Readings - http://www.usccb.org/nab/032711.shtml
Today, we find ourselves on the Third Sunday of Lent. For the next three Sundays, the Gospel Reading will always come from the Gospel of John, will come from the portion of John’s Gospel called "The Book of Signs" and will be focused on the Church’s Catechumens (those who wish to enter into the faith) and thus revealing something about Jesus during each of these Sundays.
Today, we meet Jesus at the Well an immediate symbol of Baptism. But there’s more to the Reading than just that. There’s the woman he meets at the Well.
The woman he meets at the Well has three strikes against her. First, she’s a woman and in the Mid East culture of the time that already meant that she was second class. Second, she was a Samaritan woman. That is, she was of an ethnicity that the Jews tended to look down upon. Her ethnicity was related to that of the Jews. Samaria had been the capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel when the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah had split. But this Northern Kingdom of Israel had been defeated, the people largely dragged off by the Assyrians into slavery. Those who remained became mixed with the new settlers that the Assyrians had moved in, the result being that the Jews of the time did not consider the Samaritans to be full-blooded Israelites and heterodox (different) in some aspects of the faith. (Notably, in the Reading, the Samaritan Woman asks Jesus where exactly is it proper to worship God, on the mountain that the Samaritans worship God or in Jerusalem as the Jews). Finally, the woman was a somewhat fallen Samaritan woman, that is, she had been married five times and was living now with a sixth man. (It’s funny that if a young man had five girl friends, he’d be something of a hero, but even today, if a woman had gone through as many men as that, she wouldn’t necessarily be considered much of a "hero ...").
So this is the woman that Jesus meets at the well.
Then there was the time of day that Jesus meets her. And here we have to appreciate a bit of the climate and get ourselves out of Chicago in early spring for a moment (sunny though it was, it was only about 34 degrees F or 1 degree C today). Israel has a hot desert climate and it was high noon. Most of the activity in the village where this took place would have happened early in the morning. By now, everyone was inside and out of the sun. So the Samaritan woman was coming to the well at _this strange time_ at High Noon, at a time when few, if anyone was outside, or certainly exerting themselves and the question could be asked, why? Well, it was probably because she a "fallen woman," and simply made the choice of coming out and getting her water at a time of day when she would be left alone. If she had gone out at a better time, then she probably would have had to endure other people’s looks and gossip. Here, as hot as it was, at least she was alone. Or so she thought ...
She meets Jesus there, at the well, and Jesus begins a conversation with her. He does not castigate her, even though it’s clear that he knows who she is. And she soon sees that, and begins to inquire then about his apparent specialness. And as a result of this conversation, this Samaritan woman, who had previously been afraid of the other villagers, introduces the rest of the village to Jesus. They come to know Jesus as a result.
We ourselves may know people who behave like the Samaritan woman at the beginning of the Reading. Having failed in one way or another in life, or become a source of gossip, they’ve withdrawn. Perhaps we ourselves may feel that way at times. And perhaps there are aspects of our lives that we really do not share. Well, in the midst of that fear or that shame, Jesus shows us in this Reading that he can be present, and that he is capable of turning the situation causing that fear and shame into something positive. That Samaritan woman turned the entire village to Jesus because she took the risk of talking to Jesus, who was already waiting for her, at that well.
Can we believe that even the worst possible aspects of our lives can be turned into something positive by God and can actually even be made into a source of Evangelization, by bringing others who were previously forgotten, scared or otherwise "in the shadows" to God?
It’s amazing really, that in the course of a conversation with Jesus _at the Well_ this previously scared, fallen woman became, in fact, and Evangelist for the entire town. Could this be possible with us as well?
And consider further then the alternative – hiding. That woman could have filled up her jug with Jesus there, not said a word, and simply walked with her water home. This all could have been a _missed opportunity_.
And a HUGE "missed opportunity" makes the background of the First Reading today: When the Israelites first left Egypt in the Exodus, they sent spies to investigate the Promised Land. They came back with a report that frightened the people – Yes, the Land was beautiful, but the people living there were well armed and powerful. Only two of the spies that Israel had sent to check-out the land – Joshua (who most of us know) and Caleb (who most of us forget) – recommended that the people of Israel leave the Desert immediately to take possession of the Promised Land. The rest were scared.
As a result, the people of Israel had to wander through the Desert for an entire generation, for 40 years, before the new generation was allowed by God to enter the Promised Land. Yes, God provided for them, as we hear today. He provided them with Water. He also provided them with Food. But they were condemned to wander the Desert for the rest of their lives wondering ‘what could have been.’
