Homily Helps

Resources to write a homily through the lens of Salesian Spirituality

Murray Michael 10/23/24 Murray Michael 10/23/24

All Saints (November 1, 2024)

Every ten years a census is taken in the USA. In 1990, there were found to be 248.7 million . . . Then, the complaints came in that whole areas were not counted, so they estimated that about 5 to 10 million were missed. We do not know, for sure.

In today’s reading, we hear a very exact number by the author of the quaint, chaotic, and creative work: The Book of Revelation. It tells us that 144 thousand will be the final halo count in heaven.

Where did that come from? The number, like so many others in the bible, is symbolic: 12 is an important number: 4 directions [news] x 3 regions of the world: heaven, earth, under the earth = 12. 12 x 12, a dozen dozen x 1000 =144k

You can almost see the sign at the gates: Heavenly Jerusalem - population 144 thousand. It was the biggest number imaginable to the ancients -- they lived before trillion-dollar national debts became fashionable.

Saints are not rarities - anything but. There are more saints than green flies on the beach during a land breeze. That should be a source of encouragement to us.

Too often we imagine saints as they are portrayed in art: on pedestals, somehow beyond us, out of reach -- and out of touch. It can leave us with a sense of guilt because we are unable to be like them. We fear our personal identity may be lost if we were “holy.” This thinking undermines the theology of the human person; we are called - distinct and unique, by name.

This feast reminds us that each of us is destined to be a saint. Sanctity is not reserved for holy Joes and holy judies who pray a lot, suffer a lot, and rarely have any fun.

The saints were just like us: composites of mind, body, and spirit. They experienced the same ups and downs as we - sinners like us. They discovered the secret of sanctity -- revealed in the first reading: “Salvation is from our God.” We become saints not because we make up our minds to become a saint; only God can and does make us holy.

We are “God’s children” as the second reading tells us: often prodigal, always pardonable. Salvation is from our God. We repeatedly invite our lord and open our minds, bodies, and hearts to his inspiration. Being open is our work.

If the saints could talk, they might make this statement: “Do not look at us as models, simply to be imitated, you would lose sight of who you are. Imitation does not lend itself to deep spirituality. The number in heaven, the census, increases daily. So, our wish and our prayer for this All Saints day is expressed in the familiar song: “I want to be in that number when the saints come marching in.”

Murray Michael 9/17/24 Murray Michael 9/17/24

Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (October 27, 2024)

Today, we hear Mark’s account of Jesus’ last healing miracle before he goes to his suffering and death in Jerusalem. It took place in suburban Jericho, a city located in the Jordan River valley near the lowest point on planet earth, almost eight hundred feet below sea level. Jericho is only fifteen miles from Jerusalem, which is located in the Judean high country. That is why the Gospel always speaks of “going up to Jerusalem” - from any direction.

As Jesus begins His long, uphill trek to Jerusalem, a blind beggar is sitting by the roadside. The beggar is a man of desperate desire. His name is Bartimaeus. Why are we told His name? We are not told the names of the man with the unclean spirit, the paralytic lowered through the roof, or even Peter’s mother-in-law.

Bartimaeus knew what he wanted. He calls out. “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.” “Many” try to hush him. “Gatekeepers around some people existed in Jesus’ day as well as our own. Jesus calls for him and cures him. Jesus tells him: “Go your way.” Why is Bartimaeus the only name we have of a person Jesus healed in this Gospel? Let us see.

Well, he calls Jesus by His given name, Jesus. Unique. He calls Jesus “son of David” - a messianic title, Jesus interprets this heartfelt, personal greeting as faith and tells him, “Your faith has saved you.”

Mark tells us that Bartimaeus “followed [Jesus] on His way, Mark’s way of saying he became Jesus’ disciple. Another first: Bartimaeus is the only example in all the gospels of a cured person becoming a disciple. The others went home in awe to begin a new life of health with their loved ones. We do not blame them for going back. But the decision to go forward, toward someone completely new and virtually unknown is Bartimaeus’ daring choice.

A simple story, yet it is singular in many ways. Unlike last week’s gospel where James and John wanted glory alongside Jesus, Bartimaeus wants mercy and calls Jesus “master,” a word that disciples use to address their teacher and follow Him.

Jesus did not come primarily to heal the physically blind, but to facilitate spiritual insight. Jesus often used physical blindness as a metaphor for spiritual blindness as when he called the Pharisees, “blind guides.”

As a curious aside, in an interview, Ray Charles said that if God offered him his sight back, he wouldn’t take it. Why? Because, he said, “sometimes beautiful people are not packaged very beautifully. But you don’t know this when you are blind. When one of my children crawls onto my lap if I could see, I would probably see dirt on his clothes or shoes. And I would probably say, “Go clean your clothes before you crawl onto my lap, but I don’t see my child as cleaned up or not cleaned up. I only feel my child as ninety pounds of love.” Ray Charles may have physical blindness, but here enjoys spiritual, 20/20 insight.

The blind can’t form first impressions by eyeballing. The physically blind are not deceived by what sighted people think they see. Perhaps we need to ask, “ Who is really blind, after all? Sometimes we rely so much on physical sight that we tend to see only the surface of things. Reality can be so different from appearance.

Each of us is blind in some respect. We may not see from the heart into the heart. Francis de Sales said so well: “Lips speak only to ears; hearts speak to hearts.” Let us look into our hearts, try to be open and ask Jesus to heal our blindness for the hearts of others.

