Third Sunday of Advent, December 13, 2020

Gospel:: John 1: 6–8, 19–28

Theme: How does my life testify to the presence of God in our midst?

John 1:6–8, 19–28

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.

This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”

He confessed and did not deny it, but confessed, “I am not the Messiah.” And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.”

Then they said to him, “Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’” as the prophet Isaiah said.

Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. They asked him, “Why then are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?” John answered them, “I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.” This took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing.

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Music Meditations

• “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” (sung by Enya) [YouTube]
• “Holy Is His Name” (composed by John Michael Talbot) [YouTube]

Opening Prayer

Magnificat (Luke 1:46–55)

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children forever.

Companions for the Journey

From “First Impressions,” a service of the Southern Dominican Province:

How would you summarize Advent?—Hope? Waiting? Longing? Expectation? On the first Sunday of Advent we heard the prophet Isaiah pray, “Return for the sake of your servants…rend the heavens and come down.” We heard Jesus advise his disciples, “Be watchful! Be alert!” On the second Sunday Peter warned, “The day of the Lord will come like a thief…” And, “…we await a new heavens and a new earth.” John the Baptist announced, “One mightier than I is coming…” The first two weeks certainly had us looking and waiting for God to act. This Sunday has a bit more action in it—human action—as various people hear the call of God and do something.

The pattern today seems to be a “call—response” dynamic. Isaiah tells us about his anointing by God’s Spirit. That is just part of Isaiah’s experience with God. God’s blessing on Isaiah isn’t just for his own inspiration and edification, for God has sent him, he tells us, to bring “glad tidings to the poor.” God has a purpose, has work to be done and Isaiah is the instrument who will accomplish God’s purposes. Isaiah was sent to the nations, especially those eager to hear that God was coming to help them. Ours might not be such a broad or universal call. Nevertheless, like Isaiah, each baptized Christian has been called by name to proclaim, through words and deeds, “glad tidings” to those waiting in need of it. While we may admire the gifts and service other servants of God have, we have been uniquely gifted ourselves for service in God’s name. Each of us has our call; we have something to do—what is it?

In our psalm response, Mary proclaims God’s greatness—for though she is “lowly,” the Spirit of God has come upon her for a special mission. While she will give birth to the savior, even before this happens, she is already responding to her call as she opens her mouth and announces what God has done for her and will do for the poor who have turned to God for help. When the Spirit of God comes upon someone, like Isaiah and Mary, they cannot keep the news of God’s goodness to themselves, they must go and proclaim it to others. Which is what people in our parishes do. They have heard a call from God; they have been “anointed to bring glad tidings to the poor,” and so they do. They minister to the grieving; proclaim the scriptures in the assembly; sit with the dying and comfort their families; take the Eucharist to the aged and infirm; legislate on behalf of the homeless; serve on community boards for the homeless; teach good environmental practices to school children, etc. “Bringing glad tidings to the poor,” has as many faces as the members of our faith communities who have been baptized and anointed by the Spirit to fulfill God’s good work on earth.

“Hear ye, hear ye!” It’s the way trials begin here in the States. An officer of the court calls those assembled in the court room to attention and announces the arrival of the judge. The trial is beginning. John’s gospel has a similar beginning for very early we are introduced to John the Baptist. He was already well known by those early hearers of his gospel; his birth had been described by Luke and the three Synoptics describe his early preaching and baptizing mission. In fact, John was so renowned that some saw him as a greater prophet than Jesus. So, John the evangelist introduces us to the Baptist and clearly delineates his role: first by a series of “nots.” He is “not the Christ…not Elijah…not the Prophet.” John may have been immensely popular among those who heard and followed him, but he was only a precursor, anointed by God for his specific task: he was to announce Jesus’ coming.

At the end of this gospel Jesus will be put on trial, found guilty and executed. But this gospel shows us that we humans are really the ones on trial. The trial has begun and the first witness, John the Baptist, has been called forth to give witness to Jesus, who will describe himself in this gospel as “the way, the truth and the life.” John is just the first to come forward to bear witness to Jesus—more will follow. In particular, Jesus’ signs will testify to his identity: he will provide food for the hungry, he is the living bread; he will give water to those who thirst, he is living water; he will raise Lazarus from the dead, he is life itself; he will open the eyes of the blind, he is the light of the world. Indeed, Jesus will tell those who confront him for one of the signs he performed, the curing of the cripple man on the sabbath, that his works show that “the Father has sent me…and gives testimony on my behalf” (5, 37). God also bears witness to us about Jesus.