Lent is an annual reminder to fix the things that need fixing in our lives, those parts of our lives that perhaps we don’t want to show to anybody else. And you _don’t_ have to show these aspects of your lives to a lot of people, but do show them to God. God already knows these problems of ours anyway. Go to Confession, get this worked out, and perhaps this deep dark problem could become a source of new strength for not just yourselves but for even for others. Like the Samaritan woman, we ourselves could become new Evangelists for God.
The alternative we hear as well ... we can continue to ‘wander in the Desert’ for a very, very long time. Let us choose therefore to deal with the problems that we need to deal with and thus seek then during this time of Lent, to prepare ourselves to enter the Promised Land. Let’s get ourselves ready for Easter!
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Mar 20, 2011 - 2nd Sun of Lent - God gives us hope
Readings - http://www.usccb.org/nab/032011.shtml
Every year, after taking us on the 1st Sunday of Lent into the Desert, the Liturgy takes us on the 2nd Sunday of Lent to the Mountain Top. The Liturgy does this every year.
And we can ask ourselves, why? Why does it do that when Lent is commonly understood as a 40 day "Desert Experience" reminding us of Jesus’ 40 days in the Desert at the very beginning of his public ministry and of the Israelites’ 40 year trek in the Desert before reaching the Promised Land. So why is it that almost immediately after placing us in the Desert at the beginning of Lent, does the Liturgy then take us out of the Desert again and place us, of all places, on the Mountain Top?
I think it has to do with the symbolic meanings of both the Desert and the Mountain top.
The Desert is a dry, arid place where one can lose hope or get lost. There may be times in our lives when we may feel that we are wondering through a giant Desert with no purpose.
Thus it is perhaps important that we don’t stay in the Desert for a long period of time. Sure the experience of the Desert can help us to get by with less, but to stay in the Desert too long can make us despair.
So the Liturgy takes us up to the Mountain Top this Sunday, and the Mountain top is very different from the
Desert because from the Mountain Top we get a view. We can better see where we are going, what awaits us, and thus be given some assurance that our journey will not be in vain.
Mountain tops are also places where people across cultures have felt closer to God.
In the Bible, Moses received the 10 Commandments from God on Mount Sinai. He also was given a view of the Promised Land from Mount Nebo. He himself was not allowed to travel into the Promised Land, but he was able to see the Israelites, after 40 years in the Desert, crossing the Jordan River into the Promised Land from Mount Nebo. Elijah also found God – in a whisper – on Mount Carmel. David made the capital of Israel Jerusalem a "city set on a hill," and his son Solomon, built the Temple at the top of that hill, Mount Zion. Jesus then preached the Beatitudes, from "The Mount."
So Mountains and Mountain tops were important in the Bible.
But they have been important religiously across all many cultures. The Shrine to Our Lady of Czestahowa in Poland is located on a hilltop called Jasna Gora (Holy Mountain). Juan Diego first saw are Lady of Guadalupe on the hilltop of Tepeyac. In my parents’ country the largest Marian shrine was located about 20 kilometers -- a day’s walk -- from the village that my dad’s family came from. Where was this shrine located? On Svata Hora (again Holy Mountain) outside of the Czech town of Pribram.
Then all kinds of pre-Christian cultures built pyramids, artificial mountains, often with Temples built at their summits. Why? Mountaintops seem to make people feel "closer to God."
So in the Gospel Reading we hear of Jesus taking three of his three disciples – Peter, James and John up to the top of a mountain (by tradition, Mount Tabor). And there he gives them a glimpse of his Glory. The three see Moses (representing the Law) and Elijah (representing the Prophets) talking to Jesus. And this seems to be a way that Jesus wanted to indicate to at least these three disciples of his that what they gave up to follow him was worth it, that what they will gain from following him will more than compensate what they lost. And this seemed important to show them because Peter did ask at one point in the Gospels "Master, we gave up everything to follow you ..." asking in effect would it be worth it. In the glory of the Transfiguration, these three disciples were able to experience at least for a moment the Glory of what is to come and receive the answer that they were looking for, that indeed it was/would be worth it.
****
Now we can then ask ourselves, where/when do we feel closest to God. And it could be in Nature, hiking in fact in the mountains, or perhaps along the Lake. It could be doing something that we love. Jesus’ disciples often found Jesus while fishing – four of the first Apostles were fishermen afterall, and probably loved it.
But if we then scratch our heads thinking about this question, where do we feel ourselves closed to God, and with some embarrassment can’t come up with an easy answer, we can remember that the Church tells us that HERE, during the Mass, is a place that the Church itself vouches that one can experience God.
Here, we come together, we sing God’s praises, we hear God’s Word, we reflect on it during the time of the Homily, we present our petitions to our God and then we celebrate the Eucharist, the memorial of what Jesus did for his apostles during his last supper when he took bread, broke it and told them that this was His Body and then took the Cup filled with Wine and told them that this was His Blood. We remember Jesus’ sacrifice for us and are asked to be fed by his Body and Blood afterwards to give us strength for the week ahead.
