Category Archives: Sunday Morning

“The” Faith

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I am partial to the Gospel according to Luke. I think his writing is good at telling the story and leaving room for the hearer to work though the implications of it all.  Some of the most memorable parables – the Good Samaritan, the Prodigal Son, Lazarus and the Rich Man, and more are all unique to Luke’s gospel. Also, Luke is particular about his choice of words and phrases – the small nuances of language find their place in his telling of Jesus’ story.

Today we have one of those small curiosities of language: But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? (Luke 18:8).  What the Greek actually says is not “find faith” but “find the faith.” It is the only place in all of Luke’s gospel he uses this phrase.  In fact it is the only place in all the New Testament. Maybe it’s nothing, but then again, as he often does, maybe Luke is trying to tell us something in this small parable of the persistent widow and the unjust judge. Continue reading →

Becoming Grateful

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francisbrnOn his way to Jerusalem, Jesus meets 10 lepers. They ask for mercy, they are cured, and told to show themselves to the priest who will verify their healing and ritually cleanse them so that they can re-enter society. Only one returns to thank Jesus.  There are lots of commentaries and folks who conclude that the other nine, in some way, lack gratitude.

Could be, but I don’t think so… who wouldn’t be grateful to be cured of this dread disease? Who wouldn’t be grateful for being restored to their family and community?  Grateful, that they are no longer banished from the towns, the market, and the usual ebb and flow of life; no longer consigned to beg day upon day without end. I suspect they were grateful. Continue reading →

Empathy

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empathy2Three short verses that paint quite a picture.  “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, who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table. Dogs even used to come and lick his sores.”  Three short verses that have been captured in artwork across the ages. Three short verses have enough vividness to conjure an image in our own mind’s eye.  Can you conjure the image for yourself? “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, who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table. Dogs even used to come and lick his sores.”  What part of the imagery draws your mind’s eye? Is it the rich man?  Does he look smug? Happy? Oblivious?  Unaware? Occupied with more weighty matters? Continue reading →

Prodigal, dishonest, and desperately clutching

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In Jesus’ time, large agricultural operations such as the one described in our gospel parable were rarely run by the owner or the family, such things were left to the steward to oversee. The steward had the full faith and backing of the owner to operate the business. The steward would sell the oil and wheat production for cash, trade, or  in exchange for promissory notes. The bartering that preceded the execution of the promissory note was classic commodity bargaining:  I will give you so many measure of oil now, and at this future date you will repay with a higher measure of oil.  There were two thing buried in the difference between the higher amount and the original amount: profit for the owner and commission for the steward. That was the way things worked. Continue reading →

The Dishonest Steward – 7 Different Whys

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English: An etching by Jan Luyken illustrating...

Using Wealth to Make Friends. The story begins when charges are brought to the rich man that the steward was squandering the rich man’s property.  Similar to the rich fool (12:17), the steward begins an internal dialogue: “What shall I do?” (See the “Note” on Luke 16:1 below) Clearly the steward does not like his options: I am not strong enough to dig and I am ashamed to beg” (v.3).  He thus concocts a plan to be welcomed into another rich man’s home once he has been dismissed from his current position. As the parable unfolds we see that the steward quickly decides and acts and goes about reducing an established debt owed to his current employers.  The first debtor owes 900 gallons of oil; the second owes a huge amount of grain. These are well beyond household quantities and reflect a commercial operation. Continue reading →

A Holiness Project

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Earlier this week, after reading the gospel for the weekend, there was a part of me that instinctively turned to the other readings for a hint about the homily.  The language of the gospel is extreme: hating one’s family members, carrying our cross or we can’t be disciples. “anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.” Sure, I can explain the underlying Greek meaning and all the rest. And yes, I recognize the language of hyperbole to make a point… still… Continue reading →

A Thought for Labor Day

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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

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holy-saturdayIf 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

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

 

1 On a sabbath he went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees, and the people there were observing him carefully. … 7  He 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, 9 and 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. 10 Rather, 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. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” 12 Then 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. 13 Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; 14 blessed 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

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Crowned Madonna Della Strada in the Church of ...

“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 →