Bartimaeus was probably still present when the story was told in the early church. How else would they remember his name by the time this gospel was written? Bartimaeus is a Christian hero. We can wonder why there are not statues of him in churches that have statues?

Those 15 miles uphill must have been easy for Bartimaeus after his more significant, inward journey. Let’s revel in his journey within and join him in renewed faith, gratitude, and loyalty to our sight-giving Jesus.

Murray Michael 9/17/24 Murray Michael 9/17/24

Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time (October 20, 2024)

A young person in church heard that authorities should be servants and thought: “my parents really need to hear this!” The parents heard it and thought: “my boss really needs to hear this! The boss heard it and thought: “Our CEO really needs to hear this!” The CEO heard it and thought, “Our pastor really needs to hear this!” The pastor heard it and thought, “The bishop really needs to hear this!” How deaf we all can be!

James and john came from some money; they were the sons of Zebedee, who was wealthy enough to hire employees for his fishing business. The brothers enjoyed other prestige: they, with peter, formed the inner circle of the apostles who were with Jesus at very special times:

the three whom Jesus took with him when he raised the daughter of Jairus from death;
the three privileged to experience the transfiguration of Jesus;
the three who will be present in the garden of Gethsemane.

Remember earlier, when Jesus [and they] had been rejected by a Samaritan town? They wanted to call down fire and brimstone to destroy the town? Jesus must have been shaking his head in stunned disbelief. James and John got the only nickname among the apostles: “Boanerges” - “the sons of thunder.” A very human moment with Jesus and the twelve. We heard the reaction of the others in today’s Gospel.

Today, we hear the pair ask that if Jesus is to get the gold medal, that they stand on the other two pedestals to get the silver and bronze; that they sit at his right and left hand in glory. Jesus had just foretold, for the third time, his passion and taking up the cross. They talked about climbing up on two pedestals.

Why? Perhaps James and John recalled their presence at Jesus’ glorious transfiguration with Moses and Elijah one on each side of him. They could not conceive of Jesus’ future entrance to glory with a thief one on each side. Both James and john would later become revered saints; there is hope for us all.

Jesus takes this opportunity to teach a most revolutionary lesson: the place of authority/ power in the kingdom of God. He taught that if one wished to be master, he must serve the rest, not lord it over the rest. The greatest abuse of power is to use power for one’s personal advantage. Jesus would wash their feet at the last supper.

Positions of power are troublesome for disciples like you and me. We have bad examples in politics: “public servant” has often come to mean one who makes a campaign promise of being a servant before the election and acts as a master after the election.

Power can - and often does - turn our heads. “Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely”, Lord Acton correctly said. Do you know that he originated the saying when speaking about the papacy? With power comes independence. With independence often comes pride. With pride often comes arrogance - shown in being deaf to hearing both the voice of Jesus and the cry of the poor.

Perhaps, another hurdle is really appreciating the distinction between being useful and being used? We need to know and live the difference, so we become servants to others, not “enablers.”

In being a Christian servant, one avoids coercive power [violence]. We need to make a u-turn on the learning curve of “worldly wisdom.” The Christian, alternative power to coercive is persuasive power.

Persuasive is the power Jesus used. Persuasive power is the power of a mother Teresa of Calcutta, the power of St. Francis de sales who authored the saying, “You can catch more flies with a teaspoon of honey than with a barrel of vinegar.” You can supply your names of people who have influenced you by their persuasive power. It is the power of good example, shining example, the “gentle persuasion” of the Quakers.

We have heard it said that we cannot change others; the only one we can change is ourselves. We are changed by shining example, the persuasive power of others, especially Jesus. That is what we can offer to others.

Everyone knows what it means to be a servant. What we may forget is that it represents our highest calling and the meaning of any authority we may have. Without occasional reminders, we so easily forget and act like young Jimmy and Johnny.

Murray Michael 9/17/24 Murray Michael 9/17/24

Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time (October 13, 2024)

The rich man asks Jesus: “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus first needs to address the word “good” to set his theme. He says that god alone is good. Jesus then presents several commandments not as things not to do or to do, but to help form the attitude to recognize God’s goodness, a necessity to receive our God. The man thinks of these as “things,” a to-do list.

Keeping the commandments, being physically present at Mass, putting something in the collection, doing the things of religion are indicators of the right attitude. They do not make us truly spiritual persons, persons with our hearts in the right place.

Hearing that, Jesus told him he lacked only one thing: a spirit that comes from insecurity by not accumulating, not possessing. “Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor . . . You will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”

In the Hebrew scripture, wealth is generally understood as a blessing of god. It is no wonder that the disciples are confused. The metaphor of the camel, the largest animal in Israel, passing through the eye of a needle, the smallest hole, only adds to their amazement. They are left to wrestle with the reality that what appears as blessing can become hindrance.

Jesus was using a deliberate exaggeration, an hyperbole, to tell in another form what he had taught back in chapter eight of this Gospel with his one liner question: what will it profit a person to gain the whole world and forfeit their eternal lives?

The camel and the eye of the needle is a catchy phrase. This is not a condemnation of the rich . . . Jesus had good friends that had money; after all, he allowed himself to be anointed with expensive oil - which Judas criticized until Jesus set him straight. A rich man buried him in the tomb. Mark tells us he loved this rich man.

“Catch” is the operative word here. The image of the camel and needle’s eye catch our attention because of its impossibility. Jesus hopes that it will then catch our curiosity, our interest - like a lure that the man who spoke of “fishers of men” would use -- to catch our hearts, to catch us.

