to detail, faithfulness in the boring patches, but especially devotion from the depths of the self. In short, it takes true love. Yet the commitment of marriage is even greater than that of the artist or engineer. They can walk away from their creation, or take a holiday. True love in marriage and in families doesn’t have that luxury. And it is not just in marriage that such love occurs. The story of Sr Rachel Fassera, an Italian nun working in Uganda, is overwhelming . When students in her care were kidnapped by the Lord’s Resistance Army, she tracked through the jungle and begged, prayed and nagged until most of them were released. The account of this incident shows the complexity and difficulty that love must sometime negotiate in this real and messy world. When Jesus tells us to love as he has loved us, he is not speaking of a sweet and gentle love that makes life easy. No, he is talking of bringing us, weak and broken as we are to the fullness of life in our real and messy world. When I seriously consider the love that Jesus has shown to me, I must admit that he does embrace me as I am….but he doesn’t let me stay that way. From tender suggestions to vigorous and sometimes unpleasant rebukes, he works on me, trying to induce, encourage and sometimes almost, dare I say it, bully me into a richer and fuller life. And he asks me in turn to show that love. Why am I fearful to do so? Perhaps because I am nervous of receiving such an overwhelming love. But I need not fear. Jesus is still working on me. Adapted from Renew International Prayer Time
Who Will Listen To Us? He Qi_Easter morning Can you imagine the conversation between these women returning from the tomb? Words and memories would have tumbled over each other as they shared their excitement. Yet surely there was a voice among them bringing them back to the reality of their situation, stating the obvious, ‘But they won’t listen to us – we are only women!’ All four Gospel accounts have their differences but one thing they agree on: the Resurrection of Jesus was first revealed to women! Women, whose testimony was discounted in both Jewish law and society. What was God thinking? Maybe that the last had become first, maybe that the lowly had been raised up, maybe that the hungry had been filled. When we look back to the beginning of Luke’s Gospel we see that it is the slip of a village girl who believes the extraordinary message of the angel, while the elderly devout priest struggles to believe and that God must go to the further lengths than the message of an angel to bring him to faith. The same thing happens with the disciples. The practical woman who stated her fears was right: the men didn’t listen to them and Jesus had to come himself before they could come to faith. If we have problems understanding what Resurrection faith means we need to look to where there is weakness, to the rejected, to the ignored. The people who are deemed least in our society are the ones who can lead us into the mighty ways of God. This is why the poor, the sick, the weak are treasured- not because they are people upon who we can exercise our good works, or philanthropy. No, we do good to them so that we may enter into the richness of grace and faith that God will offer us through them. Adapted from Renew International
Fulfilled In Your Hearing When do words motivate us to act? Sometimes when the speaker is a beloved figure whom we trust. At other times when the words align with our own dreams and expectations. Or when the words are new and promising. When do the words of Jesus motivate us to act? This Sunday we are confronted with the reality that we are not always going to like what we hear in God’s word. God’s word always takes us beyond where we are [or where we we want to go]. It is the very word which questions our status quo and asks us to give up our own wills and embrace God’s will. It is the very word which nudges us to surrender ourselves and our own world to encompass the larger vision of a world in which God assures that all are met with love and dignity. Jesus’ words are not just nice sayings. They are challenges to change how we think, how we relate, how we live. As humans we resist such challenges that get to the core of who and how we are. What motivates us to hear Jesus’ prophetic words and internalize them is that he is the beloved One whom we can trust. Announcing the message of the Gospel is one way we express our faithfulness in hearing God’s word. And, as those baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection, being faithful to God ‘s word always means dying to self for the sake of others. When we witness to a way of living that challenges others and their assumptions, we may well cause fury. Announcing the message of the Gospel is not undertaken for the sake of being accepted, but in order to be faithful to God’s word. Are you willing to take the risk? Adapted from Renew International
The Narrow Gate At first reading, this Gospel passage is missing some of the hopeful words we read elsewhere about God’s love for us and all of creation spending eternity in the Kingdom. In this Gospel we read that the door is narrow, that not many people will get through it, and once it’s shut, there’s no opening it again. One way that scholars interpret this passage is that it was geared for the religious leaders of Jesus’ time. They were fairly confident that they were among God’s chosen people and just because of who they were, they were automatically entitled to enter the Kingdom of God. Jesus came to be sure all people had a chance to enter the door of heaven. Many other people, according to Jesus, would enter before the arrogant leaders. We all claim to know Jesus; after all, we are for the most part faithful churchgoers who weekly eat and drink in his company. This gospel warns us that this isn’t enough. There is an urgency about our paschal mystery living; we don’t have forever to make up our minds to respond to God’s offer of salvation. Each day we must take up our own cross, die to self, and live for the sake of others. This is how we enter through the narrow gate and how we get to know Jesus intimately enough to receive salvation: we must live and act like Jesus. Becoming least is a metaphor for dying to self; this is what Jesus asks: that the first become the last. What limits the scope of salvation is not God’s reach but our weak response. We must beg God for the strength to respond fully. Our strength comes from God.
