Been there, done that…52 years ago!
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Author Archives: Friar Musings
Prayer: the midnight visitor
This coming Sunday is the 17th Sunday in Lectionary Cycle C. Jesus presents a parable following the lesson on how to pray:
5 And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend to whom he goes at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, 6 for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey and I have nothing to offer him,’ 7 and he says in reply from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked and my children and I are already in bed. I cannot get up to give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence. Continue reading
A Moment of Mindfulness
This morning I set out for morning walk. It all began in the darkness before dawn when the house is still. As I stretched these old bones and got ready to begin, slowly the the first light of day began to reveal a waking world. This was the view that awaited. Continue reading
Testing or Temptation?
This coming Sunday is the 17th Sunday in Lectionary Cycle C. We have been exploring some details about the Lord’s Prayer. One question that always arises in Bible studies is the meaning of the familiar form used in our liturgical settings where we are quite used to praying, “lead us not into temptation.” But note that the Lucan version in our gospel reading is “and do not subject us to the final test.” The underlying Greek word is peirasmos? Its normal meaning is “test” or “temptation” – not necessarily always with a religious connotation. In the LXX we find the ordinary senses (cf. 1 Sam. 17:39) However we also find the use of peirasmos with a religious use: divine testing, in relation to temptation to transgress God’s commands, and in regards to the human tempting of God. Here are some examples: Continue reading
Eternal
Before a baby is born, they are such a wonderful mystery. Though we can get a “peek” at them through ultrasound images, hear their heartbeat with a doppler, and speculate about what they might look like by forming a composite in our imaginations of their mom and dad’s features, we can’t really know them until they are born. And even then, though we may have dreams about what they could do and who they could be, we can’t accurately predict their futures. Continue reading
Apollo 11 and Faith
[This is a re-post from 2019 – which seemed appropriate for today]
As you no doubt are aware, we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. I certainly remember where I was on July 20, 1969. Amazing does not do justice to the feeling of that moment. We had just arrived at the front door of the universe. Who knew what was to follow? Yet, it is 50 years later, and we have time, experience, and perspective. Continue reading
The Lord’s Prayer
This coming Sunday is the 17th Sunday in Lectionary Cycle C. In yesterday’s post we considered the communal nature of the Lord’s Prayer and explored some linguistic elements. We will continue that trajectory a bit more today as we continue to look at the Matthean and Lukan presentations of this universal prayer. Continue reading
The Communal Nature of the Lord’s Prayer
This coming Sunday is the 17th Sunday in Lectionary Cycle C. In yesterday’s post we looked at the immediate and broader context for the Lukan teaching about prayer – in this passage most widely noted as “the Lord’s Prayer.”
The context for the Lord’s Prayer in Luke and Matthew (6:5-15) are quite different. Matthew is writing for Jewish Christians that share a common heritage of prayer. Thus Jesus simply begins: “But when you pray…” They seem to know how to pray and the importance of prayer, but they need further clarification about prayer – especially vis-à-vis the temple and synagogue exemplar and the pagans. In Luke, the audience, (including the disciples,) don’t know how to pray (at least as Jesus’ followers). The disciples (and Luke’s readers?) ask Jesus to teach them to pray – and this seems to be in distinction from John the Baptist’s disciples (v.1). This introduction also suggests that we are defined by our prayers. Continue reading
The Verdict
This summer we have taken time to consider the first reading from daily Mass. The reading from the Prophet Micah is well matched to the Gospel in which the scribes and the Pharisees are asking for a sign so they will know that Jesus is who he says he is and as a consequence they will know what to do. Continue reading
Prayer: a context
This coming Sunday is the 17th Sunday in Lectionary Cycle C. With the geographical note, “in a certain place” Luke has separated this narrative from the immediate context of Chapter 10 (the conclusion of the mission of the 72, the parable of the Good Samaritan, and the encounter with Martha and Mary). Luke now presents three episodes concerned with prayer:
- the first (Luke 11:1–4) recounts Jesus teaching his disciples the Christian communal prayer,
- the “Our Father”; the second (Luke 11:5–8), the importance of persistence in prayer; and
- the third (Luke 11:9–13), the effectiveness of prayer.
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