Did Jesus prefer the poor to the rich? Did the poor prefer him? Was it the poor who were most likely to believe? The answer to all three questions is “yes”: to initiate what has come to be called Jesus’ “preferential option for the poor,” to have the poor preferring him, and to experience the poor as being better disposed to believe in him was Jesus’ positive experience. Jesus sees that possessions and the status and power that come with them tend to keep people away from God.

With wealth, it is not the money itself that is wrong, but the sense of power and mastery, the sense of independence and self-reliance, the “perks” of wealth that we want to have are wrong. I think that this may be the most difficult area of Christian behavior. A profound question for us is: how much is enough?

I cannot and would never suggest an answer to “How much is enough?” I have great difficulty advising myself about the question. We need to pray thoughtfully as we balance our prudent security and the generosity to which we are called.

Mental health pioneer Karl Menninger said, “Money-giving [not just giving, but money-giving] is a good criterion of a person’s mental health. [He found that] generous people are rarely mentally ill people.” This is true whether you are rich with barns-too-small or a widow with two pennies. Jesus knew, as did Menninger, that giving money is the way of being liberated from our bondage to money. A person so liberated can be a “cheerful” giver. Something to ponder.

Jesus began with emphasizing the goodness of his father. Jesus makes as his main point that goodness. The rich man wants eternal life. Eternal life is a gift flowing freely from the goodness of god. When you and I focus on god’s goodness, we realize that goodness in giving flows from God and it inspires us to participate in the giving, as did Jesus. We live Jesus. Eternal life begins here.

Murray Michael 9/17/24 Murray Michael 9/17/24

Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time (October 6, 2024)

Today we hear Jesus’ views on marriage and divorce. The Pharisees try to trap him on the topic of divorce. Jesus asked what Moses commanded? The Pharisees answered with what Moses permitted. Then, Jesus quoted the book of genesis and his father’s plan for the loving unity of a man and woman in what we call “matrimony.”

His father was infinitely before the Law of Moses. God’s plan in the book of genesis is for a man and woman to join in a permanent union and live as one; it is a beautiful plan. Jews found that a permanent union is not possible in all cases, but their solution was sexist and unjust. The book of Deuteronomy, presumed to be written by Moses, proclaimed that a wife could be dismissed for “something indecent.” “Something indecent” was defined by orthodox rabbis like Rabbi Hammai to be adultery. Reformed rabbis like Rabbi Hillel taught that a bad meal was sufficient grounds for “something indecent,” and divorce was permitted.

The Catholic Church teaches from genesis the beauty of matrimony and its permanent nature. The church also wisely realized that many folks are too immature at the time of their vow to make a commitment or go to the altar with other serious defect. It teaches that all marriages are not matrimonies; that is, not all are the unions god planned. The church recognizes that with these serious flaws at the moment of the vows, there was not a matrimony, and uses the word, “annulment,” a decree indicating no matrimony occurred. The ability to marry is still possible. Of course, it was a civilly legal marriage, and any children are legitimate; a civil divorce must precede the annulment process.

In Jesus’ day, only men and no women were permitted to ask for divorce in the unjust laws that viewed women as the property of men. Jesus upheld the creator’s intention to the Pharisees that “two should become one.” To his disciples he afterwards taught the sanctity of marriage and the evil of adultery for either partner. So, he also spoke against the victimization of women.

As we saw in the gospel of two Sundays ago, Jesus used children to illustrate those with low status in ancient culture. Today, he repeats the lesson, but adds that the ancient culture’s low status of both children and women is reversed in his “other world” view.

While we are on the topic of matrimony, one of the unfortunate results of the clerical culture within the church is the lack of married couples listed among the saints. Mother or father founders of religious groups, bishops and popes are leading candidates for sainthood.

Pope John Paul II recognized this and asked for something to be done. The only corrective to this situation, of which I am aware, is more humorous than corrective. The resulting correction of the Vatican’s search was to find a couple as candidates who had several children and who were, except for one, priests and religious sisters. The couples’ holiness, it seems, was that they were a couple who had celibate, God-serving children.

Sometimes, two good people are not good for each other, and the union is death dealing, not life-giving. God wants life-giving unions.

May I say that my experience is much different? I have found many of you who work for the coming of God’s kingdom as married couples in a beautiful and holy way. You, like Jesus in his ministry, do not have any guaranteed results for your efforts. All that both Jesus and you hoped for, striven for, prayed to the father for, has not worked out as our Lord and you would have liked. Many of your labors bore obvious, good fruit. Apparent, not-best results do not take away from your personhood; we give our God our desire; we give God our efforts.

I passionately believe that there are many saints among you. I know, too, that you would vehemently deny this. Which only makes me smile. If you were to say: “You are absolutely right; how could anyone deny we are saints . . . At least I am?” you would have to step off the “saint wagon.” Real saints do not see themselves as saints; the name for that is humility.

A final note: curiously, loneliness is the first thing in all creation that Jesus called “not good.” Not so curiously, the church-initiated celibacy and called it “God’s will.”

For that? God be blessed!

Victoria Reilly 9/17/24 Victoria Reilly 9/17/24

Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (September 29, 2024)

Today, the connection between the first reading and the Gospel jumps out at us. In the first reading, before the Jews entered the Promised Land, God directs Moses to choose seventy elders as helpers and bring them to the tent where the Ark of the Covenant was kept. Two, Eldad and Medad, had been chosen, but were absent for the tent blessing, yet they still received the gift of prophecy and Moses approved them. Joshua, Moses’ assistant, expresses the same sentiment, as Jesus’ disciples will later: resentment.