Fullness Of Life Linus is the Peanuts character who is always drawn holding a blanket to his head and sucking his thumb. Linus is a beloved character who reminds us that we all need a hug, a security blanket once in a while. Borrowing his name and image, Project Linus is a national organization that provides free security blankets for critically ill or traumatized children. Some of the blankets donated are larger, intended for older children. Pain, fear, and insecurity know no age limits. Whenever we face any life-threatening occasion, we naturally reach out for whatever relieves us, whatever wraps us in hugs, love, security. We can readily identify, then, with the rich man in the gospel who has a “bountiful harvest” and doesn’t want to waste a single grain. Although he is rich and probably already has plenty, he portrays what each of us harbors in the depth of our hearts: we can never have enough. We always want to increase whatever we think gives us security in face of life’s inevitable exigencies. How mistaken we are! The rich man in the gospel thinks building bigger barns to hold a boon of “grain and other goods” will give him enough security that he can “rest, eat, drink, be merry.” When his life is “demanded” of him, however, his store of “grain and other goods” proves not to be the ultimate security—an eternal inheritance. He is misguided about the bigger barn he really needs to build. In the end, what “matters to God” is a “barn” full of what only God can give: life, love, holiness, fidelity, generosity, compassion, Life. No barn can ever be big enough to hold these. No barn we build can hold the security that is God alone. The only security we truly possess is a loving relationship with God—and this is surely what matters most to God. It should matter most to us. Even with all our Christian living and reflection, we still struggle with what God graciously offers us—not more possessions, but fullness of Life. The gospel challenges us to direct all of our work toward a quality of life based on growing in our relationship with God and each other. Even our possessions and how we use them have this end—to bring us into right relationship with God and each other so that ultimately we possess what really counts: God’s eternal Life. God offers us what matters most—fullness of Life and the secure happiness that only God can give. God alone is our sure security blanket. [Living Liturgy 2013] This parable reminds us how fleeting are the things of this world and how easy it is to have a false sense of security in ourselves and our possessions. In both this world and the next, our ultimate security can be found only in God. What do we need to clean out of our “barn” to make more room for God? Perhaps we need to stop asking Jesus to correct the behavior of someone else (“tell my brother”) and start letting him transform our values and behavior. Perhaps we need to take inventory of our possessions, attitudes, relationships in order to make more room for “what matters to God.” The more room in our “barn” for the things of God, the more secure we become in God alone, the more surely we secure our eternal inheritance—eternal Life.
