Jesus gives us a window into the heart of God who gives us not always what we want but always what we need.

 

Seventeenth Sunday in OT  C  2022

 

In the gospel, Jesus was praying by himself.  The disciples observing Jesus at prayer then asked Jesus to teach them to pray. 

 

Jesus is a much better teacher on prayer than I am.  I was teaching a group of first graders on prayer this past week in our summer intensive faith formation sessions this past week.  After I finished my talk on prayer, one young girl raised her hand, and I was delighted that she wanted to engage on her prayer life.  So, when I called on her, she simply said:  “I need to go to the bathroom.”

 

Back to Jesus, of all the things the disciples saw Jesus do, the one thing they ask about is prayer.  “Lord, teach us to pray.”        

 

Now the disciples had noticed that Jesus often prayed.  Jesus prays before his baptism; he prays before the Transfiguration; he prays after the seventy return from their mission.  Jesus prays all the time.

 

And the disciples see this.  They notice that prayer is an essential part of Jesus’ life, and that if they want to follow Jesus, if they want to be like Jesus, if they want to imitate Jesus, then they must pray.

 

 

Now, in the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches us how to pray.  Most important, he teaches to whom we pray – a loving and caring Father into whom we entrust our concerns and our lives.  Father, into your hands, I commend my spirit. 

 

We begin the Lord’s Prayer by addressing God as Father.  All who offer this prayer are children of one Father, thus brothers and sisters to one another.  We the faith community of the Church of the St. Joseph’s are brothers and sisters to one another.  There are to be no strangers among us -- only friends who perhaps have not yet met.

 

Before we petition God with our human needs, we say “hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done.”  We first unite ourselves with the being and the activity of God.  God invites us into an intimate relationship in which we see ourselves, and then we can feel free to boldly ask for what we need.

 

In the first Scripture reading from the Book of Genesis, we see the intimate relationship that Abraham enjoys with God.  In his prayer, he is bargaining with God to save the people of Sodom.  In this prayer, God promises Abraham, I will spare the city of Sodom if only ten innocent people can be found.

 

In our prayer life, can we speak with the kind of trust and confidence that characterized the prayer of Abraham.

 

 

 

In our prayer life, what would you describe as your greatest temptation?  What keeps from being focused on the priority of prayer?    It’s not that we are atheists or agnostics.  It’s not that we have actively rejected God and defied God by sinning.   Often it seems we simply are indifferent or too busy about many other things.

 

The Mass we celebrate is in itself a prayer.  Not to pray is to show God our indifference.  What does it mean when we turn Sunday Mass into something that is only optional?  For sure, we would not say that God is optional in the way we profess our faith in words, but we need to challenge ourselves and ask if the way we live our life matches the words we say.

 

As you reflect on your prayer life, what keeps us from deepening our relationship with God?   Do our deeds reflect that prayer works when we can fit it into our busy schedule, or do we say that prayer is the first requirement of a disciple of Jesus?  The rest of the day then is structured around our times of prayer.

 

Trust me as I present this challenge to you, I present this challenge to myself.  I know I need to be challenged as where I place the priority of prayer in my life.  May we all ask ourselves the honest question of whether our actions confirm that God is the lead priority of our lives.

 

The disciples have been taught the words of prayer in the Lord’s Prayer but more is needed.  We need to have the proper inner disposition.  We must open our hearts to our giving and forgiving God.  We need to trust that we are in the hands of God, and that all will be well for those who trust in the immensity of God’s love for us.

 

 

Jesus teaches to pray.   He also teaches us for what we pray:  not just for immediate needs, but, more important, for ultimate needs:  the furthering of God’s kingdom, the gift of forgiveness, and protection from anything that would take us from God.

 

Jesus teaches us not only the words to pray, but what deeds must match authentic prayer.  So, we are given three important truths about prayer.  The first comes from the parable of the persistent friend.  A pesky neighbor disturbs a sleeping friend and disrupts the household. In this parable, Jesus teaches us the need for persistence in our prayer life.

    

Then Jesus invites to be bold in asking for what we need – no need to be timid about our prayers of petition.  “Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find.”  The Lord invites to present our needs before Him confident that our prayers will be heard.

 

Finally Jesus says:  “What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish?...How much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

Prayer then, for the disciple, is not imposing our will on God, but opening ourselves to God’s will for us.  For this to happen, within us and within the community, the Holy Spirit is indeed the gift that is needed.

