Advent starts tonight!

The Rolling Stones made a recording: “Time is on my side, oh yes it is!”  Advent is the season, the Time that the Church offers to us to THINK about how we use our TIME.  Time is a gift from God to allow us to develop a relationship, a friendship with God.

That friendship was so important to God that Jesus, the Son of God became incarnate to help us.  Our TIME here ends either with our death or the Lord’s Parousia (His return).

In psalm 57 we pray, “My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready.”

Advent is the TIME to prepare our hearts, the TIME to get our hearts ready to more fully and more faithfully do God’s work.

Let me share this story with you, A businessman, who prides himself on efficiency, needs a few things at the grocery store.  He estimates that it will take him 30 minutes to complete his shopping. 

Once at the store, he flies through the aisles, picking up the items on his list.  He’s on cruise control – until he runs into an elderly couple looking at laundry detergent, their cart blocking the aisle. 

They fumble through coupons and debate the merits of TIDE vs. WISK.  They finally move one, completely oblivious to the man in a hurry.  UNBELIEVABLE!!

He encounters the couple again at the dairy case.  The businessman knows exactly what the wants but can’t get to the case until Mom and Pop make their selection. 

CLUELESS!!

At the checkout line, the man in a hurry heads to what looks like an open lane.  But there’s the elderly couple again, slowly unloading their cart, rechecking each item against their list.  The businessman scans the other lanes looking for a faster option.  No luck. 

The elderly woman notices the man’s basket, then whispers something to her husband.  In a gentle friendly voice, the elderly man said: “Hey, why don’t you go ahead of us?  You only have a few things.”

“That’s ok…I’m in no hurry,” the businessman says.  The elderly couple’s kindness has stopped his clock.  It dawns on him that their time is precious, too.  As it turns out, the man misses his 30 minute goal by 5 minutes. 

But those 5 minutes were a small price to pay for discovering that only those who give of their time never own it in the first place. 

Take time to appreciate the goodness and love in your life; recognize that it is a gift from God.  Let’s try to use this Advent to “stay awake” to the glimpses of the Lord that are in our midst.

May God be Praised!

Advent reminds us to “Prepare, Prepare” for something IMPORTANT!  Advent begins Satruday with Evening Prayer and we, also, begin the Year of Grace let our focus be allowing God’s grace to guide us each day and each moment.

Are you faithfully & fully responding to God’s Call?  Or are you “wearying God”?  Fr. John Kavanaugh wrote that Advent is a time to “…savor … the ways God enters our lives.”           (America, December 13, 2010, p.10)

Are you savoring God’s presence in your life?

“Wait till we see his face!”

“Hope till we see his face!”

“Trust till we see his face!”

         (The Magnificat, December 2010, pgs. 172-173)

St. Paul reminded the Romans and he reminds us that “…we are called to belong to Jesus Christ … called to be holy.”   Being holy is demanding work.  The Beatitudes, Prayer, Praise, Sacraments, Good works, Conforming our will to God’s will; doing what God wants no matter the cost.  Many years ago, God asked Joseph to take on a difficult job, sometimes God asks us to take on difficult jobs.

Our Advent preparation is about wonder, about life, about love and about being vulnerable to allowing God not only into our life BUT be our life!

 May God Be Praised!

In the ancient Greek world, the city-states of Athens and Sparta were bitter rivals.  Athens was a democracy and Sparta a dictatorship.  They fought each other in the Peloponnesian Wars.
Athens was slowly transformed from a nomic society to an anomic society; one that had an inner spirit of the law to one without an inner spirit of the law.



Jesus wants to transform us from simply following the law to living the spirit of the law: from not killing to controlling our anger; from not committing adultery to viewing human beings with respect, as children of God.  In the book of Sirach God reminds us the he knows our actions, our motives and attitudes; understands the why of our deeds.

God knows our hearts!

Jesus challenges us to allow His Beatitudes to form our wills, our souls and our hearts.  St. Paul teaches us that we have no idea of what God has planned for those who love Him!

Jesus came “… not to abolish but to fulfill ...” [the law].  Jesus came to show us the human face of divine love!
Parents want the best for their children, ideally, they want their children to grow, mature and reach their full potential: morally, intellectually, socially, spiritually, physically, psychologically, and economically.
 