Cost of Discipleship Poker self control. Self control is something that we all like to think we have mastered, when in actuality our self-discipline in most situations is poor. We all spend that extra 15 minutes in bed in the morning when we need to get up. We all order that take-away on Friday night when we told ourselves that we wouldn’t. We all spend far too long watching TV when we know that we need to tidy the flat. A lack of self control in most cases is pretty harmless. We all could do that little bit extra in our everyday lives to get more stuff done, but at least a lack of discipline isn’t going to cost us any money. In poker however, it can and it most certainly will. DominoQQ have the best online poker tables around. The ultimate test of self control in poker. You’ve made it to the river with your Q J on a board of J 7 6 4 3. You’re first to act, so you check. Your opponent then makes a bet 2/3 the size of the damn pot. What are you going to do? Are you going to call even though you are confident that you have the worst hand? Or are you going to fold and live with the fact that there is an outside chance that you could have had the best hand? It’s not a fun decision is it? However, emotions and fun aside, we both know what the right play is here. The question is though, are you the sort of person that will regularly call in spots like these even though you know it’s almost definitely not the right action? (Don’t worry, you can tell me the truth. I can’t hear you so I’m not going to tell anyone.) The reason behind lack of self control in poker. Why do you call that last bet on the river when you almost know for a fact that you have the losing hand? Because you don’t have enough confidence in your judgment as a poker player. You need to satisfy that lust for answers and complete information.
We Saw His Glory This gospel about the Transfiguration is a familiar one. My temptation is to all too quickly limit its meaning and power. There is more to this event than a glimpse of glory. It tells us of what we can expect along the journey toward glory! At the beginning of Lent, our goal is laid out for us. Jesus went up the mountain to pray and was transformed, that is, changed. Lent is not only the desert but also the mountain we go up to pray to be transformed. Jesus talks about his passing through suffering and death to the glory of risen life. Our salvation is to follow Jesus into his passion and death so that we too, might attain the glory of new life. Our following Jesus is spelled out in the ordinary dyings of our everyday living: reaching out to visit a lonely elderly person, listening to a troubled adolescent, biting our tongue instead of saying sharp words, still having patience when we are pushed too far or simply run out of energy. The utterly amazing thing about embracing these little, everyday dyings is that we ourselves experience some sort of transfiguration. As we learn to say yes to God and others, we grow deeper into our own identity as the chosen ones of God. We become more perfect members of Christ’s Body when we act like Jesus did- when we reach out to others who are in need, when we bring a comforting touch, when we forgive. All these are ways we are faithful on our journey to Jerusalem. Our whole life is a transfiguration, a passing over from our old sinful ways to the ways of light and race offered by God. Musical Reflection
Without Calculating The Cost In this Sunday’s gospel Jesus is observing how people of his time were making donations to the treasury. The score is clear—scribes: 0; widow: 1! But another layer of interpretation might be opened up besides considering who wins or who loses, who is miserly or who is generous, who is hypocritical or who is honest. This gospel is really a metaphor for true discipleship, a central theme in the Gospel of Mark. What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus? Jesus tells us when he contrasts the behavior of the self-important and insincere scribes with the action of a poor and seemingly insignificant widow. Jesus teaches the crowds to beware of the hypocrisy of the scribes who know God’s word and law, yet seek places of honor and hurt those whom the law demands they protect—the widows. Jesus condemns them severely. “Calling his disciples to himself,” he teaches them that they are not to do like the scribes. They are instead to do like the widow in the temple who gives all she has. True disciples give all they have, their whole livelihood—not goods, but themselves. The amount of what we have and give is really not important at all in the long run. What is important is how we regard and care for others; how we fulfill our responsibilities in the community; how we embrace the unlimited possibilities of deeper relationships, new riches, everlasting Life. Without calculating the cost to herself, the widow gave “all she had,” not out of her surplus. Disciples, too, give all they have without counting the cost, calculating self-gain, or seeking attention. The amazing thing about faithful discipleship is that God provides us with astonishing surplus: protection, talents, blessings. The “whole livelihood” disciples give is their very selves; disciples give of what God has already given them. Ultimately, discipleship is about good stewardship of who we are. We learn how to be good disciples from others who follow Jesus faithfully, who contribute to the good of all out of the surplus with which God has blessed them. The gospel holds up the poor widow as a model for the total self-giving of the true disciple. We need but look around us to find strong models for true discipleship. Now we are Jesus’ disciples, we are the new “scribes” called to authentically transmit and teach what Jesus reveals and fulfills. We are to live Gospel values. This is the primary way we teach. We teach, for example, when our loving is self-giving; when we care for the downtrodden; when we persist in reaching out to anyone in need even when we seemingly have little to give. Instead of serving self, we give self—our all. So, are we true disciples?