Coincidently, that is the reason why the elders were sometimes numbered as seventy, sometimes as seventy-two and why the same number of Jesus’ disciples is disputed.

In Jesus’ day, our Gospel passage begins with the issue of how authority is mediated in the Christian community. His disciples are resentful because another, not in the company of Jesus, also has the gift of healing. They are upset because that exorcist does not belong, is an outsider, a threat to their turf, their self-importance. Their issue shows their faulty attitude and sense of competitiveness. It raises the question: why are the disciples not delighted that more were cured, and that the exorcist exorcised in Jesus’ name; that is, through Jesus’ power? It was only shortly before that the disciples themselves were unable to cast out an evil spirit; now they are jealous of an “outsider” who can.

That raises a deeper question. We recognize the basic fight to survive in each of us. When drowning or other dire situation faces us, we fight for our lives – and rightly so. Recognizing the needs of others to physically survive triggers the gut-compassion that is the stuff of heroes. On the other hand, we also recognize a dangerous, competitive spirit that is also a knee-jerk reaction. Sadly, we are so defensive of our egos.

Our effort to attain the consciousness of Jesus impacts the competitive spirit that defends egos:

· A basic value in Christianity is cooperation, not competition. Growth in love is associated with cooperation, not with competition. We need to recognize this.

· Our loving relationship with God is the paramount value and trumps all other values; we need to live this reality.

· We are called to improve ourselves in the physical, emotional, and intellectual realms. Competition enhances all three but winning is not everything. Sportsmanship – a subset of love of neighbor – tempers competitive athletics. That is sanity.

Today, we hear Jesus scold the disciples for competitiveness and exclusiveness. The disciples see themselves as superior, an in-group. They seem to feel somehow cheated because an outsider can heal in Jesus’ name. Somehow, we tend to be exclusive when Jesus calls us to be like himself, inclusive. We remember the words of John’s Gospel [17]. Jesus’ prayer for unity: “I pray father that all may be one. As you are in me and I in you …”

We all recognize and accept that no one of us is perfect. That is an understatement. We also need to accept the fact that each of us is innately unique and, yes, great. But not perfect. That realization is a wonderful, life-giving truth.

We all have graces and gifts from God. These are not to be hoarded and reveled in as personal possessions but shared. When we appreciate that this is also true of everyone else, we have neither need nor desire to exclude anyone or to feel superior. It is a perversity within our hearts to be exclusive, to feel somehow superior. Smugness is not virtuous.

Our search, our quest is to become increasingly conscious of what gifts we have been given, what we will do with them, and who we are becoming. On the flip side, unhealthy and foolish envy at what we lack is both counter-productive and unchristian.

The place of competition is to help, not hurt us. Cooperation is an end, competition, only a means. Appreciation of a diminished role of competition is certainly a hard-won victory in my personal evolution. It is surely not what the world taught us years ago.

Let us not forget the principle Jesus lays down for us in today’s Gospel: “He who is not against you is for you.” Our Gospel diminishes the number of those “against” us.

The cooperative life is good!

Murray Michael 9/5/24 Murray Michael 9/5/24

Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time (September 22, 2024)

TWENTY-FIFTH SUNDAY IN ODINARY TIME (September 22, 2024)

The Book of Wisdom is the last book written in the Old Testament. We just heard from its opening section promoting the wisdom of an otherworld view over a this-world view. God sent prophets to try to break through the quite common, this-world mindset.

Jesus-as-prophet tries for the second of three attempts in two successive chapters in mark’s gospel to tell his disciples that he is the Messiah, who will suffer, die and rise from death. Mark uses a simple process: prediction, misunderstanding, corrective teaching. I wonder if John copied this idea from mark because the same pattern is frequently present in his “Johannine misunderstanding.” John wrote several decades after Mark. We heard examples of this last month in his bread of life discourse.

Today, Jesus’ disciples changed the subject of Jesus-as-Messiah/Son of Man to their agenda: who is the greatest? Jesus asked what they were discussing, but they did not tell him. Jesus spoke about greatness and said: “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.” He set a child in front of him. He embraced the child and said: “whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not [only] me, but the one who sent me.”

The reason for choosing the child was not because of a child’s innocence and openness. The present context is “greatness.” A child in that culture and, sadly, for many in our culture is the person least valued, yet, Jesus says that the one who becomes like the child will be the greatest. A child – before it learns the word “mine” – does not seek to possess things, does not seek power, does not lord it over others. That is the point that Jesus makes. Neither is he saying that children were unloved or uncared for in Jewish culture. He tries to convince them that status in his other-world view is the reverse of what the wisdom of this-world is. Children were at the bottom on the status scale.

If the task of the prophet is to both afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted, Jesus is doing both in this scene. He is trying to teach them that the comfortable notion that status, possessions and power make one “number one, first” is wrong; the opposite is correct. The one who becomes poor in spirit and powerless is the one who will be first in the kingdom of God. He reiterates the value of discipleship in rejecting status and accepting servant tasks. Some disciples want none of this. He is also trying to provide comfort for their imminent affliction when they will see him suffer terribly and die.

For those who have self-centeredness as a form of consciousness, the prophet’s words are manipulated to fit their self-centeredness. Their manipulation may be playing the acting-role of a servant to achieve recognition; that is, they become a phony-last to become a phony-first with a false humility. Or they make the prophets the enemy that must be silenced. They will find some “reason,” and never see their self-centeredness.

