29th Week in Ordinary Time 2024 - Friday - Signs of Divine Love

 

With the leaves changing colors, and the still mostly warm days and cooler nights, autumn is my favorite time of year. I made soup yesterday, because something about autumn just cries out for a good bowl of soup and crusty bread. 

Signs of autumn are everywhere: squirrels gathering nuts, pumpkins, light jackets, football games, conversations about where we will be celebrating thanksgiving.

In the Gospel today, Jesus is making his way toward Jerusalem when he comes across a group of non-believers. 

He points out how easily they forecast the weather by observing the signs—clouds and winds. But they were missing something more important than weather.

The signs of the kingdom of God where all around them: loaves being multiplied, the lame walking, hardened sinners repenting, and the good news spreading. Jesus is the sign that things were changing—not just meteorologically, but spiritually. With all these signs of God, Jesus performing  miracles left and right, demons being cast out, the deaf hearing, the blind seeing, the lame walking, the dead being raised, you’d think that people would be able to discern, quite easily, in fact, that they should take Jesus seriously.

But with all these signs many refused to believe, many refused to change their minds and their hearts, and open them up to the fact that Jesus was who he claimed to be: the Son of God come to save us from our sins.

Thankfully, 2000 years later, everyone follows Jesus as they should, right? Well, no, sadly. 

Even with the testimony of the Church---with Christians pouring out their lives in devotion to following Jesus’ teaching, feeding the hungry in soup kitchens, clothing the naked, even with so much evidence that Jesus Christ will change your life for the better, much of the world still does not believe. 

So the task of the Church is to continue to pray, and to continue to provide the world with signs and reasons to believe in Jesus, to be baptized, and follow him—signs of Divine Love—of God’s love for every person and His desire for their eternal salvation.

We are to take this morning’s words of Paul to heart, who writes, “I, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received”, and that call is to witness to Jesus Christ in word and deed, in how we treat people, in how we love each other, in the conviction with live out the teachings of the Gospel, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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For the Church, that we may live in a manner worthy of our calling, bearing witness to Christ through works of mercy and love, showing the world clear signs of God's presence among us.

For the people of the world, so often divided by ideology, that we may be reconciled with one another, addressing conflicts with wisdom and working towards peace

For those who struggle to recognize God's presence in their lives, that they may discover the signs of divine love surrounding them.

For the sick, the suffering, and those who have died, that they may experience the healing and transformative power of Christ, who makes the lame walk and brings life to the dead.

For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, and all the poor souls in purgatory, for the repose of the souls of all those who made our reception of the faith possible. 

O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the prayers of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our Lord.

Baptism of the Lord 2019 - Something New

Where have we been and where are we going this liturgical year? The Liturgical Year began with the season of Advent. We heard from the prophecies of Isaiah, the promises of God to send a Savior to Israel, and we heard those same prophecies echoed in the preaching of John the Baptist. And concluding Advent, we heard God’s promises beginning to be fulfilled, as the maiden of Nazareth consented to God’s Holy Will, and the word took flesh in the Virgin Mary's womb.

Advent longing made way for Christmas rejoicing at the birth of Our Savior, God made flesh. We traveled with humble shepherds to adore him who was born into the humble poverty of the Bethlehem stable. Last week, we celebrated the great feast of the Epiphany, and traveled with wise men from the east. What made them wise? They set out on the great journey—the greatest journey: to find God. They left their worldly comforts that they could behold the face of the Christ. And upon finding him, they honored him as God and King and Savior.

We celebrate now, at the end of the Christmas season, the Feast of the Lord’s Baptism. Fast forward 30 years from Bethlehem. For 30 years, the one named Jesus, lived in virtual obscurity. These are sometimes called the hidden years of Jesus’ life because Scripture does not go into detail into the intervening years between the Lord’s birth and the beginning of his public ministry. What we do know is that during the greater part of his life, Jesus shared the condition of the vast majority of the human race: a life spent without evident greatness, a life of manual labor.

Jesus lived a life of simple faith, obedient to Mary and Joseph in the house of Nazareth.  He learned the carpenter’s trade, he worked with his hands, he worshiped at synagogue, he made pilgrimages to Jerusalem and celebrated the Jewish Feasts, and he he lived a life of virtue, preparing for his great mission of preaching the Gospel and dying for the atonement of our sins.

Around the age of 30, Jesus’ cousin, John, the son of Elizabeth and Zechariah was preaching a baptism of repentance down at the Jordan River, at the very spot where Israel had come into the promised land after 40 years in the desert, the very spot where Elijah was taken up into heaven on a flaming chariot.  In fact, John was dressed quite a bit like old Elijah and proclaiming Elijah’s warning: “repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.”

At the Jordan, Jesus’ season of hiddenness came to an end and the season of his public ministry began—a time of miracles, and healings, where the power of God’s kingdom would be manifest. “It was time” to do battle with the forces of evil and the prince of darkness.  “It was time” to fulfill his Father’s will, no matter how much suffering he would have to endure.

Throughout the upcoming Liturgical Season of Ordinary Time we will hear and reflect upon the Lord’s words and works. But I think it is quite significant that the season of Christmas, in which Christ is adored and honored as God, ends with this event, his baptism, in which he associated Himself with us. John preached to sinners, that sinners should turn their lives over to God, and to mark that new beginning with a ritual, with baptism. And Jesus underwent that ritual. The sinless Son of God associated himself with sinners.