Those who hear this gospel and give ear to these witnesses will have to decide: is Jesus the One on whom we will place our faith? Will we follow him and reject what will not satisfy our hunger or quench our thirst for life—as Jesus does? If a trial has begun and witnesses are being called, then we being asked to make a decision: shall we accept what this gospel will say about Jesus? If so, how will it affect our lives? Of course, if we profess our faith in Christ by accepting the witnesses in John’s gospel, then we too will become another in the unbroken line of witnesses since John the Baptist. How we act…what we say…who we are…will either give witness to Jesus or deny him. People will draw their own conclusions about us: “Yes, that person is a true follower of Jesus, their life gives clear witness to him.” In the light of the witness theme which runs through John’s gospel, it is obvious that those who accept the testimony of the witnesses, must also live a public life of faith. Christianity is not a private religion, kept to oneself, but each of us must live up to the identity our baptism has given us as “lights of the world”.

Weekly Memorization

Taken from the gospel for today’s session…

He came for testimony, to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.
He was not the light, but came to testify to the light.

Living the Good News

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today’s reading and discussion?

Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions or the meditations which follow:

Reflection Questions

• Have I ever deflected attention from myself and my accomplishments in order to emphasize the accomplishments or efforts of another?
  When could this be false humility and when could it be the honest and gracious thing to do?
• What is your greatest cause for joy? How do you share your joy with others?
• “You say you are Christians. Where the hell is your joy?” (Bertrand Russell)
  How do we reflect the joy of the Incarnation to others around us?
• What is the difference between joy and happiness?
• Has there ever been a time when an insignificant moment (in the eyes of others) actually meant a lot to you?
• Has there been a prophet in your life? How has his/her advice affected your life?
• How does John help me to introduce Jesus to others in the wilderness of this pandemic?
• How are we called to be prophets for the kingdom?
• Who have I been anointed to bring glad tidings to in my life?
• From Jude Siciliano, O.P., in “First Impressions”:
  Advent is a time for dreaming big dreams, and so we ask ourselves:
  How does my life proclaim the greatness of God?
  How can I share the goodness of God with others, especially the most needy?
• From Paul Gallagher, OFM, in “First Impressions”:
  Who are the people who confuse you? Do you like to know who people are complicated or hard to understand?
  Does it bother you when people act out of character from what you expect?
  Are you ever tempted, or feel a pull, to respond to a person or a situation that is different than the way you normally would?
  Do you usually follow that urge? Are you generally pleased with the way you respond to those urges? Do you think those urges might be from God?
  Who have been the people in your life who have been the most effective in asking you to reflect on the way you live?
  What meaning does your Baptism have for how you live your life?
• From Barbara Reid, O.P., in America magazine:
  How would you answer the question, “Who are you?” Would others say the same about you if they were asked?
  How do you recognize the One in our midst and point out that divine presence for others?

Meditations

A Meditation in the Thomistic Style/Asking Questions:

God rejoices. Not because the problems of the world have been solved, not because human pain and suffering have come to an end, or because thousands of people have been converted and are now praising him for his goodness. No, God rejoices because one of his children has been lost and been found.

—Henri Nouwen

God is continually offering us the opportunity to rejoice with him at his holy banquet, if only we can tear ourselves away from our miserable and self-absorbed table for one. What in my life distracts me from being joyful in the Lord?

1. Too much work or too much responsibility? No one has ever been heard to say on his deathbed: “I wish I spent more time at the office.”
2. Worry? Yet we know that worry about the future doesn’t change it one bit.
3. Lack of belief that God is really calling you? The scriptures are full of instances where God says: “I have chosen you. I call you by name. You are mine.”
4. In despair over the state our country and our world is in? Most of us ignore the little subtle signs that God is at work in the world.

In short, we all have a choice to stay rooted in fear, anger or sadness or to let go and let the Spirit take us where She will. True joy rises out of the lightness of soul we experience then we let God be in control. Ultimately, God will love us no matter what we choose. Doesn’t THAT bring you joy?

A Meditation in the Ignatian Style/Imagination:

From Sacred Space, a service of the Irish Jesuits:

In prayer today, I walk with John in the desert. I let him ask me: “Who are you?” Can I express my relationship with Jesus with John’s conviction and integrity? And finally I pray: “Lord, I long to hear your healing voice. Give me a firm belief that you are always inviting me to share in your mission”.

A Meditation in the Franciscan Style/Action:

Read Psalm 100 in light of the Isaiah passage. All too often, religious people are found to be without joy or humor or understanding. These people replace joy with judgment, replace humor with grim devotion to duty or rules, replace understanding with rigidity and spiritual arrogance. Find someone whom you admire for her joy as well as for her goodness, and go for a cup of coffee to see what makes her tick. Or, read something about someone whose humility gave him the perspective to experience true joy—say, C.S. Lewis, or Henri Nouwen, or Tony DeMello, S.J.

