Resolutions and Insanity

Posted on December 29, 2013 by Friar Musings

Unless you happen to be like my muse, Calvin, in the comic strip, I suspect you are about to make some New Year’s resolutions. How did you do on last year’s resolutions? About the same as the rest of us? One ad hominem wisdom saying defines “insanity” this way: to keep doing the same thing and expect a different result. Perhaps 2014 is a time to consider changing the way resolutions are considered, made, and hopefully, kept.

During the Advent season, many people took the opportunity to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation as a spiritual preparation for Christmas and the New Year. When someone lists out their sins and the areas of their lives that are in need of God’s forgiveness, I often respond with, “If you could only work on one thing from your list, what would be the priority? What would be the one thing you would take into prayer and ask God’s help?” Most people intuitively know their lives and have an answer. I encourage them to do just that: focus on that one thing with God’s help. Continue reading →

The Angel of Discomfort

Posted on December 23, 2013 by Friar Musings

“When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home” (Matthew 1:24)

I don’t know about you, but I have done lots of things that were commanded of me. I have done them gladly. I have done them with a simmering resentment. I have done them out of Catholic guilt and fear of punishment. I have done them with love and joy. I have done them with little reaction or second thought.

I wonder about Joseph. He did as the angle of the Lord had commanded him, but what was he thinking or feeling. What was his reaction? I realize that the Gospel is telling a larger story, but still…. I wonder about Joseph who appears so briefly and then disappears from the Gospels. Continue reading →

Advent Advice

Posted on December 9, 2013 by Friar Musings

We gets lots of advice all through our lifetime. And it comes from many different venues. For example: advice on the best schools, places to live and vacation, and places to dine. If you buy a book on Amazon, they are quick to advise you on other books that you should purchase. We are constantly bombarded with fashion advice. I have to admit I don’t pay too much attention these days to fashion advice. These days, my wardrobe consists of a basic brown Franciscan habit and minimal accessories – a knotted white cord to be precise. Continue reading →

The Roar of Advent

Posted on December 3, 2013 by Friar Musings

When you tell people you grew up or live in central Florida, it is my experience that within a few minutes, the conversation will turn to Disney World. I can remember hearing the news that the Magic Kingdom was coming. It was exciting. Can you imagine? A Sunday night staple in our house was the TV show, the “Magical World of Disney” – and that magical world was coming to us. Anaheim had Disney Land, but we were getting a whole world, the whole Disney experience!

In the 40 years since the park opened, the “Disney Experience” has only expanded. It seems to me that when you take it all in , Disney offers a happy future come true today where everyone is pleasant, cheerful, and are there to help you at every turn. Everything is immaculately clean; why …. it is almost magical ! Continue reading →

The King of Hearts

Posted on November 24, 2013 by Friar Musings

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua – some of the great names of Israel’s history. And none of them were king. Yet under the leadership of God, they led Israel from slavery to the freedom of the promised land. Deborah, Gideon, Samson – none of them were kings, yet under the leadership of God, these Judges united Israel to defend itself and identity against the other nations. To be the qahal Yahweh– the people of God. And the last of the judges was Samuel. It was to Samuel that the people came and said “Now that you are old, and your sons do not follow your example, appoint a king over us, as other nations have, to judge us.” When Samuel prayed about this before the Lord, God said in answer: “Grant the people’s every request. It is not you they reject, they are rejecting me as their king.” Continue reading →

End Times and Becoming

Posted on November 21, 2013 by Friar Musings

Thirty-Third Sunday Ordinary Time

Lo, the day is coming, blazing like an oven,
when all the proud and all evildoers will be stubble,
and the day that is coming will set them on fire,
leaving them neither root nor branch (Mal 3:19)

This is the kind of reading that brings back memories of growing up in the South. I would sneak off to summer tent revivals and listen to the pastors preach up a holy firestorm of hell and damnation. There was such passion, rhythm, and vitality – it almost as though they were the Sirens to my Ulysses. It was a preaching that left no doubt that the end was near, to get right with God, and to make amends. Continue reading →

Finding the Lost…and then what?

Posted on November 3, 2013 by Friar Musings

Zacchaeus was the chief tax collector and a wealthy man. In his day and age these were not things that would endear him to his fellow Jews. Zacchaeus worked for the occupying Roman government, extorted taxes and fees from his own countrymen, and became wealthy in the process. He was not part of the Roman world. He was not part of the Jewish world. He is betwixt and between. He is lost

“For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.” The story of Jesus and Zacchaeus is a story of the seeker encountering the lost. And in that encounter, what was lost is found. A heart was changed. The one whose choices in life led to exclusion from his people and family seems to have made an abrupt about-face. Choices were being unmade and consequences of choices were bring undone. Continue reading →

Finishing the Race

Posted on October 27, 2013 by Friar Musings

“Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.” Well, I sure hope this parable isn’t addressed to me. It is just a story, a parable, right?

But then stories and parables invite us to identify with characters – even if we don’t get a lot of choices here. We can be the Pharisee, but then it’s pretty clear that’s not a great choice. You can almost hear the hubris, the pride, and the scorn in his prayer: “O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity – greedy, dishonest, adulterous – or even like this tax collector.”

I suspect most of us would favor the tax collector. He seems to be the epitome of humility, is sincere, prayerful, and a model of conversion and penitence. Continue reading →

“The” Faith

Posted on October 26, 2013 by Friar Musings

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

Posted on October 13, 2013 by Friar Musings

On 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 →

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the musings of a Franciscan friar…

Category Archives: Sunday Morning