There is no place like home

Posted on March 24, 2018 by Friar Musings

A few years ago, William J. O’Malley wrote about “taking the long way home.” It was a wonderful “musing” on the classic movie, “The Wizard of Oz.” We were reminded about the archetypal scene when Dorothy’s house lands on the Wicked Witch and then Glinda, the good witch, shows up and magically transfers the ruby slippers to Dorothy. As the ending of the movie makes clear, all Dorothy had to do was click her heels and proclaim, “There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home.” Why didn’t Glinda tell Dorothy that at the very beginning? Continue reading →

A different context in which to hear

Posted on March 20, 2018 by Friar Musings

The Book of Numbers 21:4-9:

With their patience worn out by the journey, the people complained against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water? We are disgusted with this wretched food!” In punishment the LORD sent among the people saraph serpents, which bit the people so that many of them died. Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned in complaining against the LORD and you. Pray the LORD to take the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people, and the LORD said to Moses, “Make a saraph and mount it on a pole, and if any who have been bitten look at it, they will live.” Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole, and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent looked at the bronze serpent, he lived. Continue reading →

Palm Sunday

Posted on March 19, 2018 by Friar Musings

¹When they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples ²and said to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately on entering it, you will find a colt tethered on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it here. ³If anyone should say to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ reply, ‘The Master has need of it and will send it back here at once.’” ⁴So they went off and found a colt tethered at a gate outside on the street, and they untied it. ⁵Some of the bystanders said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” ⁶They answered them just as Jesus had told them to, and they permitted them to do it. ⁷So they brought the colt to Jesus and put their cloaks over it. And he sat on it. ⁸Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. ⁹Those preceding him as well as those following kept crying out: “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! ¹⁰Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is to come! Hosanna in the highest!” ¹¹He entered Jerusalem and went into the temple area. He looked around at everything and, since it was already late, went out to Bethany with the Twelve. Continue reading →

Strangers here?

Posted on March 17, 2018 by Friar Musings

During the last several months, there have been lots of visitors celebrating Eucharist with us. They come from points north where winter has been unrelenting and particularly harsh this year. They are easy to spot. While we have all donned our sweaters and jackets, they are in shorts, polos, and flip-flops. Many of them introduce themselves to me after Mass and comment on what a beautiful church and how welcoming we are as a parish. They tell me of the great experience of parishioners greeting them, chatting with them, and making them feel welcomed. One couple remarked “There are just no strangers in your parish!” As pastor, it affirms that we are what we profess in a tangible way. We live in a way that impacts the visitors among us. Thank you! Continue reading →

Now is the time: a reflection

Posted on March 17, 2018 by Friar Musings

Again, I find O’Day’s insights thoughtful and to the point, so again, I offer her words as a …. A Final Reflection (Gail O’Day, 713-15)

John 12:20–36 is the most concentrated collection of sayings on the death of Jesus in the Gospel of John and, therefore, provides the interpreter with an appropriate place to reflect on the meaning of the death of Jesus in this Gospel. Theological inquiry about Jesus’ death and its soteriological [things relating to salvation] efficacy is most frequently identified as “atonement theology.” Before looking at the Johannine understanding of the death of Jesus, it will be helpful to review the theologies of atonement that have shaped and continue to shape the life of the church. Continue reading →

Now is the time: misunderstood

Posted on March 16, 2018 by Friar Musings

²⁹The crowd there heard it and said it was thunder; but others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” ³⁰Jesus answered and said, “This voice did not come for my sake but for yours.

The Gospel according to John is replete with revelation being misunderstood. Nicodemus misses the point in his talk with Jesus, as do many others in their encounter with the Messiah. Perhaps the same is true of the crowds present. There opinions of the sound being thunder or the voice of an angel is headed in the right direction. Thunder was a common religious symbol for the voice of God (e.g., Exod 4:23; Ps 29:3–9), and angels were traditionally understood as God’s messengers (e.g., Gen 16:7; 18:2–8; 19:1; Luke 1:11, 26; 2:9). The crowd’s hearing the voice of God as either thunder or an angel’s voice suggests that the crowd recognized that they were witnesses to an epiphany, some revelation of the divine, but that they missed the point: they were witnesses to the unmediated presence of God in God’s relationship to Jesus. His words in v. 30 underscore that this is indeed what the crowd has missed. Continue reading →

Now is the time: a grain of wheat

Posted on March 15, 2018 by Friar Musings

²⁴Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. ²⁵Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. ²⁶Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me. Continue reading →

Now is the time: arrived

Posted on March 14, 2018 by Friar Musings

The introduction of a new group of people (some Greeks) indicates a new narrative and thrust of the gospel message. Anyone could “see” Jesus as he was in the Temple precincts. I think it is a given that the Greeks wanted more. Even if their desire to “see” Jesus doesn’t mean “become a follower,” their presence relates to Jesus’ statement in v. 32, “When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself.” It should be notes there is a variant reading of “all things” (panta) in many ancient Greek manuscripts rather than “all people” (pantas).That being said, the coming of the Greeks symbolizes the drawing of all people to Jesus. His hour has come. Continue reading →

Now is the time: coming to see

Posted on March 13, 2018 by Friar Musings

In John 11:47, as Jesus’ popularity grew, the Pharisee had asked of one another: what are we to do? The Pharisees themselves testify to the fulfillment of their fears in v.19: “So the Pharisees said to one another, “‘You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the whole world has gone after him.’” Their confession of vulnerability (“You see that you are gaining nothing”); their hyperbolic announcement that the “world” (kosmos) has gone after Jesus provides ironic testimony to the truth of Caiaphas’s prophecy: ⁵⁰nor do you consider that it is better for you that one man should die instead of the people, so that the whole nation may not perish.” ⁵¹He did not say this on his own, but since he was high priest for that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, ⁵²and not only for the nation, but also to gather into one the dispersed children of God. (John 11:50-02) Continue reading →

Now is the time: context

Posted on March 12, 2018 by Friar Musings

²⁰Now there were some Greeks among those who had come up to worship at the feast. ²¹They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.” ²²Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. ²³Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. ²⁵Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. ²⁶Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me. ²⁷“I am troubled now. Yet what should I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour. ²⁸Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it and will glorify it again.” ²⁹The crowd there heard it and said it was thunder; but others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” ³⁰Jesus answered and said, “This voice did not come for my sake but for yours. ³¹Now is the time of judgment on this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. ³²And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.” ³³He said this indicating the kind of death he would die. Continue reading →

friarmusings

the musings of a Franciscan friar…