June 28, 1998Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time |
In the Mass for this Sunday, the parallel in the Gospel between the first reading from the First Book of Kings and the Gospel is very evident...the surrender we must make when we choose to follow God's call in our lives..wherever that may lead us. The Gospel is especially clear in this regard. The setting of this particular passage in Luke is a turning point in the Gospel, where Jesus sets His face toward Jerusalem, to face what God's plan had in mind for Him: His passion, death, and resurrection. He knew, as difficult as this was for His human nature, that this was what He had to accomplish to fulfill His Father's will, and so to accomplish our redemption. And, this is what He taught to the apostles.
For ourselves, the lesson from the First Book of Kings, and the Gospel is clear and dramatic. How often do we spin our wheels and expend much energy on what has happened to us in the past, and keep replaying the record of if only this or that happened instead OR we keep going back to old hurts and mistakes. The Gospel is an admonition that we cannot do this, because nothing is resolved in this manner. We must keep our eyes fixed on the Lord as we go ahead into our future. There is no other choice, if we keep in mind for us, Fr. Adrian Nocent, OSB, in the Liturgical Year, notes that This passage has evidently been chosen in order to teach us what it means to 'follow Jesus' and what demands the reading, in which we see Jesus courageously going up to Jerusalem, is part of the lesson, since Jesus is going to Jerusalem for his Passion; we are being told indirectly what 'following him' ultimately entails.
by John Joseph Cardinal Carberry
O Jesus, our great high priest, hear our humble prayers on behalf of your priests. Give them a deep faith, a bright and firm hope, and a burning love which will ever increase in the course of their priestly life. In their loneliness, comfort them. In their sorrows, strengthen them. In their frustrations, point out to them that it is through suffering that the soul is purified. Show them that they are needed by the Church, needed by souls, needed for the work of redemption. O loving Mother Mary, mother of priests, take to your heart your sons who are close to you because of their priestly ordination and because of the power which they have received to carry on the work of Christ in a world which needs them so much. Be their comfort. Be their joy. Be their strength and especially help them to live and defend the ideals of consecrated chastity. Amen.
WHY MOTHER' CRYS
Why are you crying? he asked his mom.
Because I'm a mother, she told him.
I don't understand, he said.
His mom just hugged him and said, You never will!
Later the little boy asked his father why mother
seemed to cry for no reason.
All mothers cry for no reason, was all his dad could say.
The little boy grew up and became a man, still wondering
why mothers cry. So he finally put in a call to God, and
when God got on the phone the man said,
God, why do mothers cry so easily?
God said, You see son, when I made mothers they had
to be special. I made their shoulders strong enough to
carry the weight of the world, yet gentle enough to give
comfort. I gave them an inner strength to endure
childbirth and the rejection that many times come from
their children.
I gave them a hardiness that allows them to keep going
when everyone else gives up, and to take care of their
families through sickness and fatigue without
complaining.
I gave them the sensitivity to love their children under all
circumstances, even when their child has hurt them very
badly. This same sensitivity helps them to make a child's
boo-boo feel better and helps them share a teenager's
anxieties and fears.
I gave them a tear to shed. It's theirs exclusively to use
whenever it is needed. It's their only weakness. It's a tear
for mankind.
Author Unknown
GETTING DRESSED FOR CHURCH A number of parishioners have spoken to me lately about how we dress for Church. The greatest concern is too many people dressed too casually. In most of our families, there used to be the expression dressing up for Church. Too many appear to be dressing down for Mass, in comparison with the way we dress for going to a wedding, a graduation, a funeral, or even to work. Or do we dress in the morning for the longest activity of the day (barbecuing, lounging, golfing, etc.) and go to Mass on the way. To lectors, ushers, and Holy Communion ministers, especially, I remind you to dress according to the dignity of your ministry at Mass. Please dress up for the occasion. To everyone, I call attention to the values of reverence for God, respect for all others at Mass, and modesty.
