Character Matters

Posted on October 22, 2020 by Friar Musings

Yesterday in Philadelphia, former President Barak Obama gave a speech in support of his former Vice-President, Joe Biden. I have no doubt that potential GOP voters dismissed the speech without listening to it or reading it. I have little doubt that potential Democratic voters accepted it in glowing terms, even if they also did not listen to it or read it. And I have no doubt that some now reading this post will think, “I knew it, he is a ______” (please fill in the blank as you see fit; for the record I am unaffiliated and quite independent). But, one might wonder why I posted this. The reason is simple and has come out in many homilies over the years. “The thoughts we have become the words we speak. The word we speak shape the actions we take. The actions we take form the habits we develop. The habits we develop reveal the character we possess. The character we possess shapes our destiny.” We Christians are asked to take all that and ask, “Do the thoughts, words, actions, habits and character we display reflect the image of God, the likeness of Christ to others?”

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Peace and Division

Posted on October 22, 2020 by Friar Musings

“I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!” (Luke 12:49) Our gospel text is not one you find on many refrigerator doors or on greeting cards. The image of Jesus in these text is upsetting to one who only seeks the meek and mild Jesus. Having begun with an exhortation to courage in the face of tribulation, continuing with a warning against avarice in the face of fear, Jesus now raises the issue of judgment. The people are called to conversion before it is too late.

Throughout Luke 12 Jesus has continued to call for people to “see,” a message that has been present since the beginning of the mission of the 72 others in the beginning of Luke 10. A message made clear upon their return: “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I say to you, many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.” (Luke 10:23-24). Along the continuing journey to Jerusalem each person becomes an opportunity for Jesus to help them (and the crowds) to see more clearly, more richly: the scholar of the Law in Luke 10:25 ff; Martha and Mary (vv.38-42); the disciples in Luke 11, as well as the Pharisees in that same encounter; and Jesus continually speaks so that they will become “rich in what matters to God” (Luke 12:21). But in the end a decision is always needed. Continue reading →

When He Comes

Posted on October 21, 2020 by Friar Musings

One of the themes of this week’s gospels asks if the Lord, at his return, will find faithful people: “You also must be prepared,for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.” (Luke 12:40 from today’s gospel) Yesterday Jesus warns his disciples that they are to have their lights at the ready, lit, and prepared for His return. So, if the Lord came today, are you prepared? Continue reading →

The Light

Posted on October 20, 2020 by Friar Musings

One of the great communal celebrations is to welcome an infant into the community through the waters of Baptism. There are many ways in which the celebration occurs, depending on the construction of the church – especially the location of the baptismal font. At my previous parish, to give you an idea, there was no narthex. The large wooden front doors were perhaps 16 feet behind the last pew and opened up to the sidewalk and the main downtown thoroughfare.

It was right at the front doors that we greeted the beaming family and their newborn, along with the godparents. The first part of the Baptismal ritual occurred there at the doors of the church, the family was escorted to their pew in the front of the church as part of the entry procession, and we continued with the celebration of Mass. Continue reading →

Greed

Posted on October 19, 2020 by Friar Musings

“Take care to guard against all greed” (Luke 12:15; from today’s gospel.) The text uses two verbs (horate & phylassesthe) in the present tense imperatives, i.e., continual action, in other words “continually take care” and “continually guard yourself from.” Perhaps this is a Lucan warning that the human condition is akin to alcoholics and their desire for alcohol, we are never cured of our greediness. We are always in recovery; always in need to watch out for and to guard ourselves from this evil power in our lives. Continue reading →

Centrality of Love

Posted on October 19, 2020 by Friar Musings

Next Sunday is the celebration of the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time. You can read a complete commentary on the Gospel here.

³⁴When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, ³⁵and one of them (a scholar of the law) tested him by asking, ³⁶“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” ³⁷He said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. ³⁸This is the greatest and the first commandment. ³⁹The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. ⁴⁰The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:34-40) Continue reading →

Images

Posted on October 18, 2020 by Friar Musings

It was a straight up trap from the outset. A plan to put Jesus between the proverbial “rock-and-a-hard-place.” Pay the tax and one side thinks you are a heretic and are capitulating to a pagan emperor who thinks himself divine. Don’t pay the tax and the other side sees you a seditious and a problem to be immediately dealt with. Seems like a lose-lose proposition.

Jesus’ answer is: “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” Nice. Maybe we can think of it as a biblical “drop the mic” moment. There is a part of me that wants to revel in Jesus’ victory and turn the page. And there is the inner voice that tells me to wait a moment. If the Bible is really a book of questions, then what am I being asked to consider? Continue reading →

Holiness

Posted on October 17, 2020 by Friar Musings

God’s holiness is rooted in his unique identity as the creator of the cosmos and the powerful source of all life and beauty and goodness. However, the power of God’s holiness is also dangerous to us as mortal creatures. But, in God’s desire to partner with humanity, he made a way for us to access his holy presence safely through Jesus. Jesus applies the dangerous heat of God’s holiness to the things that separate us from God.

As we read the Bible, we see that wherever Jesus goes, sickness is healed, brokenness is made whole, and death gives into life. This tells us something significant about what it means to participate with Jesus’ ongoing work in the world. Those who follow Jesus are called to be agents of God’s transforming holiness.

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Less clear and more difficult

Posted on October 15, 2020 by Friar Musings

Today’s daily readings for Mass can be found here. If you would like to read an introductory post for the reading this week, you can find that here.

Then one of the scholars of the law said to him in reply, “Teacher, by saying this you are insulting us too.”⁴⁶ And he said, “Woe also to you scholars of the law! You impose on people burdens hard to carry, but you yourselves do not lift one finger to touch them.⁴⁷ Woe to you! You build the memorials of the prophets whom your ancestors killed.⁴⁸ Consequently, you bear witness and give consent to the deeds of your ancestors, for they killed them and you do the building.⁴⁹ Therefore, the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send to them prophets and apostles; some of them they will kill and persecute’⁵⁰ in order that this generation might be charged with the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world,⁵¹ from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who died between the altar and the temple building. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be charged with their blood! Continue reading →

Real Strength