The real great are those who try to assume the consciousness of Jesus. They try to Live Jesus.

Now, fasten your seatbelt. A spiritual writer like John Shea and a world leader like Dag Hammarskjöld recognize “least” at a deeper level. Carl Rogers, a therapist, without mention of god, achieved wonderful, clinical results with the following.

These accept, welcome and embrace persons considered “least” at their deeper, moral-social level. They accept a person in being a human person – as Jesus did. At your and my “least,” we are without title, without status, without wealth, without possessions, without color, without race, without political stance, without sexual orientation. At this level, we can see a person with the eyes of Jesus and his father without clutter and without any make-up and accept, welcome and serve every person with god-consciousness. Clearly an other-world view. Perhaps this brings new meaning to the expression: “Less is better.”

Victoria Reilly 9/3/24 Victoria Reilly 9/3/24

Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time (September 15, 2024)

Jesus asks his disciples an innocent-enough question: “Who do people say that I am?” And we hear the various ways that people are seeing Jesus. Then Jesus asks the crucial question: “Who do you say that I am?” And Peter responds: “You are the Christ – the Messiah.”

We heard Jesus begin to tell them that he, the Messiah, is going to be rejected, suffer, die, and rise after three days. Peter is shocked and begins to argue with Jesus. Imagine his surprise when Jesus calls him “Satan.” “You’re not thinking as God does, but rather as human beings do.” And Jesus goes on to tell his disciples that, in order to follow him, they will have to take up their cross. They will have to lose their life in order to save it.

If they weren’t confused at first, they must be very confused now. Do I want to follow someone who offers me suffering and self-denial? That’s not a very appealing invitation.How is this “good news”?

What is “God’s thinking” that Jesus is talking about? We need to look at the larger picture of Jesus’ message. St. John tells us: “God so loved the world that he sent his only Son so that we might have life.” Jesus has come to show us how much God loves the world. He reveals God’s great desire for us – that we share in divine life and love. Jesus loves us so much that he is willing to give his own life for us – to suffer and die – so that we can be reconciled to God and share God’s life.

The Father’s love for Jesus is so great that Jesus’ willing death for us is transformed into new life in the resurrection. Self-denial and suffering are not ends in themselves. They are the inevitable consequences of unconditional love. When love is patterned on divine love, no cost is too great for the one who loves.

Divine love is always life-giving – eternal life-giving. Jesus’ love was so focused on us that self-denial and suffering, even death on the cross, became the means of salvation and reconciliation. You and I now share in God’s life and love because Jesus’ love for us was unconditional.

Jesus offers us the challenge: love one another as I have loved you. Loving others as Jesus loved will have its costs. Jesus has shown us that the costs are life-giving. When we embrace self-denial, suffering, and even death, because we love, they will always lead us to resurrection – new life – eternal life.

May we know Jesus’ great love for us and learn to love generously as Jesus did.

Victoria Reilly 8/27/24 Victoria Reilly 8/27/24

Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time (September 8, 2024)

We have just heard that curious command of Jesus: “Don’t tell anyone about the miracle you’ve just witnessed.” And Mark tells us that the people went about telling of Jesus’ power to heal. Why would Jesus make such a strange command?

Jesus knew human nature all too well. He knew how easily we are attracted by power, by the miraculous. He also knew that power can distract us from examining reality.

Today’s Scripture readings call us to look beyond the miraculous, the powerful and seek to understand reality. Jesus makes the deaf hear and the mute speak clearly to point to the reality that God is present among his people. He is the fulfillment of God’s promise made through the prophet Isaiah. Jesus is trying to tell the people whose hearts of frightened: “Be strong, fear not! Here is your God; … he comes to save you.” Jesus’ power to heal reveals the compassionate faithfulness of God.

But he’s concerned that the people will be distracted by the miraculous and never come to understand who he really is and why he has come. And we all know that his concern was justified. Many found it difficult to identify the miracle worker with the crucified Savior.

The words of St. James remind us that we are part of the human family, and we are susceptible to the distraction of power. The attractiveness of power can blind us to reality in everyday living. How easily we are attracted by wealth, power and position. How often we choose to pay attention to people who have and ignore those who do not have. Power distracts us from the reality that all of us are equally made in the image and likeness of our God. And Jesus reverenced the needy as well as the well-off as deserving of God’s compassionate love.

The Scriptures seem to call us to look more deeply within ourselves. What has my God told me about reality? Does power distract me from that reality? Jesus desires to live in each of us as crucified savior, as well as miracle worker. Each person desires to be reverenced for who he or she is by creation, as well as for what he or she says or does.

May we ask for the grace each day to discipline ourselves to see through power and love the reality of our God and our brothers and sisters.

Victoria Reilly 8/27/24 Victoria Reilly 8/27/24

Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time (September 8, 2024)

Jesus knew human nature all too well. He knew how easily we are attracted by power, by the miraculous. He also knew that power can distract us from examining reality.

May we ask for the grace each day to discipline ourselves to see through power and love the reality of our God and our brothers and sisters.

Victoria Reilly 8/20/24 Victoria Reilly 8/20/24

Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time (September 1, 2024)

Today, the Scriptures focus our attention on two basic attitudes that are to characterize us as a community. The first: the law of God (the word of God) is meant to change our hearts, and then our actions. The second: God’s word is meant to be lived, not just heard.

