About Friar Musings

Franciscan friar and Catholic priest at St. Francis of Assisi in Triangle, VA

The Fine Print

Posted on September 3, 2013 by Friar Musings

²⁵Great crowds were traveling with him, and he turned and addressed them, ²⁶“If any one comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. ²⁷Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. ²⁸Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion? ²⁹Otherwise, after laying the foundation and finding himself unable to finish the work the onlookers should laugh at him ³⁰and say, ‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.’ ³¹Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down and decide whether with ten thousand troops he can successfully oppose another king advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops? ³²But if not, while he is still far away, he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms. ³³In the same way, everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple. Continue reading →

A Thought for Labor Day

Posted on September 2, 2013 by Friar Musings

Jesus was a master of the story form known as parables. One of the most memorable parables can be found in Luke: the story of Lazarus and the Rich man (Luke 16:19-31). The parable starts simply enough: “There was a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen and dined sumptuously each day. And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores.” Very quickly in the parable the two men die. The unnamed rich man goes to a fiery afterlife of torment while Lazarus rests in the arms of Abraham, awaiting the day when Jesus will open the gates of Heaven for the faithful. Continue reading →

What a person is before God

Posted on September 1, 2013 by Friar Musings

If this week’s readings contain any one warning about the human condition it is that too often we are concerned about honor. In the gospel account it is connected with desiring seats of honor. There is nothing wrong with honor or being honored; what is disordered is when a person seeks the bestowal of honor as a right, something earned, or demanded. Then honor is just the surface symptom of Pride – a sin as deadly as they come and as old as time. As Proverb 16 tells us, “Pride goes before disaster, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” (Pr 16:18). Continue reading →

Humility

Posted on August 29, 2013 by Friar Musings

Luke 14:1, 7-14
22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

¹On a sabbath he went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees, and the people there were observing him carefully. …⁷He told a parable to those who had been invited, noticing how they were choosing the places of honor at the table. ⁸“When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not recline at table in the place of honor. A more distinguished guest than you may have been invited by him, ⁹and the host who invited both of you may approach you and say, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then you would proceed with embarrassment to take the lowest place. ¹⁰Rather, when you are invited, go and take the lowest place so that when the host comes to you he may say, ‘My friend, move up to a higher position.’ Then you will enjoy the esteem of your companions at the table. ¹¹For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” ¹²Then he said to the host who invited him, “When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. ¹³Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; ¹⁴blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” Continue reading →

The Queenship of Mary

Posted on August 22, 2013 by Friar Musings

“Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy….” So begins one of the prayers from our Catholic treasury. Have you ever wondered why we use the title “Queen” for Mary?

The beginning of the concept that Mary is a Queen is found in the annunciation narrative. For the angel tells her that her Son will be King over the house of Jacob forever. So she, His Mother, would be a Queen. While in our age we are quick to think that “queen” means wife of the king, the meaning in ancient Israel also included the mother of the king, the “Queen Mother.” The first formal definition and basis for the later title “Mary Queen of Heaven” developed at the Council of Ephesus, where Mary was proclaimed as “theotokos” (lit. “God bearer”) or in English, the Mother of God. The Council fathers specifically approved this version against the opinion that Mary is “only” the mother of Jesus. Nobody had participated in the life of her son more than Mary, who gave birth to the Son of God. Continue reading →

First and Last

Posted on August 21, 2013 by Friar Musings

21st Sunday in Year C
Luke 13:22-30

²²He passed through towns and villages, teaching as he went and making his way to Jerusalem. ²³Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” He answered them, ²⁴“Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough. ²⁵After the master of the house has arisen and locked the door, then will you stand outside knocking and saying, ‘Lord, open the door for us.’ He will say to you in reply, ‘I do not know where you are from.’ ²⁶And you will say, ‘We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.’ ²⁷Then he will say to you, ‘I do not know where (you) are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers!’ ²⁸And there will be wailing and grinding of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves cast out. ²⁹And people will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will recline at table in the kingdom of God. ³⁰For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.” Continue reading →

Fire and Division

Posted on August 13, 2013 by Friar Musings

Luke 12:49-53 (20th Sunday in Ordinary Time)

⁴⁹“I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! ⁵⁰There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished! ⁵¹Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. ⁵² From now on a household of five will be divided, three against two and two against three; ⁵³a father will be divided against his son and a son against his father, a mother against her daughter and a daughter against her mother, a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.” Continue reading →

Mindfulness

Posted on August 11, 2013 by Friar Musings

“Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival.” (Luke 12:37).

The underlying Greek word “vigilant” is also used in the parable of the “Wise and Foolish Virgins” who fall asleep when the bridegroom is coming. It is the same root word used when Jesus admonishes the apostles sleeping the in Garden of Gethsemane. These and other passages always bring out the worry wart in me. People, good people, at the gate to the wedding banquet, present with the Lord while he prays – and they are asleep, not paying attention, or distracted. What about me? Am I wasting time, working on the wrong things? Am I asleep at the switch, or unprepared and without a clue? Am I vigilant about my faith? Hmm…, am I vigilant about my faith? Continue reading →

Buidling New Barns

Posted on August 7, 2013 by Friar Musings

Thoughts on Luke 12:31-21, the 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Inheritance and riches being stored up – certainly two strong images from this Sunday’s gospel. Themes not uncommon in the gospels. St. Luke also tells the story of the man who comes to Jesus and asks, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” After learning from the man that he had followed all the commandments Jesus tells him, “There is still one thing left for you: sell all that you have and distribute it to the poor, and you will have a treasure in heaven. (Luke 18) It is a recurring message from Jesus that wealth, riches – in themselves not bad – just have a way of getting in the way of the true inheritance. The man goes away sad – he just can’t let go of his wealth, can’t let go of the one thing that keeps him from following Jesus. He is likely a good person – both in his own mind and in the thoughts of others – yet there is a hidden, unseen greed operative in his life. A covert greed that has become, as St. Paul says, an idolatry keeping him away from true and right worship. Continue reading →

Vigilant and Ready to Serve

Posted on August 6, 2013 by Friar Musings

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Luke 12:35-48

Our gospel follows after the Parable of the Rich Fool (18^th Sunday in Ordinary Time; Luke 12:13-21). Unfortunately, the passage in between (vv.22-34) is not used for a Sunday gospel – yet it carries an important context for our passage and serves as a bridge between the lesson of the rich fool and our text which seems to speak of the second coming of the Son of Man and the judgment that awaits. Continue reading →

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