We’re told by the Church that the Eucharist is both the source and summit of our Faith. It is in fact where we can encounter God.
So if we depressed sometime, let us remember that we get together here every Sunday for Mass, indeed every day, and it is here that we can receive both God’s Word and God’s nourishment to face whatever we need to face outside.
And let us remember that God does not want us to simply "search for God in an empty place" that God does not want us to wander aimlessly through life as if it has no meaning but, in fact, wishes to be close to us, both personally and with the whole community here in the Church.
May God bless you all, and may this Lent be a time of blessing when we can come to feel closer to God. Amen.
Every year, after taking us on the 1st Sunday of Lent into the Desert, the Liturgy takes us on the 2nd Sunday of Lent to the Mountain Top. The Liturgy does this every year.
And we can ask ourselves, why? Why does it do that when Lent is commonly understood as a 40 day "Desert Experience" reminding us of Jesus’ 40 days in the Desert at the very beginning of his public ministry and of the Israelites’ 40 year trek in the Desert before reaching the Promised Land. So why is it that almost immediately after placing us in the Desert at the beginning of Lent, does the Liturgy then take us out of the Desert again and place us, of all places, on the Mountain Top?
I think it has to do with the symbolic meanings of both the Desert and the Mountain top.
The Desert is a dry, arid place where one can lose hope or get lost. There may be times in our lives when we may feel that we are wondering through a giant Desert with no purpose.
Thus it is perhaps important that we don’t stay in the Desert for a long period of time. Sure the experience of the Desert can help us to get by with less, but to stay in the Desert too long can make us despair.
So the Liturgy takes us up to the Mountain Top this Sunday, and the Mountain top is very different from the
Desert because from the Mountain Top we get a view. We can better see where we are going, what awaits us, and thus be given some assurance that our journey will not be in vain.
Mountain tops are also places where people across cultures have felt closer to God.
In the Bible, Moses received the 10 Commandments from God on Mount Sinai. He also was given a view of the Promised Land from Mount Nebo. He himself was not allowed to travel into the Promised Land, but he was able to see the Israelites, after 40 years in the Desert, crossing the Jordan River into the Promised Land from Mount Nebo. Elijah also found God – in a whisper – on Mount Carmel. David made the capital of Israel Jerusalem a "city set on a hill," and his son Solomon, built the Temple at the top of that hill, Mount Zion. Jesus then preached the Beatitudes, from "The Mount."
So Mountains and Mountain tops were important in the Bible.
But they have been important religiously across all many cultures. The Shrine to Our Lady of Czestahowa in Poland is located on a hilltop called Jasna Gora (Holy Mountain). Juan Diego first saw are Lady of Guadalupe on the hilltop of Tepeyac. In my parents’ country the largest Marian shrine was located about 20 kilometers -- a day’s walk -- from the village that my dad’s family came from. Where was this shrine located? On Svata Hora (again Holy Mountain) outside of the Czech town of Pribram.
Then all kinds of pre-Christian cultures built pyramids, artificial mountains, often with Temples built at their summits. Why? Mountaintops seem to make people feel "closer to God."
So in the Gospel Reading we hear of Jesus taking three of his three disciples – Peter, James and John up to the top of a mountain (by tradition, Mount Tabor). And there he gives them a glimpse of his Glory. The three see Moses (representing the Law) and Elijah (representing the Prophets) talking to Jesus. And this seems to be a way that Jesus wanted to indicate to at least these three disciples of his that what they gave up to follow him was worth it, that what they will gain from following him will more than compensate what they lost. And this seemed important to show them because Peter did ask at one point in the Gospels "Master, we gave up everything to follow you ..." asking in effect would it be worth it. In the glory of the Transfiguration, these three disciples were able to experience at least for a moment the Glory of what is to come and receive the answer that they were looking for, that indeed it was/would be worth it.
****
Now we can then ask ourselves, where/when do we feel closest to God. And it could be in Nature, hiking in fact in the mountains, or perhaps along the Lake. It could be doing something that we love. Jesus’ disciples often found Jesus while fishing – four of the first Apostles were fishermen afterall, and probably loved it.
But if we then scratch our heads thinking about this question, where do we feel ourselves closed to God, and with some embarrassment can’t come up with an easy answer, we can remember that the Church tells us that HERE, during the Mass, is a place that the Church itself vouches that one can experience God.