The worldwide Collection for the Works of the Holy Father, or Peter's Pence, dates back to ninth century England when King Alfred the Great collected a pence from English landowners as financial support for the pope. Pope Pius IX instituted the modern Peter's Pence Collection in the 1860s. Since then, collections have been held annually in many countries on the Sunday closest to June 29, the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul. This special collection will be taken up this weekend, June 27-28, to aid the works of the Holy Father.
Green is back. Ordinary Time is unfolding over our summer and autumn. Can you remember when the length (or absence!) of summer preaching depended on how hot it was in the church? Years ago I used to think that Ordinary Time meant boring time. Now, in my more converted state, I look at it as a journey with one of the Gospel writers. We are in Cycle C of the lectionary readings this year, so Luke will be our companion through the season. His is a marvelous account of the merciful, healing Christ. His inclusion of women in the Gospel is intriguing. Some of the best known parables appear in Luke. This summer we might do well to plow the fields of our hearts and minds with some study of (and prayer over) Luke's Gospel so that our hearing of the Word on Sunday might fall on prepared, readied soil. A sower went out to sow
. . .and some of the seed fell on good ground.
When Jesus lays down the conditions of discipleship, He adds a vivid image: if you put your hand to the plow and then turn around, you cannot be my disciple. The message is clear: The absolute value of the kingdom makes all other values relative; attachment to the plow means detachment from everything else. Most of us respond to the call of discipleship as Elisha did when God came calling through the prophet Elijah. We may want to follow but need to take care of a few things first. James and John and the unnamed characters in Luke's Gospel also want to be true disciples. They want to go with Jesus, but family obligations, sense of duty and social expectations tug at them. For us, like the characters in Luke's story, discipleship comes at a high price. We want to go with Christ, to follow where He leads, but our fear and lack of confidence, our social codes and conventions tether us. But there are certainly moments when the urgency of discipleship removes our chains and we find ourselves held in the power of God's reign. There are times when we feed the hungry, no questions asked, or speak out against oppression without concern for reputation. There are times when we reach out, touching the sick, the dying, and the addict, without concern for our own safety. Like Elisha in our first reading today, we are caught up in the promise of God's reign. When Elisha found himself wrapped in Elijah's cloak, he paused only long enough to throw a party. He then let go of what he had and moved on, following the call.
Paul urges us in the second reading to remember that we have been called to live in freedom. Yet we don't always feel free. We are constrained by deadlines and meetings, work schedules and school schedules, housekeeping and shopping and cleaning. We are tied down by car care, health care, haircuts and paying bills. The grass needs to be cut and the bushes need trimming, the children need new shoes and company's coming. Where is our freedom when life is full of endless, ordinary, often tedious tasks? When fear, anger, prejudice and isolation bind us? When we are held bound by old grudges and hurt feelings, boredom and apathy. Maybe it is easier than we want to believe. Our freedom comes in loving, in placing ourselves at the service of one another. So even in the midst of all that keeps us constrained, holds us back, if we let go and put love before all else, we shall be free and the hand will still be at the plow. True discipleship is freeing. It frees us for love; it makes us love life and all that is beautiful, true and good. It demands an eager response to an urgent calling. It demands that we love and keep moving, even when we don't know where we are headed. We long sometimes for the kind of freedom and eager living that we knew as children, for a life filled with newness and delight. We long to be wrapped each day in the power and freedom of unending love. Of course we have only to open our eyes and soak up the good that surrounds us. Then we can let it all go, say Yes, Lord, and keep on moving without looking back and with the hand still on the plow.
Father James Tobin, S.M.
Pastor
THEME: CHEAP - It never works. If we do something on the cheap, we end up cheating someone, usually ourselves. Wallpaper won't mask the deep crack in the plaster. Cramming will get us past the test, but we won't remember much the day after. A long report won't make up for a good one. Today a real, true, genuine call awaits a response in kind. No cheating.