 

In this Gospel, Jesus not only teaches us the words to say in the Lord’s prayer, but Jesus gives us also a window into the heart of God who can give be trusted to give us His beloved children always not what we want but always what we need.

 

Have  a Blessed Day.

 

 

 

Do people feel welcome in our parish or are they greeted as obstacles to our private Eucharistic encounter?

 

Sixteenth Sunday in OT  C 2022

The scriptures are about welcoming - about hospitality. It is about noticing the other and being attentive to the other. 

We all need to ask ourselves the question where are we on the giving and the receiving of hospitality and friendship in our parish community?

Tell me what you think of this story:

A man attending a crowded Sunday Mass refused to take off his hat when asked to do so by the ushers. Others also asked him to remove his hat, but he remained obstinate. The priest was perturbed, too, and waited for the man after the service.

He told the man that the church was quite happy to have him as a guest, and invited him to join the church, but he explained the traditional decorum regarding men's hats and said, "I hope you will conform to that practice in the future."

"Thank you, Father," said the man. "And thank you for taking time to talk to me. It is good of you to invite me to join the congregation. In fact, I joined it three years ago and have been coming regularly ever since, but today is the first time that anyone paid attention to me. After being an unknown for three years, today, by simply keeping on my hat on, I have had the pleasure of talking with the ushers, several of the congregants and you. Thanks!"

I invite you to consider this important question:    Do people feel welcome in our parish, or are they greeted as obstacles to our private Eucharistic encounter that we hope to enjoy all by ourselves?  Even at our sign of peace, even given the Covid restraints from sharing, do we seek to engage the people next to us in a eucharistic sign of peace?

Today’s readings tell us two very different meal stories that relate to hospitality.

In the first Scripture reading, Father Abraham is the host who spares absolutely nothing in welcoming strangers to his home.   Abraham looking up saw three men standing nearby.  When he saw them, he ran from the entrance to greet them, to welcome them, to provide extravagant hospitality and a warm meal for them.

Abraham’s story reminds us that we never know in what guise God will show up.  Luckily, he did not live in a gated community.  Abraham’s servants were tasked with hospitality rather than security.

The first reading is about strangers being entertained and the people didn’t know that the Lord was visiting them.  When we open our heart and home to the stranger and the neighbor, we are receiving God into our lives.  The Indian poet Tagore writes – “and when you left, I saw God’s footprints on the floor.

As with Abraham in the first reading, God may be coming to us as the one in need.  If our hearts are not generous and welcoming, how often have we turned God away and in turn failed to experience the generosity He wants to bestow on us.  Abraham shows us that the welcome we offer to the stranger is the welcome we offer to God.  Christ is received in every guest.

Offering hospitality always brings a gift from God.  Abraham and Sarah’s hospitality to the three mysterious visitors leads to the revelation that they will have a son.

In the Gospel account, Jesus, going along a road, came to a village and was welcomed into a house.  There one sister, having to get the meal, complained that the other sister just sat and listened to Jesus; and Jesus says that this second sister, named Mary, had chosen the better part, and it is not to be taken from her.

 

The traditional interpretation of this passage points to the distinction between an active service spirituality and the more prayerful listening spirituality.  In our discipleship of the Lord Jesus, there is a place for service, and there is a place for prayerfulness.  We spend a lifetime seeking the balance between the two ways of discipleship.

Lord, there is a Martha and Mary within each of us.

            -a part of ourselves which is busy and active,

            -another part which sits at your feet and listens trustingly to your word.

We need our active side to accomplish your will, but the listening is the best part, and we must not allow it to be taken from us.

Martha’s major error was to let the menu overshadow the encounter with Jesus.     Martha let agitation about the kitchen cancel out the nourishment that comes from being in Jesus’ presence.  We need the nourishment that comes from the kitchen table; we also need the spiritual nourishment that comes from the Lord Himself.  Isn’t it true that hospitality’s most important dimension is listening attentively to your guests?

As we reflect on our spiritual side, remember the truth that we can do many holy things without ever becoming holy.  There may be much action in our lives, very worthwhile action, but we need first to listen to the Lord in prayer before we can be people of action.  Is our active life leading us to deepen our encounter, our relationship with the Lord Jesus?

Jesus is not telling Martha that her work is not important, nor is he commending Mary for doing nothing.  He is simply reminding his followers that if we want to serve Him, we must first listen to Him.  We need to be people of prayer before we are people of action.