“In one of the famous ‘peanuts’ cartoons … Charlie Brown and a pretty girl are in line at the school cafeteria.  ‘Would you like to get in front of me?’  Charlie asks.  She declines, and Charlie explains, ‘I’m always sort of nervous around pretty girls.’  ‘But you must never feel that way,’ she said.                           ‘Pretty girls are human too.’  An astonished Charlie Brown blurts out, ‘You are?’                   (Celebrations, 2-15-14)

Our society tries to tell us that there is no sin, and some people are astonished to discover that there is sin, even personal sin.
Jesus taught us not to stray into sin.  “Sin is a reality, not an outdated concept.  Our personal sins are … (real).”  (Celebrations, 2/15/14)

Penn Dot provides our roads with traffic lights, stop signs, yield signs, speed limit signs, etc. to help us drive safely.  deSales, “Be who you are and be that well.”  Jesus wants us to be the best that we can be.

 

Being His disciple takes hard work discipline, effort and perseverance.  Jesus gave us The Beatitudes to amplify the Mosaic law.  When Jesus judges, He will ask us what do you do when you were confronted with human need?

Maybe these stories told by Leo Buscaglia (author and lecturer) can illuminate Jesus’ demands on us: An elderly man, who recently lost his wife, lived next door to a 4-year-old boy.  When the boy saw the man crying, he went into his yard, climbed up onto his lap and sat!  When his mother asked him what did you say to the man, he said, “Nothing, I just helped him cry.”

On a cold December day, a 10-year-old boy was standing in front of a shoe store with bare feet, peering through the window and shivering from cold.                                      

A lady went up to him and said, “Why are you staring so intently?”  “I am asking God for shoes.”  The lady took him by the hand, went into the store and asked the clerk for socks, water and a towel.  Then she knelt down, washed and dried his feet; put a pair of new socks and the shoes the shoes on his feet.  Then, she purchased the shoes and socks. 

As she turned to go, the little boy looked up at her with tears
in his eyes and asked, “Are you God's wife?”

Today a few minutes, in silence, reflect on your life, your goals, and your actions?

May God Be Praised!

This is my final reflection on Fr. Gerhard Lohfink on the Our Father, when you offer an Our Father please include me in your intentions.

Thank you and God Bless!

 

God’s interest comes first

1^st three petitions your / thou askings: 1. hallowed be your name, 2. your kingdom come and 3. your will be done

2^nd three or four we petitions: 1. give us today our daily bread, 2. forgive us our trespasses, 3. lead us not into temptation and 4. deliver us from evil

The 1^st part of the Our Father deals with the name, reign and the will of God

The 2^nd part deals with the disciples’ interests.

God acts through people

Odd construction of the first three petitions.

The indirectness is for one reason, “… the Our Father expresses a fundamental theological insight: God takes the initiative.  God acts.  Everything comes from God.”

“In the Our Father, Jesus summarized all that he wanted and hoped for.”

I hope that these few insights encourage you to read Fr. Gerhard Lohfink’s book, The Our Father: A New Reading.

May God be Praised!

Some additional thoughts from Fr. Gerhard Lohfink on the Our Father.

In St. Luke’s Gospel, Chapter 11, we read, He was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.” He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come.

Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us, and do not subject us to the final test.”

The Our Father is primarily a prayer for Jesus’ disciples, the Gospel of Matthew [5:1-2] places it at the center of the Sermon on the Mount

In the Gospel of Luke [11:1], the disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray

The Our Father is primarily for Jesus’ disciples the petition for bread.”

The Our Father leads us to desire only what God wants.

In the early Church the Our Father was so precious that it was fully given only when the catechumenate was completed, shortly before the baptism of new candidates he catechumens were presented the Creed and the Our Father solemnly.

Why didn’t Jesus teach His disciples a prayer of praise, because He gave them a prayer that deals with the reign of God breaking forth, pure petition.

The Our Father is a very short prayer

The Our Father without the doxology has 55 words [in English], with the doxology it has 14 additional and with the Amen = 70

Luke’s version without the doxology and conclusion has 23 words

May God Be Praised!

From Fr. Gerhard Lohfink’s book “The Our Father: A New Reading””

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. 

Fr. Gerhard Lohfink offers these “… five observations about the Our Father”

·      1. the Our Father is pure petition

·      2. it is very short

·      3. it gets right to the point

·      4. God’s interest comes first

·      5. God acts through people

Spend a few minutes reflecting on Fr. Lohfink’s five observations, then pray the Our Father again.

May God Be Praised!