Here, we come together, we sing God’s praises, we hear God’s Word, we reflect on it during the time of the Homily, we present our petitions to our God and then we celebrate the Eucharist, the memorial of what Jesus did for his apostles during his last supper when he took bread, broke it and told them that this was His Body and then took the Cup filled with Wine and told them that this was His Blood. We remember Jesus’ sacrifice for us and are asked to be fed by his Body and Blood afterwards to give us strength for the week ahead.
We’re told by the Church that the Eucharist is both the source and summit of our Faith. It is in fact where we can encounter God.
So if we depressed sometime, let us remember that we get together here every Sunday for Mass, indeed every day, and it is here that we can receive both God’s Word and God’s nourishment to face whatever we need to face outside.
And let us remember that God does not want us to simply "search for God in an empty place" that God does not want us to wander aimlessly through life as if it has no meaning but, in fact, wishes to be close to us, both personally and with the whole community here in the Church.
May God bless you all, and may this Lent be a time of blessing when we can come to feel closer to God. Amen.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Mar 13, 2011 - 1st Sun of Lent - In case we may find ourselves in a Desert
Readings – http://www.usccb.org/nab/031311.shtml
Well certainly the church looks different today from what it did last Sunday! That’s of course because (after long last this year) we find ourselves in Lent.
Now the Gospel Reading of the First Sunday of Lent always sends us into the Desert. On the Second Sunday of Lent, we’re always sent to the mountain top. That happens every year. Then for the third through fifth Sundays of Lent, the journey is a little different from year to year. And then we come to Palm Sunday where we again remember each year Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem to begin Holy Week.
I mention this because the Liturgy reminds us that each year has a "little bit of the same" and "a little bit that is different." So our lives are neither ones of total, unending chaos, nor ones where "nothing ever changes."
Very good. This year, like every year on the First Sunday of Lent, we are invited to follow Jesus into the Desert. Normally, this practice reminds us take this time to reflect on our lives, identify one or two things that distract us in our lives and invite us to let go of them or perhaps take-up one or two spiritual practices during Lent to help bring us closer to God.
Indeed it's been a long-time tradition to give up something small but fairly important in our lives to remind us of the larger purpose of this season. So as I've been doing for several years now, this year, in solidarity with the kids, I’m giving up something simple; I'm giving up potato chips ;-), something that most kids could understand. I’m also doing some additional spiritual reading, hope to attend the Taize Services that our parish plans to offer, etc. But again, in solidarity with the "little ones" in the parish, I’m giving up potato chips ;-).
A couple of years ago, I gave up cookies for the same reason, but I found myself making a surprisingly large number of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at the end Lent that year. Technically, it wasn’t cheating, but it kinda felt like it ;-). So last year, I tried to give up sweets altogether. But that turned out to be a problem. During Lent last year, I was visiting relatives. They made a lot of sweets then, and for whatever reason there seemed to be a fairly large number of parties that I was part of last year, and it did not seem right to "abstain" in front of others who were trying to honor one or another person. So giving up sweets altogether did not work. And I’d also certainly advise anyone who tries giving up sweets or cake altogether to please, if your "grandma" is celebrating her 75th birthday during Lent, just have the piece of cake at her party. This practice isn’t worth making others feel miserable when they are celebrating something nice.
However, potato chips seem doable. So that’s what I’m giving up. I’ve been eating a whole bunch of potato chips in recent months while watching TV in the evening. It seems something that I can give up and something that pretty much everybody, even a kid could understand.
****
But even though this is the most common understanding of the first Sunday of Lent – we’re placed in the desert with Jesus in order to look at our lives and see what distracts us from God and see if we can give it up -- each year brings its own insights. And so, I’m looking at the Gospel Reading from Matthew differently this year.
I’m looking at it different, because over the past couple of years, I’ve started to understand Jesus’ saying elsewhere to "not be worried about those who can only hurt (kill) the body but the one who can both hurt (kill) the body and as well as the soul." Throughout my live, I’ve found that saying rather strange, esoteric, etc. But in recent years, I’ve started to understand it better – no matter how tough life is, no matter how many obstacles are placed in front of us (in any number of ways and for any number of reasons) we can still _choose_ to make the situation bettor (or _worse_) based on how we respond to these obstacles.
Applying this insight to the Gospel Reading today, there are times that our lives may feel dry or lifeless. We also may feel lost. We may feel, in fact, like we're walking in a Desert. It is in those times that we may be tempted to "give up" in various ways. And I see in ALL THREE of the temptations that Jesus faces, the temptation to do exactly that – to reduce one’s sights, to "give up" in one way or another. Let me explain ...
Regarding the First Temptation, feeling overwhelmed or feeling that our life to be particularly "dry," we may be tempted to "reduce our sights" and say "Well, my life doesn’t seem to have meaning, so I’m just going reduce my goals to simply making ends meet, to provide something eat for myself and my family, to provide a roof over our heads and that’s it. The rest just doesn’t make sense." Well Jesus reminds the Temptor as well as _us_ that we have a right to expect more from life than just having our physical needs met, that God in fact, provides us with both hope and meaning when we call upon him and _especially_ when our lives feel dry.