If Christmas has taught us anything, it’s that God is not interested in remaining distant from us. He is born into poverty like most people in human history. He lived a hidden life of manual labor like most people in human history. And in his baptism he identifies with all of us needing to hand over our lives to God to make a new beginning, an end of sin and a new beginning of goodness.

So that’s where we’ve been: in a season of hearing about how God wants to break into our lives. Where are we going? Ordinary Time. Monday morning, I will don the Green Vestments once again. Why Green? Because Green is the color of growth. And in Ordinary Time, we focus on the spiritual growth the Christian Disciple is to always be seeking.

What does spiritual growth consist of? Becoming more like Christ. Allowing Christ to live in us. Christ yearns to live through the members of his mystical body, and that means we must learn to place Christ at the center of everything we do and say and are: including Him in our daily schedules and activities, meals, chores, conversations, parenting, work, vacations, civic responsibilities, decisions, problems, crises, accomplishments, and losses. It means going down into the waters with him and rising out of them with less selfishness, perversion, greed, sloth, anger, and impatience. It means allowing the whole of your life to become charged and changed by God’s presence—allowing the grace of our baptism, and the grace of the sacraments to unfold in your life, to bear new spiritual fruit.

Every season ends that it may give way to something new. Christmas ends, that the one born at Christmas, may impact, infuse, change, and transform our Ordinary Lives. Today, the Christmas season ends and the season of Ordinary Time begins, a season where each of us are to focus on putting the teachings of Jesus Christ into practice in our ordinary day-to-day lives.

So we do well to consider: what from our past needs to come to end that we may begin something new? What vices need to end that we may more faithfully live out our baptismal discipleship? Where in my life does spiritual sloth need to come to an end so that new spiritual practices may begin: daily scripture reading, visits to the blessed Sacrament throughout the week, a daily rosary perhaps, time volunteering at your parish. Where does lust need to be put an end, in order to begin a new life of purity. Where does resentment and bitterness need to come to an end, in order to begin a new season of peace and gentleness and gratitude and joy?

Pope Benedict wrote: “Immersion in the water (of baptism) is about purification, about liberation from the filth of the past that burdens and distorts life—it is about beginning again, and that means it is about death and resurrection, about starting life over again anew…in a world marked by sin, it is a Yes to the entire will of God and solidarity with our estranged brother.”

May all that is sinful come to an end, that, in the words of our second reading, we may reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age, as we await the blessed hope, the appearance of the glory of our great God and savior Jesus Christ,” for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

1st Week of OT 2018 - Tuesday - Spiritual Growth in Ordinary Time

As we begin the season of Ordinary time, it seems to be strange to be wearing the color green in the middle of winter. The green of the grass is covered by the snow, and the green leaves on the trees and plants will not begin to grow until spring. But liturgical green reminds us that the Christian soul is meant to grow in faith, hope, and love, prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance, throughout the whole year despite the earthly seasons.

Another strange facet of Ordinary Time is that of our scripture readings. For the Weekdays of Ordinary Time the Lectionary has a two year cycle of readings — Year I and Year II. The Gospel reading is common to both cycles; so no matter the year, we read from Mark chapter 1 verses 21 to 28 on Tuesday of the first week of Ordinary Time. It’s the First Reading and Psalm which are different.
And what seemed strange to me this morning, is why, oh why, do we begin Ordinary Time, Year II, reading from the first book of Samuel. I have no idea. The first and second books are part of the Old Testament known as the Nevi'im consisting of the narrative books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings, and also the latter prophets Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah and the minor prophets

This part of the Old Testament spans the time from Moses’ death to the time of the Maccabees 150 or so BC. So First Samuel is not even the first part of this narrative section of the Bible. Why would Ordinary Time start with this book? I really don’t know, but these are the things I think about at 7 o’clock in the morning.

But we’ll be reading from these books until Ash Wednesday, so we might want to think about them a bit.

First Samuel begins with the story of the barren woman Hannah, who after fervent prayer gives birth to a son, the prophet Samuel, the last of the so-called Judges, who will anoint the first king of Israel, Saul. It is the story of a new age emerging in the history of Israel, the time of a king uniting and ruling over a disparate people. So perhaps, it is fitting for the beginning of this new liturgical season.

We are going to be reading how this transition for Israel is also riddled with problems, much like our own life—many rebellions against the will of God, attacks from outside enemies, personal pride getting in the way of righteousness, but all the while, God is at work urging Israel to faithfulness to his commandments and trust in his providence.

So, not a bad way to start Ordinary Time. Spiritual growth certainly involves surrendering our rebellious wills to the grace of God. May our Ordinary Time be blessed with growth in a knowledge of God’s word and a faithfulness to it, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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To God the Father Almighty we direct the prayers of our heart for the needs and salvation of humanity and the good of His faithful ones.

For the holy Church of God, that the Lord may graciously watch over her and care for her.

For the peoples of the world, that the Lord may graciously preserve harmony among them.

For all who are oppressed by any kind of need, that the Lord may graciously grant them relief.

For ourselves and our own community, that the Lord may graciously receive us as a sacrifice acceptable to himself.

For our beloved dead, for the poor souls in purgatory, and for X, for whom this Mass is offered.

O God, our refuge and our strength, hear the prayers of your Church, for you yourself are the source of all devotion, and grant, we pray, that what we ask in faith we may truly obtain. Through Christ our Lord.