             The Eucharist

Father Robert Rivers, a Paulist priest, in his talk “Eucharist and Evangelization: Two Sides of One Reality” said, “I was conducting a mission in Amish country and happened to engage in a conversation with the local Baptist minister…We were discussing the Catholic understanding of Eucharist…  The minister said…”If I believed what you Catholics believe about the Eucharist, I would crawl to church on my hands and knees!”

One of the memorable characters in Dorothy Day’s “The Long Loneliness [said]…, If I believe as you do, that Christ himself is present…on the altar, nothing in this world would keep me from it”.     (Origins)

Phil Coulter wrote a beautiful song, “The Old Man”

The tears have all been shed now,

We’ve said out last good-bye.

His soul’s been blessed,

He’s laid to rest,

And now I feel alone.

He was more than just a father,

A teacher, my best friend.

He can still be heard

In the tunes we shared.

When we play them on our own.

And I never will forget him.

For he made me what I am.

Though he may be gone,

Memories linger on,

And I miss him, the old man.

The Gift of the Eucharist urges us to “…never forger him….”  Never forget Jesus Christ who gave Himself to us in The Eucharist “…the most ordinary and the most divine gesture imaginable. That is the truth of Jesus.  So human, yet so divine; so familiar, yet so mysterious; so close, yet so revealing!”  (Nowen, “With Burning Hearts”)

The Second Vatican Council taught us the Eucharist is the “…source and summit of Christian Life.”  The Eucharist is the heart of the Church’s life, it (the Eucharist) literally means, “act of thanksgiving.”

To live the Eucharist means living a life of gratitude; it means seeing life as a miracle. “Belief in the Eucharist gathers people together.  It affirms their communal faith… The honor [we] Catholics show to the sacrament of Christ’s body and blood is not a narrow expression of shallow pity.  It is …an expression of our recognition of the presence of God in all that is created.”  (This Sunday Scripture, June 18, 2006).

The Eucharist is the Divine kiss, the Divine embrace, the Divine love given to us to bind us to Christ in our journey here on earth.

The Eucharist affirms.

“George Docsi’s grew up in Hungary as a boy growing he loved dinner… big plates, the maids serving soup; he loved going into the dinning room.

One evening he went downstairs & the dining room was in an uproar.

Another pogrom was taking place in Russia, & his grandfather went to the railway station & brought home some Jews.

Men were in skull caps in the living room, mothers nursing babies in the dining room; he threw a fit & yelled, ‘I want my supper!’ I want my supper!  One of the maids saw this & gave him a piece of bread.

He threw it on the floor & screamed, ‘I want my supper!’  His Grandfather entered the dining room at that moment - bent down, picked up the bread, kissed it & gave it to George.”  He ate it.

George Docsi said, ‘… I think there’s a little of my grandfather in me now.’”  (Robert Bly in, The Little Book on the Human Shadow p. 41)

The kissing the bread reminds us that in the Eucharist Jesus kisses the bread and the wine at the Consecration, changing them into His Body & His Blood.

Today take some time to reflect on The Eucharist the profound reverence that we should have for the Eucharist and for the PRECIOUS gift of Eucharist!

Reflect on the awesome responsibility we have to share the Good News of Jesus Christ, true God and true man, and the Gift of His Body and Blood (The Eucharist) with our world!

May God Be Praised!       

Thoughts on Prayer, the Scriptures & Inspiration from St. Basil, St. Benedicta, St. Boniface & St. Francis de Sales

"When you sit down to eat, pray. When you eat bread, do so thanking Him for being so generous to you. If you drink wine, be mindful of Him who has given it to you for your pleasure and as a relief in sickness. When you dress, thank Him for His kindness in providing you with clothes. When you look at the sky and the beauty of the stars, throw yourself at God’s feet and adore Him who in His wisdom has arranged things in this way. Similarly, when the sun goes down and when it rises, when you are asleep or awake, give thanks to God, who created and arranged all things for your benefit, to have you know, love and praise their Creator."  [St. Basil the Great]

"O my God, fill my soul with holy joy, courage and strength to serve You. Enkindle Your love in me and then walk with me along the next stretch of road before me."  [St. Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)]

"Can there be a more fitting pursuit in youth or a more valuable possession in old age than a knowledge of Holy Scripture?  In the midst of storms it will preserve you from the dangers of shipwreck and guide you to the shore of an enchanting paradise and the ever-lasting bliss of the angels." 

[St. Boniface]

  

“When God sends inspirations into a person’s heart, one of the first that is given is obedience.”  [St. Francis de Sales]

Dear Lord and Savior hear my morning prayer: help me to follow Your light
and live Your truth.  Pour out Your grace on Your sons and daughters: so, we may be Your witnesses before all the world.
Amen.