Regarding the Second Temptation, which I feel could effect particularly the young, we may again feel that "life doesn’t make sense" and so decide to live it recklessly, "go bungie-jumping" as it were. Most of you know that I like movies. There was a movie last fall, named "127 hours" about a young person who didn’t think much of his life and led it quite stupidly. He lived on his own, not caring much about others or even himself. And he took stupid risks, like rock climbing in a cave alone. Only when he found himself trapped in a cave, with his arm caught under a rock did he start to realize how isolated he was – Nobody knew where he was, no one would know where to look for him. And there he was with his arm pinned by that rock. He comes finally to the conclusion that he’s going to have to cut his arm off to set himself free. He does so, but in the process he also comes to understand how many others he had been needlessly hurting (mostly his parents) by previously not paying them much mind.
Also, it’s Spring Break time now. I had a friend in college who had a friend from high school who died during spring break. He was in Fort Lauderdale, he and his friends were all drunk. For some reason he decided that he wanted to go to the next room. Rather than walking through the room to the door, then down the hall to the next room, he decided to try to jump from the balcony of one room to the other – this was on the 8th floor of a hotel. Well, _he missed_. What an awful and utterly senseless way to die! Now was this friend of a friend particularly stupid? No, most of us do some really stupid things when we’re young. Only sometimes to we find ourselves paying for such stupidity. But there is a cautionary tale in that incident – Please don’t take your life so much for granted. You may find yourself hurting not just yourself but many, many others.
Finally, the regarding the Third Temptation, which I feel effects older or middle aged people like me. We can again despair of life’s difficulties, and dryness and try to compensate by "making little kingdoms" for ourselves in this world, seeking to "make ourselves important." I’m always fascinated to see someone who’s otherwise mild mannered but given even a little bit of power (made head of the Rosary group or the coach of a little league team) and even that little bit of power going to their heads, running that "Rosary group" with "an iron fist," even as far as "purging malcontents" etc.
There’s a great line in the play A Man for All Seasons, in which the future Saint Thomas Moore, former Chancellor of England is betrayed in his trial by a former underling. He asks the former underling about a pendant signifying some new authority that the former underling was wearing. He responds, that he had been made "Chancellor" (or governor) of Wales. The future Saint Thomas Moore responds "Our Savior told us ‘what profits a man if he gains _the whole world_ but loses his soul? But (to lose it) for _Wales_?"
We’re asked to not sell out our integrity for the fleeting glory, for yes, "fleeting things."
So out there in the Desert, Jesus asks us to reject these temptations even if our lives may at times _feel very dry_. And lest we forget, the First Reading today reminds us that these temptations need not even happen "in the Desert" during the tough times in our lives. God placed Adam in Paradise. He had just about EVERYTHING and yet he wanted _more_.
Let’s take this time therefore to look at our lives and to resist the temptation "to give up", "to reduce our sights," to trade in our integrity, our soul, for something that is passing, or small. And let us try to remember that no matter how much we have, none of it matters without God.
Well certainly the church looks different today from what it did last Sunday! That’s of course because (after long last this year) we find ourselves in Lent.
Now the Gospel Reading of the First Sunday of Lent always sends us into the Desert. On the Second Sunday of Lent, we’re always sent to the mountain top. That happens every year. Then for the third through fifth Sundays of Lent, the journey is a little different from year to year. And then we come to Palm Sunday where we again remember each year Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem to begin Holy Week.
I mention this because the Liturgy reminds us that each year has a "little bit of the same" and "a little bit that is different." So our lives are neither ones of total, unending chaos, nor ones where "nothing ever changes."
Very good. This year, like every year on the First Sunday of Lent, we are invited to follow Jesus into the Desert. Normally, this practice reminds us take this time to reflect on our lives, identify one or two things that distract us in our lives and invite us to let go of them or perhaps take-up one or two spiritual practices during Lent to help bring us closer to God.
Indeed it's been a long-time tradition to give up something small but fairly important in our lives to remind us of the larger purpose of this season. So as I've been doing for several years now, this year, in solidarity with the kids, I’m giving up something simple; I'm giving up potato chips ;-), something that most kids could understand. I’m also doing some additional spiritual reading, hope to attend the Taize Services that our parish plans to offer, etc. But again, in solidarity with the "little ones" in the parish, I’m giving up potato chips ;-).