Dedication Of The Lateran Basilica Overflowing dumpsters and increasing numbers of landfills indicate that we are a nation of great consumers. We are zealous about having an abundance of possessions, a surplus of food, access to anything we want. The Gospel for today’s feast is the scene of Jesus driving the vendors and money changers out of the temple. It raises an important counter question: Are we willing to be consumed for the sake of our faith? Jesus was willing to be consumed by his zeal for our salvation. He chose to confront those who profaned his Father’s house. He chose to offer his body as a living temple, a sign of something new happening. He chose to give his life and for that, was raised to New Life. In a sense, today’s feast is a celebration of our own life and the Life we receive from God through the church. This feast calls us to a zeal that will consume us when we give our lives or others as Jesus did. Are we willing to open ourselves to others, becoming vulnerable in order to be the presence of God to them? Are we willing to stand up for justice despite personal cost? Even while we are being consumed, God’s Spirit continually fills us with Life and courage and strength to continue the mission of Jesus. Are we willing to choose this zeal that consumes us?
Baptism of Jesus The word “epiphany” has two meanings. One meaning is to “show forth” or “manifest.” The visit of the wise men to the baby Jesus’ cradle was an epiphany because they saw the star in the east and traveled all that way to give their witness that even foreigners from a distant land recognized God’s royalty. When they knelt down to pay the newborn homage, they demonstrated their faith. But the word “epiphany” has a second meaning. An “epiphany” can also be a sudden realization or significant insight; a “moment of truth,” if you will. According to both Mark and Matthew, when Jesus was baptized in the River Jordan by John, the moment he came up out of the water, Jesus saw the Holy Spirit come down from heaven and alight upon him. Then he heard a voice from heaven, which said, “This is my son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” Matthew clearly wants to communicate that this was an epiphany also. It was a sudden realization or deep insight, a moment of truth, for Jesus. Maybe Mary and Joseph knew, from the moment that Jesus was conceived, that he was God’s son. Maybe they knew he was the one whom God had sent to save the people of Israel. Maybe this was in the backs of their minds the whole time, and maybe they even brought Jesus up in the knowledge of his purpose and special relationship to God. But as Matthew sees it, it was not until the moment of his baptism that Jesus realized the magnitude of it all. We, who are baptized into Christ, become God’s beloved daughters and sons and God is well pleased with us too. Baptism inaugurates us into Christ’s way of life. The dying and rising is the stuff of our Christian living. What enables us to say yes is that we know the dying always leads to rising: when we die to selfishness and rise to the needs of others; when we die to judgments and labeling others and rise to seeing all people as beloved of God; when we offer kind words instead of tearing down another- then our baptism is ongoing.
