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 →

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 →

One’s life does not consist of possessions

Posted on July 30, 2013 by Friar Musings

18th Sunday of Ordinary Time: Luke 12:13-21

¹³Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.” ¹⁴He replied to him, “Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?” ¹⁵Then he said to the crowd, “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.” ¹⁶Then he told them a parable. “There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest. ¹⁷He asked himself, ‘What shall I do, for I do not have space to store my harvest?’ ¹⁸And he said, ‘This is what I shall do: I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones. There I shall store all my grain and other goods ¹⁹and I shall say to myself, “Now as for you, you have so many good things stored up for many years, rest, eat, drink, be merry!” ²⁰But God said to him, ‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’ ²¹Thus will it be for the one who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich in what matters to God.” Continue reading →

Prayer, Seeking, Asking

Posted on July 24, 2013 by Friar Musings

Luke 11:1-13 – The Lord’s Prayer

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.

The Matthean form of the “Our Father” occurs in the “Sermon on the
Mount” (Matthew 6:9–15); the shorter Lucan version is presented while
Jesus is at prayer and his disciples ask him to teach them to pray just
as John taught his disciples to pray. In answer to their question, Jesus
presents them with an example of a Christian communal prayer that
stresses the fatherhood of God and acknowledges him as the one to whom
the Christian disciple owes daily sustenance, forgiveness, and
deliverance from the final trial. Continue reading →

Mary Magdalene

Posted on July 22, 2013 by Friar Musings

Magdalene Penitent
Donatello
Museo dell’Opera del Duomo – Florence

Did you know that Mary Magdalene is mentioned 12 times in the gospels, more than most of the Apostles. She was present at the crucifixion and was the first witness to the Resurrection (John 20 and Mark 16:9). She was the “Apostle to the Apostles”, an honorific that St. Augustine bestowed upon her in the fourth-century, and possibly he was but repeating a moniker already in use.

Mary Magdalene has long been confused with other women in Scripture also named Mary as well as an anonymous women, the unnamed sinner (commonly thought to have been a prostitute) in Luke 7:36-50. In time, the identities of all these women were conflated into one in the person of “Mary Magdalene, the repentant prostitute.” The first written evidence we have of this conflation of Mary Magdalene being a repentant prostitute comes from Ephraim the Syrian in the fourth century. Continue reading →

Martha and Mary

Posted on July 16, 2013 by Friar Musings

English: Johannes Vermeer’s Christ in the House of Martha and Mary (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Luke 10:38-42 – Martha and Mary

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

³⁸As they continued their journey he entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. ³⁹She had a sister named Mary (who) sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. ⁴⁰Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me.” ⁴¹The Lord said to her in reply, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. ⁴²There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.” Continue reading →

Why the Samaritan?

Posted on July 9, 2013 by Friar Musings

Vincent van Gogh, 1890. Kröller-Müller Museum....

The Good Samaritan
Vincent van Gogh, 1890
Photo credit: wikiphoto

Luke 10:25-37 – The Parable of the Good Samaritan

²⁵There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test him and said, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” ²⁶Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?” ²⁷He said in reply, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” ²⁸He replied to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.” ²⁹But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” ³⁰Jesus replied, “A man fell victim to robbers as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. They stripped and beat him and went off leaving him half-dead. ³¹A priest happened to be going down that road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. ³²Likewise a Levite came to the place, and when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. ³³But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him was moved with compassion at the sight. ³⁴He approached the victim, poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them. Then he lifted him up on his own animal, took him to an inn and cared for him. ³⁵The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction, ‘Take care of him. If you spend more than what I have given you, I shall repay you on my way back.’ ³⁶Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?” ³⁷He answered, “The one who treated him with mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.” Continue reading →

Why we rejoice…

Posted on July 5, 2013 by Friar Musings

Luke 10:1-20 (10:1-12, 17-20 is the gospel reading)
14th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

Luke 10 contains several sayings that are difficult for the church, e.g., the pronouncement of “woes” upon town and villages – difficult if you understand “woe” as a curse rather than its intended cry of disappointment. I would offer that a deeper difficulty is the sense that some people have that “mission” is part of the realm of the “professionals” in the church. The Franciscans were the first religious order to have a specifically missionary charism in our rule of life. And that is good, but does it allow admirers of St. Francis to stay on the side line and let “the professionals” take care of mission.This passage calls on all disciples to be part of mission. Continue reading →

Let me say goodbye…

Posted on June 28, 2013 by Friar Musings

The 13th Sunday of Ordinary Time: Luke 9:51-62

⁵¹When the days for his being taken up were fulfilled, he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem, ⁵²and he sent messengers ahead of him. On the way they entered a Samaritan village to prepare for his reception there, ⁵³but they would not welcome him because the destination of his journey was Jerusalem. ⁵⁴When the disciples James and John saw this they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?” ⁵⁵Jesus turned and rebuked them, ⁵⁶and they journeyed to another village. ⁵⁷As they were proceeding on their journey someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” ⁵⁸Jesus answered him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.” ⁵⁹And to another he said, “Follow me.” But he replied, ”(Lord,) let me go first and bury my father.” ⁶⁰But he answered him, “Let the dead bury their dead. But you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” ⁶¹And another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say farewell to my family at home.” ⁶²(To him) Jesus said, “No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God.” Continue reading →

Who do you say that I am ….

Posted on June 18, 2013 by Friar Musings

English: Jesus Christ – detail from Deesis mosaic, Hagia Sophia, Istanbul (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

12th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

¹⁸ Once when Jesus was praying in solitude, and the disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” ¹⁹ They said in reply, “John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, ‘One of the ancient prophets has arisen.’” ²⁰ Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter said in reply, “The Christ of God.” ²¹ He rebuked them and directed them not to tell this to anyone. ²² He said, “The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.” ²³Then he said to all, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. ²⁴ For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” (Luke 9:18-24) Continue reading →

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