A couple of years ago, I gave up cookies for the same reason, but I found myself making a surprisingly large number of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at the end Lent that year. Technically, it wasn’t cheating, but it kinda felt like it ;-). So last year, I tried to give up sweets altogether. But that turned out to be a problem. During Lent last year, I was visiting relatives. They made a lot of sweets then, and for whatever reason there seemed to be a fairly large number of parties that I was part of last year, and it did not seem right to "abstain" in front of others who were trying to honor one or another person. So giving up sweets altogether did not work. And I’d also certainly advise anyone who tries giving up sweets or cake altogether to please, if your "grandma" is celebrating her 75th birthday during Lent, just have the piece of cake at her party. This practice isn’t worth making others feel miserable when they are celebrating something nice.
However, potato chips seem doable. So that’s what I’m giving up. I’ve been eating a whole bunch of potato chips in recent months while watching TV in the evening. It seems something that I can give up and something that pretty much everybody, even a kid could understand.
****
But even though this is the most common understanding of the first Sunday of Lent – we’re placed in the desert with Jesus in order to look at our lives and see what distracts us from God and see if we can give it up -- each year brings its own insights. And so, I’m looking at the Gospel Reading from Matthew differently this year.
I’m looking at it different, because over the past couple of years, I’ve started to understand Jesus’ saying elsewhere to "not be worried about those who can only hurt (kill) the body but the one who can both hurt (kill) the body and as well as the soul." Throughout my live, I’ve found that saying rather strange, esoteric, etc. But in recent years, I’ve started to understand it better – no matter how tough life is, no matter how many obstacles are placed in front of us (in any number of ways and for any number of reasons) we can still _choose_ to make the situation bettor (or _worse_) based on how we respond to these obstacles.
Applying this insight to the Gospel Reading today, there are times that our lives may feel dry or lifeless. We also may feel lost. We may feel, in fact, like we're walking in a Desert. It is in those times that we may be tempted to "give up" in various ways. And I see in ALL THREE of the temptations that Jesus faces, the temptation to do exactly that – to reduce one’s sights, to "give up" in one way or another. Let me explain ...
Regarding the First Temptation, feeling overwhelmed or feeling that our life to be particularly "dry," we may be tempted to "reduce our sights" and say "Well, my life doesn’t seem to have meaning, so I’m just going reduce my goals to simply making ends meet, to provide something eat for myself and my family, to provide a roof over our heads and that’s it. The rest just doesn’t make sense." Well Jesus reminds the Temptor as well as _us_ that we have a right to expect more from life than just having our physical needs met, that God in fact, provides us with both hope and meaning when we call upon him and _especially_ when our lives feel dry.
Regarding the Second Temptation, which I feel could effect particularly the young, we may again feel that "life doesn’t make sense" and so decide to live it recklessly, "go bungie-jumping" as it were. Most of you know that I like movies. There was a movie last fall, named "127 hours" about a young person who didn’t think much of his life and led it quite stupidly. He lived on his own, not caring much about others or even himself. And he took stupid risks, like rock climbing in a cave alone. Only when he found himself trapped in a cave, with his arm caught under a rock did he start to realize how isolated he was – Nobody knew where he was, no one would know where to look for him. And there he was with his arm pinned by that rock. He comes finally to the conclusion that he’s going to have to cut his arm off to set himself free. He does so, but in the process he also comes to understand how many others he had been needlessly hurting (mostly his parents) by previously not paying them much mind.
Also, it’s Spring Break time now. I had a friend in college who had a friend from high school who died during spring break. He was in Fort Lauderdale, he and his friends were all drunk. For some reason he decided that he wanted to go to the next room. Rather than walking through the room to the door, then down the hall to the next room, he decided to try to jump from the balcony of one room to the other – this was on the 8th floor of a hotel. Well, _he missed_. What an awful and utterly senseless way to die! Now was this friend of a friend particularly stupid? No, most of us do some really stupid things when we’re young. Only sometimes to we find ourselves paying for such stupidity. But there is a cautionary tale in that incident – Please don’t take your life so much for granted. You may find yourself hurting not just yourself but many, many others.
Finally, the regarding the Third Temptation, which I feel effects older or middle aged people like me. We can again despair of life’s difficulties, and dryness and try to compensate by "making little kingdoms" for ourselves in this world, seeking to "make ourselves important." I’m always fascinated to see someone who’s otherwise mild mannered but given even a little bit of power (made head of the Rosary group or the coach of a little league team) and even that little bit of power going to their heads, running that "Rosary group" with "an iron fist," even as far as "purging malcontents" etc.
There’s a great line in the play A Man for All Seasons, in which the future Saint Thomas Moore, former Chancellor of England is betrayed in his trial by a former underling. He asks the former underling about a pendant signifying some new authority that the former underling was wearing. He responds, that he had been made "Chancellor" (or governor) of Wales. The future Saint Thomas Moore responds "Our Savior told us ‘what profits a man if he gains _the whole world_ but loses his soul? But (to lose it) for _Wales_?"