Jesus reminded the Pharisees in today’s Gospel that good and evil come from what is in our hearts, not from some outside law. Jesus keeps calling us to a change of heart. That is the only way that our actions can truly be holy actions. When we allow ourselves to be open and receive the immense love that God has for us and understand how passionately God desires us to live in his love, then our hearts will profoundly change. As a result, we are better able to hear God’s word for what it is – a word spoken to us because he loves us and desires us to be one with him.

We all know what happens in our life when someone absolutely loves us: how free we feel to be our self, how openly and generously we act, how much we seek to do what pleases the one who loves us. The same is true when we open ourselves to the love God has for us. God’s love for us is unconditional and everlasting; God loves us just because he made us in his image. I know we have all heard those words many times. But do you, do I, really believe them?

Have we spent time with God alone and asked God to open us to experience the depths of his love for us? God desires to do just that if we are willing to spend quiet time with him.

When we do begin to understand and accept God’s great love for us, then we are drawn to love in return. Loving God with our whole being is the gift we receive, and that love overflows to touch the lives of all around us, especially those who need to experience God’s love.

Today’s Scriptures call us to look more carefully to our God who loves us, and then look inside ourselves, at our heart. Am I hearing God’s word as a word of love for me? Am I letting God’s word of love change my heart? Do I spend enough time with God so that I am renewed by his love?

God’s love is what makes us the Body of Christ, a community of faith. May we be wise in choosing to live by God’s love.

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Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time (September 22, 2024)

At Jesus’ baptism by John in the Jordan, the Father had identified Jesus as his Son, the beloved one in whom he is well pleased. This is a reference to the “suffering servant” in the prophet Isaiah. The servant must suffer and die to fully actualize his identity.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus begins to prepare his disciples for what is to come. He identifies himself with the “just one’ in the Book of Wisdom which we heard in today’s first reading. He will be put to the test to give proof of his gentleness and patience. He will be condemned to a shameful death – and God will take care of him.

Mark comments that the disciples did not understand the saying and were afraid to question him. Apparently, they distracted themselves by arguing about who was the greatest among them.

Jesus was not distracted and continued to teach them about himself and how they were to live. “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.” Jesus is among them as servant – the “suffering servant.”

The child Jesus places in their midst and embraces is how they are to receive him: peaceably, gently, without inconstancy or insincerity, open to wisdom from above.

Jesus comes to us as the “suffering servant” – Savior and Lord. He invites us to embrace him as he did the child. May we not allow ourselves to become distracted by petty, personal concerns. Let us accept Jesus as the First and Only in our lives, for he has shown us how to be the last and the servant of all.

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Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time (August 25, 2024)

During the past few Sundays, we have listened to Jesus speak of Himself as the living bread come down from heaven. He has made it abundantly clear that we must eat his flesh and drink His blood, or we will not have life within us.

Today we have heard the disciples respond to all that Jesus has said. Some find his words hard to believe and walk away from Him. With a note of sadness, Jesus asks the Twelve: “Do you also want to leave?” We heard Peter speak for himself and the Twelve: “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of everlasting life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.” What a profound act of faith!

Peter responds from his experience of God in Jesus, as Joshua had done before him. It may have been difficult to understand what Jesus was saying to them, but Peter and the Twelve were convinced by what they had seen and heard that Jesus was the Holy One of God. They would put their faith and trust in Him, knowing that they would eventually come to a better understanding of all that Jesus was telling them.

Like the Israelites of old, they chose to serve the Lord who is our God. They have seen all that God has done in the person of Jesus. They put themselves at the service of Jesus.

Jesus continues to ask His question. You and I have opportunities to respond. Each of us has experienced difficult moments in life that make Jesus’ words hard to accept. Jesus repeats His question: “Do you also want to leave?”

Just staying here because that is where I am does not answer Jesus’ question. I can be here and not be open to Jesus’ words of everlasting life for me. I can be here and not accept the graces offered to me to draw me closer to Jesus.

Are we, willing to respond whole-heartedly to Jesus? Let us ask for the grace to respond with open heart to the present moment to all that Jesus wants to do in us and through us to one another. Let us make our response with sincere faith and trust: “Live, Jesus, whom I love! Live in me today!”

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Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (August 18, 2024)

What a wonderful gift the Eucharist is! Jesus gives us his flesh to eat and his blood to drink. And he commands us to eat and drink that we might have life – His life, eternal life.

Like Wisdom in today’s first reading, Jesus invites us to the meal he has prepared for us – a meal that enables us to unite ourselves to his saving death and resurrection. On the Cross, Jesus’ flesh was pierced, and his blood shed for others,for you and me. As we eat and drink, we are called to “forsake foolishness that (we) might live; advance in the way of understanding.”

The words of Wisdom remind us that this is a sacred meal, a meal of covenant. God has given Jesus for our sake. In Jesus, God’s great love and mercy become visible, tangible. When we eat Jesus’ body and drink his blood, we are expressing our willingness to be one with Jesus in his saving mission to the world. We become his “good news” to today’s world.

Each day we seek to understand better how we are to live as members of this covenant community. In this meal, we become one with Jesus and one with the community – one in the Body of Christ. As we leave this sacred meal, we are challenged to live the daily reality of our oneness.

St. Francis de Sales offers us some practical advice on how to make this happen more effectively. He writes: “After Communion, consider Jesus seated in your heart and bring before him each of your faculties and senses in order to hear his commands and promise him fidelity.” This exercise can become our thanksgiving and our commitment to living out what we have celebrated and received. Jesus will offer us a way of using our intellect, our will, our memory, our hearing, our touching, our speaking today so that we can witness to God’s loving presence in the world.