May God Be Praised!

The prophet Jeremiah didn’t mince his words regarding the bad shepherds.

“Woe to the shepherds who mislead and scatter….”  The bad shepherds remind us that evil exists, and that Satan wants his flock to grow. 

Jeremiah, also, points to the good shepherd—Jesus Christ.  Jeremiah’s life was the message to live God’s will!  We should live God’s will in our lives.

In the psalms, we pray “The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.” 

Do you believe that in your head, in your heart and in your soul?

Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “In Christ Jesus you who were far off have become near by the blood of Christ.”  De Sales had a beautiful image of the Incarnation, “God’s kiss to creation.”  That kiss created a special bond between God and us.

 

The Apostles were among the first to experience that bond in Jesus.

Reflect on the image of Jesus waiting for His friends, the Apostles, waiting for you in sacrament, in prayer.  He wanted to be with them, and He wants to be with you.  Jesus wants some special time with you today.

Can you make time for Him?

May God Be Praised!

Homily Cycle C 11/17/19

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/111719.cfm

Patrick O’Reilly was in Flanagan’s Pub, when Fr. Fitzpatrick walked in and announced that anyone who wanted to go to heaven should go over to the wall.  Everyone got up and went to the wall except O’Reilly who continued to sit at the bar.  Fr. Fitzpatrick said O’Reilly don’t you want to go to heaven, why yes, I do Father, I thought you were getting a group together to go now!

From 1996 through 2000 there was a TV program called, “Early Edition”, Kyle Chandler played Gary Holeson, a man who received the next day’s newspaper a day early.

Imagine if you had tomorrow’s news today!  The show depicted what he did with the information.  What would you do with that kind of information?  Would you use it to build up the Kingdom of God, or for some other purpose?

Today’s readings are similar to that TV plot.  The prophet Malachi almost 500  before Christ announces “… the day is coming …”, the day when we will be judged & the Kingdom of God will be realized.  The Jews in Malachi’s time were lax in keeping their religious duties, in keeping the commandments.

Maybe this story about an atheist, a priest and a rabbi can help us.

“An atheist was driving in the country when he came upon a priest & a rabbi standing on the shoulder of the road, fishing.  Next to them was a big sign that read “Turn around.  The end is near.”

The atheist took offense at the sign, rolled down his window & shouted: ‘Don’t preach to me, you religious nuts!’  A few seconds later the priest and the rabbi heard tires screech, and then a splash.  The rabbi turned to the priest and said, ‘I told you we should’ve just written. Bride Out Ahead.’”

[Guiding Light, Homilies by Fr. Joe Robinson, p.173]

St. Paul reminded the people that their relatives and friends who have died will be part of the final resurrection; AND that they should not be concerned or worry about when that will occur, rather they should get busy living the Christian life they were called to live, so when there time comes to go to the land of the living or the end of the world happens they are prepared.

“In ancient China, the people wanted security against the barbaric hordes to the north, so they built the Great Wall….  They believed no one could climb over the wall [or] break it down.  They settled back to enjoy their security.  During the 1^st hundred years of the wall’s existence, China was invaded three times.  Not once did the barbarians break the wall down or climb over it.  Each time, they simply bribed the gatekeeper and then marched right through the gates.  The moral … they forgot to teach integrity to their children.” 

In our country we have a similar problem teaching our children virtue to live by.  Richard Rich in Robert Bolt’s play, A Man for All Seasons said to St. Thomas More about being a teacher, “And if I were, who would know it?”

More responds, “Yourself, your friends, your pupils, God; pretty good public, that!”  The “… only audience worth playing for in the end is divine audience, the only drama worth acting in – even in the smallest role – is God’s.   

[The Word in and out of Season, p.266-67]

In today’s Gospel people ask Jesus, “Teacher, when will this happen?”

Jesus answered them and teaches us to do our part, preserve and live as a disciple of Jesus each day and we will “secure our lives.” 

Jesus reminds us not to get attached to the things of this world, experience them as a gift. He tells us to live life as a gift!  “This stripping away of possessions, status, and relationships happens to everyone as they die — and will one day happen to each one of us  It is not our portfolios and resumes that matter in the end, but the simple good we do that transforms lives that is our true and lasting legacy.

May God grant us the wisdom to realize what a great and lasting world we can build if we … embrace God’s grace to build… [it].”  [Connections, 11/17/19]

May God Be Praised!