A Reflection Celebrating our Faith...The famous American Catholic Archbishop John Ireland said at the beginning of this century: "America declared itself a republic; its government is organized democracy. In America, according to the sole legitimate government; to the republic Catholics are in conscience obliged to yield sincere and unswerving obedience. God is the giver and source of all power; of themselves men have no authority over other men. The authority of parent over child is from God, who created nature and so created the family; the authority of the State is from God, who willed that men should live within the fostering embrace of social organism. In that sense, but in no other, a government whatever the form rules by divine right. It is God who gives power, but the people choose those who hold it. This is supreme democracy; it is the understanding of Catholicism. Our combats, if combats there be, are never against the liberties of America but in defense of them; never against America but against such of its sons whose souls never have thrilled in full response to its teachings and inspiration."
Irenaeus learned about Christianity in Ephesus as a disciple of Polycarp, who knew the apostle John, supposed author of the fourth gospel. Sometime in the first century, Irenaeus went to Lyons in southern France as a teenage missionary. At that point, Lyons was the market for Europe among traders from Asia Minor, and the largest city in Roman Gaul. Ordained a priest while he was in the French missions, Irenaeus was sent to Rome to settle a dispute about the orthodox faith. When he returned to Lyons, Irenaeus was elected bishop to replace the former bishop, who had died in prison during a persecution of the church. Irenaeus is best known for his substantial work, Against the Heresies, A Defense of Christianity Against Gnosticism. He undertook several missions to reconcile various Christian sects to the orthodox mainstream, always seeking a peaceful resolution of conflicts. He died at Lyons in about the year 200.
The ministerial priesthood puts into its proper light another reality of which much should be made, namely, the royal priesthood of believers. Through the ministry of presbyters the people's spiritual sacrifice to God is brought to completeness in union with the sacrifice of Christ, our one and only Mediator.
For the celebration of the eucharist is the action of the whole Church; in it all should do only, but all of, those parts that belong to them in virtue of their place within the people of God. In this way greater attention will be given to some aspects of the eucharistic celebration that have sometimes been neglected in the course of time.
For these people are the people of God, purchased by Christ's blood, gathered together by the Lord, nourished by his word.
They are a people called to offer God the prayers of the entire human family, a people giving thanks in Christ for the mystery of salvation by offering his sacrifice.
Don't pray at Mass. Pray the Mass.
That piece of advice disoriented many Catholics in the 1960's when the church invited us to take a different role at Mass. Catholics used to go to church carrying their prayer books and rosaries so they could say their own prayers while Mass was going on. They were asked to set aside many of the prayers they used to say privately, in order to take part in the prayer going around them publicly. When you visit someone, you do not immediately use their phone to visit someone else. Having a conversation is good, but having the wrong one will distract us. While at Mass we don't avoid prayer; we as community take part in a SPECIFIC PRAYER.
Distractions come in other forms, too. You will find people reading the bulletin, balancing their checkbook, cutting their nails and adjusting their makeup during the homily, the Scripture readings or the Eucharistic Prayer. Occasionally a cellular phone or beeper rings. Sometimes we bring our own distractions. You may come to church with the intention of joining in prayer, but your mind begins to wander to the events of the day ahead, the memory of the day past, the fears you harbor, the loves you enjoy, the appearance of the church or the behavior of worshippers.
Nonetheless, our common goal is to pray the Mass. It is hard, but two activities will help: preparation at home and concentration at church. At home, you can prepare for Mass by reading the Scriptures beforehand and making time for personal prayer. Then, when you arrive at church, the skills you honed at private prayer will enhance your communal prayer. During the Mass, concentrate on the texts you sing or say. Think about the meaning of the words. Listen attentively when one of the ministers speaks. Observe the silences with reverence and purpose. Distractions will be fewer when our preparation and concentration grow stronger.
by Paul Turner
Finally, they are a people growing together into unity by sharing in Christ's body and blood. These people are holy by their origin, but becoming even more holy by conscious, active, and fruitful participation in the mystery of the eucharist.
--General Instruction of the Roman Missal, #5.