We heard St. Paul encourage us: “Watch carefully how you live, not as foolish persons but as wise.” Our eating and drinking at the table of the Lord makes all of us one. May the wise way we live today and everyday make visible the oneness we experience here in Eucharist.

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Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (August 11, 2024)

Jesus explained to them: “I myself am the bread of life. No one who comes to me shall ever be hungry, no one who believes in me shall ever thirst.”

Today is week 3 of the 5 weeks dedicated to John’s sixth chapter on the Bread of Life.

The first reading from 1 Kings tells of Elijah’s eating bread, a hearth cake. It also tells us that this was quite the “power bar.” After eating two of them, we read that he walked for 40 days and 40 nights to Mt. Horeb where he re-examined his fear-ridden life, accepted once more the word of God and renews his trust in God.

The Hebrew bible has a tradition of knowledge being called the bread of the spirit. In Deuteronomy, we read a famous and familiar quote: “Not by bread alone does man live, but by every word that comes forth from the Lord. [8:3]

In John 6 we read of two different senses of Jesus’ speaking of himself as the bread of life. John follows a clear outline. He first quotes Jesus claim: “I am the bread of life.” Next, there is murmuring from the Jews. Finally, there is Jesus’ explanation of his saying, “I am the bread of life.” Today’s Gospel addresses the first sense in which Jesus uses the phrase: “I am the bread of life.”

Key to understanding the two parallel passages are the verbs that Jesus uses when he speaks about the “bread.” Let’s review today’s reading:

“No one comes to me shall ever be hungry, no one who believes in me shall ever thirst.” It is written in the prophets: God shall teach them all. Everyone who listens to my father and learns from him comes to me…this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die.

Do you see how these verses correspond to the quote from Deuteronomy? “Not by bread alone does man live, but by every word that comes forth from the lord? We heard the verb - phrases: believes – taught by God – listens to my father – learns from him - eat[s] [this bread].

Jesus is proclaiming in today’s passage that he is “the bread of life” in the sense that he is food for the mind / heart. He gives us “something to chew on.” He is sapiential food. He is wisdom for those who listen to him, to those who accept him as the center of their lives. This food provides the one who accepts him with a life that is not at mere subsistence level, not simple existing. Bread is seen as something that is necessary for living a life that is fully alive. This bread of life provides an answer to the question of what living is for.

We can never underestimate the intelligence and the ingenuity of John the author. It is well accepted that this section of john 6 was calculated to express what we call “the liturgy of the word” in the celebration of Eucharist. It is at this time of our celebration that we turn our attention to a theme that is present in each Sunday celebration of Eucharist.

We first hear a connection to the Hebrew bible; we then usually hear a passage from the apostle, Paul; the final reading is from one of the four gospels. When we listen carefully each week, we hear the great themes from scripture in carefully chosen seasons of the year. These give us the history of salvation, the interventions of our god in the lives of those who have gone before us. During the season of Easter, the first reading is from the Acts of the Apostles that tells us the formative experiences of the early Christian church.

This is bread that thoroughly nourishes us. We realize that our concerns, our worries, our burdens, our joys are not unique to us. We hear of others who walked before us and experienced similar times. In a sense, these people are brought into ours lives in our day. We digest the bread of life and are eternally nourished on our journey.

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Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (August 4, 2024)

The Scriptures today invite us to open our minds and hearts to the lavish love of our God.

When the Israelites asked for food in the desert, God gave them exactly what they needed. Their grumbling didn’t put him off; he fed them with manna and quail. God only asked them to trust in his loving care for them.

When crowds of people gathered around Jesus, he not only fed them; he gave them more than they could eat. God’s only desire in both instances was to show his lavish love in such a way that it would move people to trust him with their lives.

When the people asked Jesus what they were to do to accomplish the works of God, he gave them a simple answer: believe in the one sent by God – believe in me. Then Jesus identifies himself: I am the bread of life, come down from heaven to give life to the world. All who come to him will never hunger or thirst.

All of us believe that Jesus is the bread of life for us. We desire to place our trust and confidence in God’s loving care for us. We have also found that there is a challenge involved in this trusting. The challenge comes in our willingness to embrace God as he is, and not as we might like him to be. Confidence in God’s loving Providence means accepting with our whole being that God will provide for us, but not always as we might want or expect. Hoarfrost on the ground in the early morning was not what the Israelites expected, but it was bread from heaven as God had promised.

Are we courageous enough in our faith to say to God: “Give us this bread always” and then meet the challenges of letting Jesus, the bread of life, live in us as each day unfolds?

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Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (July 28, 2024)

Throughout history, God has fed his people generously.

We just heard how he fed one hundred from the twenty barley loaves given to the prophet Elisha – and there was some left over as God had said. The Gospel recounts Jesus feeding five thousand with five barley loaves and two fish – and leftovers filled twelve baskets. God truly visits his people and feeds them generously.

But these signs were only hints of God’s generous care. At the Last Supper Jesus ate with his disciples, He takes bread and a cup of wine and gives thanks and tells them to eat. He tells them that the bread they are eating is his body soon to be given for them, and the wine is now his blood soon to be poured out on the cross for the sins of all. Then he instructs them to continue this sacred rite in remembrance of him.

You and I are here today to continue to fulfill that command of Jesus. Each time we celebrate Eucharist, Jesus feeds us with his body and blood. Our God comes to be one with us. St. Peter Chrysologus, an early writer of the Church, asks us to open our minds and hearts to the wonder of this gift: “God always gives greater gifts than he is asked for. …He gives himself as food to be eaten. …(And God promises) ‘You who have continued with me will eat and drink at my table in my kingdom.’ He who prepares such great provisions to sustain you on your journey, what has he not prepared for you in that ever-lasting abode? So, do not be anxious about the quality of this banquet.”

