Monthly Archives: October 2021

Who are you?

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Recently our Sunday gospel recounted the story of Jesus’ question to the disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” (Mark 8:29)  It is a question we should each be able to answer in a way that reflects the impact and meaning that Jesus has in our life. Thomas’s answer, “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28) is a great answer, but perhaps just a summary. What are the details? Can you combine your answer with the admonition of 1 Peter 3:15 (Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope)?

I wonder if there is also an “always be ready” moment to think about who people say that you are? Hopefully your thoughts on the matter are close to the answer others would give…but, these days, I wonder. We live in a world in which our political affiliations are increasingly the lens by which we see and are seen. Continue reading →

Who knew…

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Merriam-Webster defines “sloth” as a “disinclination to action or labor” and “spiritual apathy and inactivity” – as in the deadly sin of sloth. All this is not exactly fair to the slow-moving arboreal edentate mammals. To be fair, the “disinclination” meaning came first. When the sloth was observed by Spanish explorers, the moniker was assigned to the animal who observed to sleep as much as 20 hours a day. What they did not notice was that the sloth is an amazing swimmer and able to hold its breath up to 40 minutes. And they may not have noticed the sloth noticing them given the sloth can rotate its head 270 degrees in either direction. Still the name stuck. So… don’t be slothful, but congratulate a sloth should you happen to meet one in the wild. Continue reading →

Bartimaeus: mercy

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This coming Sunday is the 30th Sunday in lectionary cycle B. The gospel is the story of Bartimaeus, a blind man, who cries out to Jesus for pity: On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.”  And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he kept calling out all the more, “Son of David, have pity on me.” Though Bartimaeus was blind, he understood a great deal about Jesus.  Continue reading →

Checking In

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Even in these times, when like Punxsutawney Phil the groundhog, we emerge from our pandemic shells, if you are attentive, you begin to notice the tidal changes in daily life. As you adjust to the new normal, now is a good time to consider things. Maybe some of the basics. For example, what am I grateful for in my life? And then consider if you have given any demonstrable witness to that gratitude. Maybe, “I am grateful for my family” is on the list, but have you expressed it to them? Continue reading →

Choosing Sides

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Remember grade school and picking teams at recess for activities like dodgeball? If you were assigned as captain and had first pick, you wanted to pick “the one,’ the sure winner, the thoroughbred on which to ride all the way to the finish line.

The first reading is from the Letter to the Romans.There is always a lot going on in St. Paul’s epistles and the Letter to the Romans is as complex as it gets. He is offering that you are captain for something way more important than dodgeball teams. It’s your pick. Which one will you choose?

I think we need a scorecard to keep track of two different “the one’s.”

This One
This one disobeyed God
This one became a sinner and so did we all
Through this one, sin entered the world
Condemnation came to this one and then all
Death followed for this one and then for all, plus eternal damnation
Through this one sin and death reigned

That One
That One is God
That One  was sinless
Through that One grace entered the world
Salvation for all came from that One
Justification for Eternal life for all came from that One
Through this one love, love and the Kingdom reigned

“Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival.” …and who picked the right One. “Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them.” (Luke 12:37) Such is the Kingdom of God.

If you would like to watch a great introduction to the Letter to the Romans, our friends at The Bible Project have a two-part video series you should watch: Romans Chapter 1-4 (7 minutes) and Chapters 5-18 (9 minutes). It is an amazing introduction to one of the most theologically dense epistles.

Your Friends Make Known

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The refrain from today’s psalm proclaims: “Your friends make known, O Lord, the glorious splendor of your Kingdom.” The words of psalm are taken from Psalm 145, verses 10-18.  The words proclaim the glory of God and the splendor of His Kingdom. They extol the justice, power and holiness of God’s works. The words announce the everlasting presence of the kingdom and the call to all to draw near.

I would have picked different verses from the same psalm.

In the first readings Paul makes mention of his friends who work to make known the kingdom and the Messiah. In the gospel, Jesus commissions 72 friends (He calls them “disciples”) “whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit.” Their instructions included the command to “say to them, ‘The Kingdom of God is at hand for you.’”

I would have picked Psalm 145:3-7

“Great is the LORD and worthy of much praise, whose grandeur is beyond understanding. One generation praises your deeds to the next and proclaims your mighty works. They speak of the splendor of your majestic glory, tell of your wonderful deeds. They speak of the power of your awesome acts and recount your great deeds. They celebrate your abounding goodness and joyfully sing of your justice.”

One generation to the next, each one proclaiming the mighty works of God.

Here on the Feast of St. Luke the Evangelist, let us give thanks to God that he did what was his to do, passing on to countless generations the account of the mighty works of God in the person of Jesus, the Messiah, and in life of the early Church. Let us pray that we fulfill our role in passing on the story to the current and the next generation.

Oops…. forgot to post this yesterday!

Bartimaeus: context

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This coming Sunday is the 30th Sunday in lectionary cycle B. The gospel is the story of Bartimaeus, a blind man, who cries out to Jesus for pity. Despite the rebuke of the bystanders, Bartimaeus calls out even more vigorously. And in so doing he encounters Jesus who asks, “What do you want me to do for you?” Our text serves as a dramatic contrast to the past two assigned gospels. Two weeks ago we had the man who had kept all of the commandments from his youth and who had many possessions, taken as a 1st century sign that he had been blessed by God. But he is not able to part with his possessions. He is not able to follow Jesus. In our text, we have a man who is blind and a beggar, understood as signs that he was a “sinner” and not blessed by God (see John 9 for this traditional view and Jesus’ rejection of it). However, the blind-beggar, throws off his cloak (v. 50), perhaps his only possession, and is able to follow Jesus. Continue reading →

Francis and the leper: accounts

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In the previous three posts, we reviewed some historical context and background for our consideration of the accounts of St. Francis and the Leper. When Franciscans recount the story of Francis and the leper, one might presume that they are telling a story from a common core, perhaps even an official recounting of the story as approved by a Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor. Yea… not so much. Every medieval source has its own goal, tone, genre and point of view. And that is especially true in the period beginning some 20 years after Francis’ death (d.1226). In the post-Francis world of Franciscan, as noted in a previous post. The intra-Franciscan factions slowly came to the fore and were readily distinguishable. There was no group that was wrong, but then again, each one emphasized one aspect of “the life” they believed Francis wanted for his religious order. One group believed poverty/destitution was Francis’ intent. Another held up obedience – after all the first vow of obedience was (and still is) to the Pope – and topic Francis most often wrote about. Chastity was not the basis of one of the factions.  What about the third group? They were more of the “can’t we all just get along” after all fraternity was paramount. It is 800+ years later and the same discussion continues on. Each group, consciously or not, promoted their own understanding of Francis in the stories they told, the traits they emphasize, their own goals for the narrative and all that makes hagiography different than history. Continue reading →