We’re asked to not sell out our integrity for the fleeting glory, for yes, "fleeting things."
So out there in the Desert, Jesus asks us to reject these temptations even if our lives may at times _feel very dry_. And lest we forget, the First Reading today reminds us that these temptations need not even happen "in the Desert" during the tough times in our lives. God placed Adam in Paradise. He had just about EVERYTHING and yet he wanted _more_.
Let’s take this time therefore to look at our lives and to resist the temptation "to give up", "to reduce our sights," to trade in our integrity, our soul, for something that is passing, or small. And let us try to remember that no matter how much we have, none of it matters without God.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Mar 9, 2011 - Ash Wednesday - Let's Make this a Blessed Lent
Readings – http://www.usccb.org/nab/030911.shtml
This was my short prepared homily (also available in Spanish) for our bilingual Mass at Annunciata on Ash Wednesday, 2011.
Most of our lives we live in Ordinary Time, and that’s fine because God placed us in this world and we are asked to find blessing in the day-to-day. But during the year then, there are special times, like this time of Lent which we celebrate in preparation for Easter, which ask us to step out of the day to day and to reflect on our direction in life. How is our relationship with God? How are our relationships with others? This is to help us to live a life of meaning and not to simply to sleep-walk through life taking it for granted, others and God for granted.
All of us have things that we can work on, to make us better people and mostly kinder people towards our brothers and sisters who accompany us during this time which we walk this world and who, if we believe, will accompany us even after we die. We’re in this project of Life together.
So let us choose to work on something this year. It could be prayer. It could be working to fix a relationship or two that needs repair. It could be simply to try to live more modestly, remembering that what we take from this world, which is beyond our needs, we often take from somebody else who may actually need it much more than we.
In the Gospel Reading, Jesus asks us to do this quietly, not to make a big show of it. But he does say to do so, and not to just sit quietly, doing nothing.
So let’s make this time of Lent a time of growth and reconciliation and help us to better celebrate both the coming of Easter and mostly what awaits us at the end of our lives. Let’s make this then a blessed Lent!
This was my short prepared homily (also available in Spanish) for our bilingual Mass at Annunciata on Ash Wednesday, 2011.
Most of our lives we live in Ordinary Time, and that’s fine because God placed us in this world and we are asked to find blessing in the day-to-day. But during the year then, there are special times, like this time of Lent which we celebrate in preparation for Easter, which ask us to step out of the day to day and to reflect on our direction in life. How is our relationship with God? How are our relationships with others? This is to help us to live a life of meaning and not to simply to sleep-walk through life taking it for granted, others and God for granted.
All of us have things that we can work on, to make us better people and mostly kinder people towards our brothers and sisters who accompany us during this time which we walk this world and who, if we believe, will accompany us even after we die. We’re in this project of Life together.
So let us choose to work on something this year. It could be prayer. It could be working to fix a relationship or two that needs repair. It could be simply to try to live more modestly, remembering that what we take from this world, which is beyond our needs, we often take from somebody else who may actually need it much more than we.
In the Gospel Reading, Jesus asks us to do this quietly, not to make a big show of it. But he does say to do so, and not to just sit quietly, doing nothing.
So let’s make this time of Lent a time of growth and reconciliation and help us to better celebrate both the coming of Easter and mostly what awaits us at the end of our lives. Let’s make this then a blessed Lent!
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Mar 6, 2011 - 9th Sun of OT - Choosing God to face Life even in the midst of Disasters
Readings - http://www.usccb.org/nab/030611.shtml
This Sunday we are celebrating the 9th Sunday of Ordinary Time and perhaps because Lent has been so long in coming this year, the Readings already almost fit Lent. They invite us to already start prioritizing our lives, to ask ourselves what is most important to our lives and then to build on that.
Discerning what’s really important to us, and to make wise decisions based on that is important all stages of life. Perhaps though it’s most important in young adulthood, when we are in college and in our 20s. Then all sorts of great dramas take place. We have to make decision about what kind of a career path (or vocation) we are going to take, who we’re going to marry (or for some whether we’re going to marry at all). And these decisions will guide set a good part of our lives that follow. And if we choose well, our lives will certainly be that much simpler.
But now looking back at those decisions from my age – I’m in my late 40s – those decisions do start to look somewhat different. More to the point, when someone reaches my age, one will have realized that probably some of those decisions that were so important probably weren’t the best. And the question becomes “what if you messed those decisions up?” Maybe we did more or less fine, but we all know people who’ve taken life on the chin since their mid 20s, some by choice, some by accident or otherwise outside events, most by a combination of both choice and outside events. What then?