Conflicts? Opportunities? Recently I had to work with a utility company on behalf of a woman whom our church was assisting financially. The woman was getting nowhere with the company, so I tried to help her with the process. It took eight calls to them before I could speak with a supervisor who would hear my concerns and rectify the billing problems the customer had. In the first five calls, five different customer service representatives each told me different information about how the woman’s situation. One told me everything was paid up. Another told me that the customer had a $500 balance. Another told me they’d ask the back office to research the issue, and I could call back in 2-3 days for an answer. I did, and I was told that that timeline was wrong; it would take 5-7 days for the research to be completed. After that time had passed, I called back. That representative told me the timeline was wrong; it would take 4-6 weeks. By the time I got to the supervisor, who was very kind and understanding, I suggested to her that some training was needed to improve consistency among the representatives. She sighed and explained that in the last year, not only had they fired the original company to whom they outsourced the customer service calls and then hired a new company, the utility company had also begun to use a new computer system. Balances paid during certain months were not credited to customers’ accounts, past due and termination notices were sent out incorrectly, and the new employees didn’t have much training to handle any of it. I felt so sorry for her and said so. She said brightly, “I’ve just learned that there are never problems; there are only opportunities. And every morning I come to work, I am faced with all sorts of opportunities.” Jesus tells us in Luke 21 that if we are faithful to the way of life he’s set before us, there will be some serious ramifications. The part where we are hauled off to the civil authorities isn’t anything new to EP endorsers and like-minded Christians. We are aware that some of the ways Christ calls us to live will come into direct conflict with the state. If you have any questions about that, read Acts. But the part where he talks about faithful Christ-followers being “handed over to the synagogues” gives us pause. If we follow Jesus, the people of God—the church—might get upset? Yeah. – This upset can cause arguing, division, and all sort of congregational chaos. These battles can be exhausting. And depressing. But when Christians are called on the carpet for extending grace or assistance to sinful people, Luke’s Jesus tells us to see this kind of confrontation as an “opportunity”—an opportunity to testify. We are instead instructed to keep our eyes open for the opportunity to speak, and when the time comes, let God give us the words. Perhaps if God gives us the words and the wisdom, when we are challenged because of the ministries in which we engage, we’ll talk about God and not ourselves.
Teaching Students to Live for the ‘Glory of God Alone Walk into Ursuline High School and within minutes you’ll be greeted with smiles, offered coffee (likely more than once), and notice there’s something very different about this work and learning environment. “The faculty and students do a great job of embodying St. Angela to all we meet,” says Sister Regina Rogers, an Ursuline Sister of Youngstown and assistant principal at the school. “We talk about the charisms of St. Angela. The first is hospitality – being hospitable to anyone who walks in this building, being hospitable to each other.” While it’s nearly 500 years (Nov. 25, 1535) since St. Angela Merici, a diminutive Italian woman with grand faith, started her company of Ursulines, and nearly 110 years since the Ursuline Sisters of Youngstown founded Ursuline High, the spirit of St Angela and her Ursulines are as much a part of the school as its bricks and mortar. “We are so blessed here at Ursuline High School because we bear the name Ursuline and because we were founded by the Ursuline Sisters; our students know the history of the Ursuline Sisters, and we are able to help them get the best michigan state scholarships” Sister Regina continues. “You know you’re Ursuline when you’re here.” What does being Ursuline mean? Living “Soli Deo Gloria,” or “For the glory of God alone.” How Sister Regina and other spiritual leaders at the school encourage the faculty, staff and students to manifest that witness is by embracing St. Angela’s charisms of hospitality and resilience. “Resilience came from Angela’s ability to always find a third way of doing something,” Sister Regina explains. “We stress to the kids, ‘If things don’t work out this way, we need to look for something else, for another way.’” These lessons are especially valuable for students in the service program, initiated in 1975 by Father Daniel Venglarik. “His philosophy was that our students here in a Catholic high school have to learn the importance of service throughout their lives,” Sister Regina states. The students serve one hour, Monday through Thursday, in various locations, such as nursing homes, preschools and elementary schools, the St. Vincent DePaul dining hall, Rich Center for Autism, and the Ursuline Sisters of Youngstown ministry The Potter’s Wheel. “It gives them lots of life skills, but it also says, ‘This is what our religion expects of you’,” she observes. “It’s one of the programs the alumni talk about most.” Sister Regina has ministered as an educator and/or administrator at Ursuline High School over 30 years. She counts herself blessed to be an Ursuline Sister and to minister with the young people at UHS. “Especially as a religion teacher, I’m in awe of their own prayerfulness, their own closeness to God, their own joy in living,” Sister Regina says. As St. Angela said, “You will witness wonderful things if you direct all to the praise and glory of God.” The Ursuline Sisters of Youngstown have further presence at the school through two associates, instructors Dr. Linda Miller, whose doctoral work was on St. Angela’s charisms, and Aimee Morrison.
