Thursday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time

Thursday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time

Jesus wants to set the world ablaze, he says in the Gospel.  He wants us to love and serve God all the more.  But He warns that this is not going to bring about peace in the world, but division: even to the point of dividing families.

I have been thinking a lot lately about the words of our Holy Father, Pope Francis.  He isn't saying anything new; everything he has said in interviews and his own writings has all been said before in the Catechism and other documents and in the Scriptures.  He is, however, challenging us to live these teachings out more in our day to day lives.  We all know that Jesus calls us to love our neighbors as well as our enemies, but to have the Holy Father calling us to really live that out is quite a challenge.  We have to go outside of our comfort zone to do these things.  It is tempting to brush it off as we say we are already doing enough.  But before we despair of having to do all this "new stuff", remember that God is going to help us and give us the grace and courage to do what we need to do.  There is a challenge, but we have help.

Wednesday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time

Wednesday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time

We have been saved from slavery to sin, and have become slaves of righteousness.  When we read St. Paul mention that we are slaves in both cases, we might wonder what the difference is.  We're slaves either way, and with the strong sense of independence we have here in America, the idea of slavery doesn't sit very well.  However, slavery to righteousness is not a bad thing.  It means we are devoting our lives to righteousness, devoting our lives to Jesus Christ, as opposed to devoting our lives to living in sin and selfishness.  We are called to righteousness and we will be judged accordingly by God at the end of our days.  God is just and merciful, so it's not like He is going to be mean, but we still have to work at doing the right thing.  Christ will give us the grace. 

Tuesday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time

Tuesday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time

We are sinful.  We have all inherited this inclination towards sin.  St. Paul talks about this.  Through one man we are all condemned.  Okay, now that I have you thoroughly depressed, pick yourself up off the floor put a smile on your face, because there is good news.  St. Paul continues that just as one man's transgressions brought about death for many people, so too the gracious gift of Jesus Christ brought about salvation for many.  Christ loves us and so He died for us.  That is why we go to church and pray and do what we can to follow the Commandments.  We want to be close to Christ, because He is our reason for hope for eternal life.

Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

After reading through the Gospel passage for today about the persistent widow, I started thinking about other examples of persistence that we can find in everyday life. Kids, for instance, can have a lot of persistence. Not long after I arrived here, I told a story about my niece loving to ask the question “Why?” multiple times in a row. Kids can be very persistent in asking that question. Some ask it out of a keen desire for knowledge and understanding. I am certain that niece is also doing it to be cute and funny. Either way, there is persistence in asking the question. The same can be said of that age old question of kids sitting in the back seat of a car: “Are we there yet?” Maybe it's boredom or maybe excitement at coming to the destination. Perhaps he or she has a desire to know where they are precisely. The child will not rest until he or she has the desired information.

How about the persistence of a dog wanting to be petted or its ears scratched? In my humble opinion you have not lived until a golden retriever has persisted in doing everything in its power to get you to throw that darn ball just one more time! Not only is there persistence there but also a staring contest to be reckoned with.

There are other examples of persistence in adult life too. Applying for a job or a promotion whenever there's a chance. Trying out for a team or a group. Trying to get that person on the phone who is just very hard to get a hold of. Practicing something again and again until you get it right. There are many ways in which we can all relate to the idea of persistence. Even if we do not consider ourselves quite as persistent as the widow in the parable, I'm certain we call all relate to this because I'm sure we have all met at least one person who is as persistent and feisty she is. We probably aren't afraid of physical harm as that judge is, but we have undoubtedly met people who will not take “No” for an answer and will not stop until they have achieved their goal. They can be wonderful and kind human beings, but you do not want to mess with them.