 May we come to the Eucharistic Table of the Lord: ready to serve those in need, those who come hungry and thirsty. But we come ready to be served from this great banquet.  We come together with Abraham and Sarah, and we come with Martha and Mary receiving the Lord in our hearts and in our lives.  We are sent to be just and live in the present of the Lord, to be Christ to one another, especially to those we have pushed to the margins or feel rejected from this Table.  We are invited to be eucharist for one another, to witness to the self-giving love in the lives of our neighbors…Would we accept this invitation?

 

 

Have a Blessed Day.

 

The motivation of the Good Samaritan was that he lived with the mercy of God he didn't deserve and was the recipient of the generosity of others he didn't merit.

 

Fifteenth Sunday in OT  C  2022

Today’s gospel is the very familiar and much loved parable  of the good Samaritan.  The gospel clearly calls  us to be missionaries of mercy in the lives of people in need.  We are to be witnesses to the mercy of God to each other.  The mercy of God means sharing with one another acts of undeserved kindness.

 

As you pray over this gospel parable, I have two questions for you:

 

n  What is your view from the ditch.

n  Secondly, the scholar of the law asked Jesus:  Who is my neighbor?  My question for you is:  Who is not your neighbor?

Going back  to the first question, what is your view from the ditch?  In the parable, the view from the ditch for the man who fell among the robbers, he was beaten and left for being half dead.  His view from the ditch was one of desperation and in need of help?

I invite you to recall a life situation when you were in need of help and suggest that that is your view from the ditch.

For the people in Ukraine, their view from the ditch is overwhelming in their war devastated country?

For the family members of far too many grieving families as a result of gun violence on our streets, their view from the ditch is one of outrage and questions what can be done to stop this gun violence.

For me a view from the ditch is reflecting on the leadership  of our church with the extreme shortage of priests,  where are we headed?

 

Your view from the ditch is the place of the cross, the place of struggle in your life?

Be assured that God is present to you in the place of darkness in your life, be assured this place in the ditch can be part of God’s plan for your life.  o time of darkness can be motivation for  you to share your love and the mercy with someone whom you encounter in the ditch.

I suggest to you that what motivated the Samaritan traveler to help the person who fell among the robbers was that he too had previously been in his own ditch and this experience moved him to be the Good Samaritan to the person in need.

The Good Samaritan lived with the mercy of God that he didn’t deserve and was the recipient of the generosity of people that he didn’t merit.  This was his motivation to share his love with the person in the ditch.

 

What of the priest and the levite who simply by on the other side of the road?  They may have been on  the journey to pray in the synagogue and to lift themselves up to God in prayer.

 

Perhaps what was missing in the spirituality of the priest and the levite was Pope Francis’ profound insight that the church is to be a field hospital.  The mission of the church is to reach out and support and love all those who are in the ditches of their lives.

Perhaps the motivation we need to see the Church as a field hospital is to be very touch with our own experiences of the struggles and the crosses of our lives and when we have the recipients of the undeserved kindness of another.

 

Even in the joy of the Easter Vigil liturgy, we sign in the beautiful Easter hymn of the exulted, O Beata Culpa – o blessed fault.  Our sins, our shortcomings, our struggles, our places in the ditch lead us to experience the unending love of God in our lives and motivates us to share this love and mercy with one another.

 

To the second question, which is introduced in the parable, when the scholar of the law asked Jesus:   Who is my neighbor?  My question for you is:  Who is not your neighbor.

 

The theme of our most recent Adult formation sessions was:  Love your neighbor, no exception.

 

Love your neigbor, who doesn’t look like you.

                                    Who doesn’t think like  you.

                                    Who doesn’t love like you.

                                    Who doesn’t speak like you.

                                    Who doesn’t pray like you.

                                    Who doesn’t vote like you.

Love your neighbor, no  exceptions.

Yes, we live in a divided, polarized world.  Yes, in some ways, we live in a divided, polarized Church.

But I always go back to the last words that Jesus spoke to his disciples at the Last Supper on the night before he died:  By this all shall know you are my disciples, by your love for one another.

 

In the message that Jesus lived and in the message he taught in his parables:  the prodigal son and in this parable of the Good Samaritan.  The first priority  of the disciple of Jesus is to love.

Today we kick off in our parish life a two week summer intensive for our younger parishioners as we seek to form and fashion after the mind and heart of Jesus.

It is our goal that our parishioners come to know Jesus more deeply in their life.  We wish for them to experience God’s unending love for them, and they are God’s beloved sons and daughters.

 

It is our strong conviction that in experiencing God’s love for them, they in turn will be motivated to be Good Samaritans in their family and in their neighborhood.