“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother. If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that ‘every fact may be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church.” (Matthew 18:15-17)
Will you be transformed? At one level that is the most basic question that is being asked of you each time you encounter the Word of God – proclaimed here in Church or in that still small whisper at the edge of your life or in the well of your soul. Will you be transformed?
Transformation is the very work of the Word of God. “In the beginning was the Word…. All things came to be through him… What came to be through him was life.” Transformation from nothingness to a world created, a world filled and teeming with life. Such is the power one encounters in the Word of God: creative, transforming, bestowing life to the fullest. Continue reading
Did you know you are a priest? It is part of Catholic teaching that because of your baptism you share in a universal priesthood. Although having a different implication of such a priesthood, the German protestant Martin Luther described it this way: “The fact that we are all priests… means that each of us Christians may go before God and intercede for the other, If I notice that you have no faith or a weak faith, I can ask God to give you a strong faith.” Cardinal George, speaking about service, says a similar thing when he wrote: “Every Christian is someone else’s priest, and we are all priests to one another.” It seems to me that these notions of service as part of the universal priesthood very well fit the very readings on Holy Thursday, when we celebrate the sacramental priesthood, as Jesus takes off his cloak, puts on an apron and serves the disciples in the most menial of tasks: washing feet. The sacramental priesthood rests upon the more intrinsic foundation of the universal priesthood in which we all have the call to service because we are impelled by the love of God. Continue reading
Matthew 15:21-28 21 Then Jesus went from that place and withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out, “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.” 23 But he did not say a word in answer to her. His disciples came and asked him, “Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.” 24 He said in reply, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25 But the woman came and did him homage, saying, “Lord, help me.” 26 He said in reply, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” 27 She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.” 28 Then Jesus said to her in reply, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed from that hour.
Between the 19th and 20th Sundays in Year A, Mt 15:1-21 are passed over. In order to provide a context let us briefly describe the events which leads us to Jesus’ encounter with the Canaanite woman. Continue reading
A routine anchors us in life, but sometimes the problem is that it anchors us in life. Keeps us from those wide swaths of life where things are unpredictable. Where things get lost. Once in a while we need to get lost.
Elijah the prophet is lost. Alone, isolated, without friends or support. King Ahab and Queen Jezebel have the army out trying to hunt down Elijah – and they mean to do him harm, to take his life. Elijah is lost and on the edge of gone – and he encounters God. Continue reading
In many and varied ways, we are so often asked: “What do you want.” Often the question is asked around the topic of food: what do you want for dinner tonight; at restaurants “what can I get you” or “what’ll you have.” We are sometimes asked what we want for birthdays or Christmas. There are many times and circumstances we hear the word: “What do you want?”
God comes to King Solomon in a dream and basically asks, “What do you want?” And suddenly the stakes are a whole lot higher than dinner or birthdays. And it raises the question for us – are we remotely prepared to answer that question? Are we ready to stand before God who is always reaching out to us and saying: “Ask something of me and I will give it to you” ? Continue reading
Back in the day when I owned a home in the Catoctin hills of Northern Virginia, one summer I decided to plant a garden. I knew nothing about the endeavor, but I did check a book out of the library. I decided to try only three things: tomatoes, yellow squash and peas. It wasn’t going to be a large project, but I have to admit I had an inner vision of this garden, rows in prefect, soil turned up just so, and weed free – all due to my meticulous care and fastidiousness in proper vegetable garden maintenance. My neighbor Bill Leigh, came over one day. He explained the difference between peas and this other thing in my garden which he called pigweed. There was difference that he could see and that I could pretend to see. Of course I wanted to weed the whole thing right then and there. Bill said it was too late to do that as I would just uproot my entire crop of peas. Continue reading
As you probably know, this summer we have been taking a look at the people, events and issues of the Protestant Reformations of the 16th century. Among the Reformers there was a far greater emphasis placed on Scripture and preaching the Word. John Calvin’s typical Sunday homily seems to have been about 2 hours. John Knox’s homilies often had intermissions. Hard to imagine, heh? But it was a different era – not just because Sunday was dedicated to church, worship, and little else – but because for that generation of people, Scripture was coming alive for the first time. When the Zurich reformer Zwingli first began to preach he started at the beginning of the Gospel according to Matthew. Sunday after Sunday he worked his way through the whole Gospel, proclaiming, teaching, cajoling, and encouraging people to embrace and be embraced by God. The Word of God set people ablaze. Continue reading
Everything you need to know about life you can learn from backpacking and camping… Back in the day, I used to camp and backpack in Virginia and West Virginia. Generally it was just for a weekend – maybe two or three days. We would carry everything in/out. I remember having fun, enjoying it all, but I always felt like I need a day to recover. There was always a stiffness about my neck, arms, shoulders, upper back and all the rest that is connected to those parts. I could still feel the after effects of the pack’s burden. “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” – There were treks when I would have been more than happy to let Jesus carry that burden. Continue reading
“…you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church” Let’s be honest, at first glance, Peter seems a bit shaky to be the one to lead Christ’s Church. Peter stumbled, fell, and he denied – and for good measure, denied a few more times. Peter did not always “get it;” he struggled to understand. And even when he did understand, there was often a slight hesitation— unsure what to do, some fear that he would get it wrong. A lot like you and me. “…you are John or Jane, Jack or Jill, and upon you I will build my family, my company, my hopes and dreams, ”
And then people made demands upon us and tasked us spiritually, emotionally, physically. Peter was someone who knew fatigue, knew failure, and reached that place where just like us he thought to himself: “give me a break; just give me an hour to myself…..” In those moments we do not feel like anyone’s “rock.” Continue reading
friarmusings 