Job Description: Calculate The Cost This week’s Gospel from Luke takes toughness through the roof. On the face of it, the teaching here seems utterly offensive. Hate your family? Take up a crucifix and follow Jesus? Give up all your possessions? And if you don’t do these things, you cannot be a disciple of Jesus? What kind of cult leader is this Jesus guy? That’s one possible response — to reject the offense and the offender. Another is to say that Jesus didn’t really mean what he seems to have said at all. He meant something more like “love me more than anything” and “try your best” and “don’t focus on things.” This response (and it is very common in preaching and commentaries) might be called evading the offense. However, it is also evading Jesus. A third approach is to impose an ethic of balance or tension. We have to balance our love for Jesus with our love for our family. We have to live with the tension of the faithfulness to God on the one hand and duty to others on the other, being sure not to go too far in either direction, lest we become completely faithless (duty to others alone) or cause ourselves foolish harm (the cross). We need to be prudent with our possessions, giving out of overflow, perhaps, but certainly not giving it all. This is a way of completely ignoring both the offense and the offender. Jesus never once, anywhere in Scripture, calls us to live in balance or tension. Greek philosophers have done so. Jesus does not. He calls us to follow him. The qualifications Jesus puts forth for being his disciples were and are offensive and radical. And they are his conditions as he considers whom he will trust as disciples. They are not ours as we choose whether we want to follow such a demanding master. Ours as disciples is not to “dumb down” his demands, but to accept the radicality of his challenge, and, if we want him to choose us as part of his construction crew to expect to live into them. The radical call suggests that we grow into it. As we make choices to live out our discipleship, we enter more deeply into its meaning and demands. Our ongoing baptismal yes is our ongoing self-emptying stance of discipleship. Jesus is constantly inviting us to listen to him. We spend our whole lives bringing our fullest attention to what he is saying. God will sustain us. God never goes back on the divine promise to give new Life to those who are faithful.
Are We There Yet? Our Gospel uses the image of a narrow gate. The image suggests structure, difficulty, squeezing by. entering the narrow gate to salvation is not guaranteed by privilege or tradition but guaranteed by openness to the indwelling God. The gate is narrow because the way is difficult, for journeying with Jesus will lead to Jerusalem and the cross. Strength for entering the narrow gate comes from the food Jesus gives us. We cannot claim merely eating and drinking with Jesus our ticket to heaven. No, we must remain in his presence, be transformed into his presence for others. In other words, we must live what we have become: blessed, broken and given for others. We must be Eucharist for others. The narrow gate is thrown open more widely when we are strengthened by this Eucharist. We know where Jesus is going, are we willing to go there with him? The surprise of the Gospel is that being saved comes by transformation which comes from sharing in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. What is required? We walk with Jesus to Jerusalem! Are we there yet? Sometimes we want this dying to be over. We want the risen Life which comes from knowing who Jesus is, journeying with him and being faithful to him. In God’s good time that will come. In the meantime, we are to walk with Jesus to Jerusalem.
Eat, Drink and Be Merry Today’s Gospel is the origin of the saying “eat, drink and be merry” which at first sight seems quite a good thought to take into the summer holidays. Further reading, though, shows that it is not a Gospel meant for light summer reading. It deals with the temptation that still faces us today – of seeing our possessions as our security. The man in the Gospel thinks that he has got it made – life is sweet – his hard work has paid off – now, at last, he can enjoy the fruits of his years of labour… The sad thing is – it is too late – and all that he owns cannot put off the hour of reckoning – his death. As the saying goes, “You can’t take it with you!” It is a hard thought – and not one we might want to dwell on at this time of year. Are we being told that hard work counts for nothing? Can we really just trust in providence? Don’t we have to make provision for our old age? Aren’t we allowed to enjoy the good things in life? Well, if we think about it, Jesus did enjoy the good things in life and was supported financially by fairly wealthy women and others. He even gained the reputation among the Pharisees for over-indulging – and people compared Him unfavourably with the ascetics (people who live extremely simply) who followed John the Baptist. Jesus enjoyed life to the full – but knew where His security lay – and did not allow Himself or His disciples to set too much store by material possessions. What might this Gospel offer us as people take time off work to go on holiday. Perhaps it is a reminder to a generation where people work harder and harder and longer and longer hours to provide for “security” and live for a dream-future – “when I retire…” “when the children are older… “ that life is for living now. Making provision is sensible – but should not lead us to spend all our time and energy on building bigger barns (or bigger bank accounts) than we need.