Well, in a way these screw-ups actually become blessings because they help remind us what’s truly important – our relationship with God.
By the time one reaches my age, most of us will have failed in all sorts of ways. In jobs or career paths, sometimes in marriages, perhaps in the raising of our kids, certainly in investments, etc, etc. We find out that we weren't as smart of even as street smart as we thought we were. Yet, in the midst of all these kinds of disasters both accidental and self-made what can keep us going? Our faith in God.
Jesus tells us in the Gospel reading to build our house (our lives) on Rock, that is on God. And he promises us that no matter what happens our house / our lives will stand firm. Do we need God in times of adversity? We all know people who seem to do well even without God. But I think we all know that it’s so much easier to pass through the difficulties in life if we do believe and have God at our side.
So then, this Sunday asks us to sift through the various failures and disasters of our lives and invites us to discover in that wreckage what can sustain us through all that the rest of our lives may bring – God. And if we do that, our lives will continue to have meaning and we will be able to survive whatever life brings our way.
And then, of all the things that we can teach our kids, from hitting a baseball, to getting a boyfriend, to investing well, the single most important really becomes giving them our faith. Because we don’t know what life may bring them, they might end up in a part of the world where _no one_ plays baseball, or their boy/girl friend may dump them, or as we’ve clearly seen in recent years, their investments may tank. What’s left is God. Hence why that writer of that first reading was so insistent on drilling the faith into the kids, saying that before all of us stands Life and Death, a Blessing and a Curse, and ultimately it’s so critical to get at least THIS right and therefore to be able to choose Life (to be able to ourselves _choose to live_ rather than just hide, whimper and die).
We’re going to hear this now for the next six weeks as we enter Lent. What a great time then to set our lives straight and our priorities well. God bless and see you all on Ash Wednesday!
This Sunday we are celebrating the 9th Sunday of Ordinary Time and perhaps because Lent has been so long in coming this year, the Readings already almost fit Lent. They invite us to already start prioritizing our lives, to ask ourselves what is most important to our lives and then to build on that.
Discerning what’s really important to us, and to make wise decisions based on that is important all stages of life. Perhaps though it’s most important in young adulthood, when we are in college and in our 20s. Then all sorts of great dramas take place. We have to make decision about what kind of a career path (or vocation) we are going to take, who we’re going to marry (or for some whether we’re going to marry at all). And these decisions will guide set a good part of our lives that follow. And if we choose well, our lives will certainly be that much simpler.
But now looking back at those decisions from my age – I’m in my late 40s – those decisions do start to look somewhat different. More to the point, when someone reaches my age, one will have realized that probably some of those decisions that were so important probably weren’t the best. And the question becomes “what if you messed those decisions up?” Maybe we did more or less fine, but we all know people who’ve taken life on the chin since their mid 20s, some by choice, some by accident or otherwise outside events, most by a combination of both choice and outside events. What then?
Well, in a way these screw-ups actually become blessings because they help remind us what’s truly important – our relationship with God.
By the time one reaches my age, most of us will have failed in all sorts of ways. In jobs or career paths, sometimes in marriages, perhaps in the raising of our kids, certainly in investments, etc, etc. We find out that we weren't as smart of even as street smart as we thought we were. Yet, in the midst of all these kinds of disasters both accidental and self-made what can keep us going? Our faith in God.
Jesus tells us in the Gospel reading to build our house (our lives) on Rock, that is on God. And he promises us that no matter what happens our house / our lives will stand firm. Do we need God in times of adversity? We all know people who seem to do well even without God. But I think we all know that it’s so much easier to pass through the difficulties in life if we do believe and have God at our side.
So then, this Sunday asks us to sift through the various failures and disasters of our lives and invites us to discover in that wreckage what can sustain us through all that the rest of our lives may bring – God. And if we do that, our lives will continue to have meaning and we will be able to survive whatever life brings our way.
And then, of all the things that we can teach our kids, from hitting a baseball, to getting a boyfriend, to investing well, the single most important really becomes giving them our faith. Because we don’t know what life may bring them, they might end up in a part of the world where _no one_ plays baseball, or their boy/girl friend may dump them, or as we’ve clearly seen in recent years, their investments may tank. What’s left is God. Hence why that writer of that first reading was so insistent on drilling the faith into the kids, saying that before all of us stands Life and Death, a Blessing and a Curse, and ultimately it’s so critical to get at least THIS right and therefore to be able to choose Life (to be able to ourselves _choose to live_ rather than just hide, whimper and die).
We’re going to hear this now for the next six weeks as we enter Lent. What a great time then to set our lives straight and our priorities well. God bless and see you all on Ash Wednesday!
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