Jesus' point in bringing up the subject of persistence is quite clear: if a judge who does not even fear God or respect other human beings can finally give in to the persistence of one widow and give her what she wants, how much more will God listen to our persistent prayers? If we can finally give in to the persistence of other we meet, won't God listen to us? Jesus is also pointing out that we need to have faith in God that He will listen to our prayers. So it is also important for us to remember that if we can be persistent in asking for the things we want and in doing the things we want here on Earth, shouldn't we then be persistent in asking God for things and have faith that He will grant it?

God wants us to have faith in Him. He wants us to never stop turning to Him in prayer and asking for what we truly need. When you think about what you pray for, sometimes God gives it to us right away. But many times what we ask for is delayed for awhile or sometimes what we get is different than what we originally expected. Either way, God is listening, and that is what we need to have faith in.

The first and second readings also speak to how we are to be persistent in prayer and faithful to God. The first reading tells the story of a battle between Amalek and Israel. Amalek was a leader of a group of people who lived in southern Palestine and the Sinai Peninsula. As the Israelites and Amalek and his people battle, Moses stands on a hill and raises his hands. The scriptures don't say that he prays, but the raising of his hands is clearly an act of prayer. He is praying to God for Israel's success in this battle. As his arms are up, Israel is winning. But because of the limits of human strength, Moses can only keep his arms up for so long. As he drops his arms, the other army begins to win. Aaron and Hur are able to help, however, supporting Moses arms and giving him a rock to sit on. This is not unlike how any of us can support another person, or how we might be supported by others. I'm talking about encouraging a person to keep praying, even when prayer feels dry; to keep faithful, even when a person is going through great trials or adversity. The point of all this is, Moses stays persistent in his prayers, even with a little help from others.

The second reading comes from St. Paul's second letter to Timothy. We hear again about having faith and being persistent. This time St. Paul is talking about Sacred Scripture: we need to have faith that the Scriptures are from God and inspired by God. We must be persistent in teaching others about the scriptures and that God is speaking to us. That might sound different from what we have already been talking about, but it is still very much connected. We are called to have faith that God will hear our prayers and we are called to have faith that He speaking to us in the Scriptures (think of it as the response to what we say in our prayers). We are called to be persistent in our prayers and we are called to be persistent in tell others about our special relationship with God; that we can talk to Him and that He speaks to us in many different ways.

As Christians we are called to pray, to keep our conversations going with God. We must not stop just because we are afraid of rejection or afraid it just takes too long. We are called to be persistent and to be faithful. It is through this that we have hope for entrance into the kingdom of heaven; to be with God for eternity.

Feast of Saint Luke, Evangelist

Feast of Saint Luke, Evangelist

Just a quick thought today:  St. Luke was one of the four Evangelists.  The Evangelists worked hard to spread the Good News despite all the hardships that are allude to in the readings today.  May we have the courage and faith to help spread that joyful message to all we meet.

Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr

Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr

Faith is the important thing.  St. Paul is writing about this because at the time there was much debate among Christians about whether a person needed to become Jewish and do everything a Jewish believer did before being baptized a becoming Christian.  St. Paul was obviously in the camp that said that it was not necessary for a Christian to follow the various pious practices (St. Paul called them "works") of the Jewish religion.  That is why he sums up this section of his letter as saying that Jews and Christians will both be justified by faith; that it is by faith that we make it into Heaven.

St. Ignatius of Antioch was a bishop in the early Church.  As he was taken off in chains from Antioch in Syria to Rome, he wrote seven letters to various Christian communities and a brother bishop.  He wrote about many different topics, but it was truly all based on his great faith that God would give him the grace he needed to get him through his trials.  We have wonderful examples for us in St. Paul and St. Ignatius.

Wednesday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time

Wednesday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time

We will be judged by the way we judge others.  It is very easy for a person to start going down that slippery slope of judging others.  Our readings today should encourage us, therefore, not to give in to judging, but to ask for the grace of God to be helpful and kind to others who are in need of assistance (in my experience, usually the people we are most judgmental of).  It is through that grace that we can hope to do the right thing and make a difference in the world.