If our God has provided the body and blood of Jesus as food for our journey, then his promise for the future will be just as surprising and generous. What, then, are we to do as we journey? St. Paul tells us: “live in a manner worthy of the call you have received.” Live humbly, gently, patiently, bearing with one another through love. Strive to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace.

He is reminding us to remember the food we have eaten and allow Jesus to fill us with himself. As we remember, we are called to live as Jesus did, to love as Jesus loved, to be humble and gentle and patient as Jesus was, to be transformed more and more in the image of Jesus so that we can be Jesus’ presence in our world. The gifts of God are generous; the Gift-giver calls us to be generous in turn.

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Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (July 21, 2024)

We know that the prophecy we heard from Isaiah today is ultimately fulfilled in the person of Jesus.

He is the righteous shoot of David, the just and wise king, the shepherd who gathers and cares for the remnant of God’s flock. Through his death and rising, Jesus has established peace and reconciliation. Through him, everyone has access to one Spirit to the Father. Through our Baptism, you and I are the Body of Christ. We carry on the mission of Jesus to bring peace and reconciliation to our world.

Our mission will not always be easy. There will be times when we may want to find some time alone – like Jesus and his disciples in today’s gospel. We may want to talk to Jesus alone about all that’s happening in our lives.

The Gospel today reminds us that Jesus came to care for all God’s people, not just his disciples. Jesus caught sight of the people who had followed them. Rather than becoming annoyed that they were interrupting his precious time with his disciples, his heart is moved with pity by their need, and he cares for them.Right then, these people needed to know God’s loving care.He would find time later to be alone with his disciples and listen to them.

The call to be Jesus’ compassion to someone in need often asks us to attend to that person’s need first, then attend to our own.We are not asked to deny our own need; we are asked to attend to another’s first.

Our daily challenge as a disciple is to be Jesus’ loving compassion present to anyone in need. Our oneness with Jesus here in Eucharist gives us the experience and strength we need to open our heart each day and love as Jesus loved us.

As we eat his Body and drink his Blood today, let us resolve to be generous in our loving this week – as Jesus was.

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Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (July 14, 2024)

We have just heard St. Paul remind us that we are an integral part of God’s mysterious plan of salvation. Think for a moment about the wonderful truths he tells us about ourselves. Like the prophet Amos and the Twelve in the gospel, we are ordinary people.

Yet Paul tells us, in the eyes of God who made us, we are special:

before the world came into being, God has chosen us in Christ
to be holy
because God loves us, he has destined us to be his adopted children in Christ
in Christ, we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing
in the blood of Jesus, our sins are forgiven; we are redeemed
the riches of God’s grace have been lavished upon us
God has revealed to us in Jesus his mysterious plan of salvation
we are chosen by God to praise his glory
we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit as God’s possession
the Spirit within us is the sure promise of our inheritance – life with our God forever.

No matter how ordinary we may appear in our own eyes or in the eyes of the world around us, our God has made us special – each of us, all of us. And God sends us into the world, as Jesus sent the Twelve, to announce that good news of God’s gracious love to everyone we meet.

God wants us to live in a way that shows that we have understood what God has done for us – that we treasure the work in grace in us. How we choose to live today and every day reflects what we believe about ourselves. If I believe I’m ordinary, then I don’t have much to bring to others. If I believe that God’s grace makes me and others special, then I have something worthwhile to bring to others, and they to me.

God has given each of us a destiny – an inheritance. Our God made us to be holy as God is holy. How we choose to live our daily lives will give honor and praise to our God who has loved us and chosen us in Jesus. As we place our hope and trust in Jesus and try to follow the inspirations of the Spirit within us each day, we are being led home to our Father’s house.

May the words we have heard from St. Paul today help us to remember who we really are. The mercy and grace of our loving God has made us so.

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Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (July 7, 2024)

St. Paul has shared with us a very intimate detail of his life – a humbling detail – and an important lesson that he learned. Paul shared it because what he learned is vital for all of us to hear and take to heart.

Most of us don’t care to dwell on our weaknesses. Usually, we spend lots of energy trying to overcome them. For most of us, weaknesses are liabilities. And, like Paul, we have asked the Lord to take them away from us.

Paul must have been surprised when he first heard the Lord’s words: “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” With some prayerful reflection, his “thorn in the flesh” was taking on a new meaning. It was no longer his weakness. It was now the place in him where the power of grace could dwell and transform him.

In the humble acceptance of his weakness, Paul found the power of Jesus which made him strong. This transforming experience would lead Paul to be content with weaknesses and hardships, “for when I am weak, then I am strong” as he would tell us.

In our Salesian tradition, Francis encourages us to learn to “love our abjections” not just put up with them but embrace them. He writes this to us because he has understood Paul’s message. He knows from his own experience that the humble person acknowledges that grace alone has the power to make one strong.

What about us? We all have our weaknesses and hardships. Do we continue to spend lots of our energy trying to overcome them? How do we hear the Lord’s words: “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness?” We all have our abjections. Am I learning anything about loving them? Am I learning with St. Paul: “when I am weak, then I am strong?”

Each of us might benefit greatly by taking the Lord’s words to prayer. Let us be more eager to listen than to talk. May the Lord lead each of us to the humility that will open us to the transforming power of divine grace in our daily lives.