Serve and Be Hospitable When living alone, it is challenging to have guests for dinner! On the one hand, you are busy getting the drinks and hors d’oeuvres, finishing up the dinner. At the same time, you want to be with your guests. So, how can you serve and be hospitable at the same time? This is a tricky, balancing act! Yet, every good hosts knows that the guests are far more important than anything else! Our Gospel today demonstrates many expressions of hospitality: welcoming, listening, serving. No One way is complete in itself. There is no one way to be hospitable. Hospitality at its deepest meaning makes possible a personal encounter of the kind Mary experiences with Jesus. Martha, rather than being truly hospitable, is anxious about accomplishing a task. Her welcome shifts away from Jesus to herself. Being busy, she misses the better part- centering on Jesus! The better part is to be undividedly present to Jesus- even when serving. How can we keep Jesus at the center of our lives when we are always busy? One way is to see Jesus in every person we meet. Another way is to ask: why are we doing things-to accomplish a task or to build a stronger relationship with others? ‘7nbsp; In the busy-ness of our lives, let us take the time to be present to others so that we truly encounter them. Our discipleship calls us to become present and to take the other into our heart. The encounter with Jesus is essential to hospitality.
Go On Your Way Some of my friends, when they have tasks to do, make out a list and cross off each task as it is completed. they love to see their list of ten tasks now with just seven, now three, then almost complete. To give themselves a boost, they may prioritize the list and begin with the easiest jobs that are most quickly accomplished. Thus in the first hour of work, they may cross off four items and thus are given a boost of energy! Our gospel today talks about labors, but, there is no list. There is no prioritizing to begin with easy tasks. Jesus sends us out on a challenging, difficult task. This task cannot be accomplished in a single day, but requires a lifetime of faithful labor. Jesus sends the disciples out, and us, to plant the seed of the Good News and to harvest its fruit of peace and the in-breaking of the kingdom of God. The Kingdom is at hand because wherever the disciples are present and received, God is present and received. Despite the disciples facing rejection, their labor will bear fruit for it is God’s power that works through them. It is God’s work. For this divine power and presence, we rejoice.
I Will Follow Sometimes I need a push to dive into something demanding, be it an unpleasant task, a tediously long and boring job or just motivating myself for a variety of tasks. Motivation and persistence do not come naturally to many of us. The Gospel for this Sunday is about a journey but the end is not something I would choose. As I reflected on our Gospel I was reminded of the following quote from a book I read early in my spiritual journey –“When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” With these words, in The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer gave powerful voice to the millions of Christians who believe personal sacrifice is an essential component of faith. Jesus is determined to journey to Jerusalem. This might seem like a pleasant trip, until we realize that the journey to Jerusalem is really a metaphor for his passion, death and resurrection! As disciples, we are invited to join Jesus on this journey to new life. We spend our whole lives working out what began at baptism: following Jesus through death into life. We spend our whole lives learning how to be resolutely determined and faithful on our journey. The challenge of this Gospel is to accept the cost of discipleship – to accept dying to self that is necessary to following Jesus and to cooperate with him in establishing God’s reign. Frustration and fatigue, disappointment and rejection can stop us dead in our tracks. Even so, Jesus is very patient. giving us the strength we need to continue the journey. This strength comes from the love and support of family and friends, through learning to let go of less important things, by experiencing the good of our self-giving. The Good News – rely on Jesus who has promised to be with us to the end of our journey.