Poetic Reflection:

Read this poem by the monk Thomas Merton. Then give yourself some time in silence to reflect on the question “Who are you?” during the quiet days of Advent:

”In Silence”

Be still
Listen to the stones of the wall.
Be silent, they try
To speak your

Name.
Listen
To the living walls.
Who are you?
Who Are you? Whose
Silence are you?

Who (be quiet)
Are you (as these stones
Are quiet). So not
Think of what you are
Still less of What you may one day be
Rather
Be what you are (but who?) be
The unthinkable one
You do not know

O be still, while
you are still alive
And all things live around you
Speaking (I do not hear)
To your own being,
Speaking by the Unknown
That is in you and in themselves.

“I will try, like them
To be my own silence:
And this is difficult. The whole
World is secretly on fire. The stones
Burn, even the stones
They burn me. How can a man be still or
Listen to all things burning? How can he dare
To sit with them when
All their silence
Is on fire?”

Poetic Reflection:

Read the following poem and ask yourself what you are choosing for this holiday season:

“The Winter Journey of Advent”

In this time of darkness,
We choose to look toward the Light.
In this time when so many suffer,
We choose faith, not despair:
We choose the work of compassionate justice.

As we move through Advent together,
Hungry for transformation, for hope,
Our steps themselves
Transform us, nourish us.
We are on constant pilgrimage,
Moving to the heart of things,
Reaching beyond what any one of us
Can reach alone.

The brightness of the Incarnation
Guides us as we continue,
With the promise of the Prince of Peace
As the bright star in these dark nights.

—by Jane Deren, Education for Justice (from “First Impressions”)

Closing Prayer

This is the Latin version of the Magnificat from the opening prayer:

Magnificat anima mea Dominum;
Et exultavit spiritus meus in Deo salutari meo,
Quia respexit humilitatem ancillae suae;
ecce enim ex hoc beatam me dicent omnes generationes.
Quia fecit mihi magna qui potens est, et sanctum nomen ejus,
Et misericordia ejus a progenie in progenies timentibus eum.
Fecit potentiam brachio suo;
Dispersit superbos mente cordis sui.
Deposuit potentes de sede, et exaltavit humiles.
Esurientes implevit bonis, et divites dimisit inanes.
Sucepit Israel, puerum suum, recordatus misericordiae suae,
Sicut locutus est ad patres nostros, Abraham et semini ejus in saecula.

Second Sunday of Advent, December 6, 2020

Gospel: Mark 1:1–8

Theme: How am I preparing for the coming of the Lord in my everyday life?

Mark 1:1–8

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ [the Son of God].

As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way. A voice of one crying out in the desert: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths,’” John [the] Baptist appeared in the desert proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

People of the whole Judean countryside and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins.

John was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. He fed on locusts and wild honey.

And this is what he proclaimed: “One mightier than I is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the holy Spirit.”

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Music Meditations

• “Come Lord Jesus” (Chris De Silva) [YouTube]
• “Prepare the Way of the Lord” (Taizé) (sung by Choir of Grace Lutheran Church) [YouTube]
• “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” (sung by Enya) [YouTube]

Opening Prayer

From the liturgy for the Second Sunday of Advent:

Oh God, whose will is social justice for the poor and peace for the afflicted,
let your herald’s urgent voice pierce our hardened hearts and announce the dawn of your kingdom.
Before the advent of the one who baptizes with the fire of the Holy Spirit, let our complacency give way to conversion, oppression to justice, and conflict to acceptance of one another in Christ.
We ask this through him whose coming is certain, whose day draws near:
Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever
Amen.

Companions for the Journey

Adapted from First Impressions, a service of the Southern Dominican Province, 2002 and 2008:

The gospel tells us that it’s in the desert where the messenger and message are to be found. And there in the desert the voice is “crying out”—trying to get our attention. A woman at the door of a church said to me recently, “Please say a prayer for me, I’m going through a desert time in my life.” She didn’t have to say much more than that; the expression on her face and the term she used to describe what she was experiencing, were enough. Life had taken an unexpected turn in the road; it had taken her out to the desert. Not a trip she wanted to take; nor would I! Was it her advanced age and its subsequent ailments; had she lost her husband; was she alienated from any of her children; was her prayer dry and without consolation? Has covid-19 been devastation for her and her family? Deserts don’t come in any “one-size-fits-all.” Some desert sojourns last a long time; others may be very intense and mercifully brief. Some are inner spiritual desolations, when faith seems to offer no solace. Others are outer struggles when life’s sureties collapse and the old supports fail us. But, as difficult as desert periods are, the scriptures today suggest they may also be the place we meet the messenger from God, with a message we need to hear. Somehow and somewhere, Isaiah says, God will come to us and lead us through our current deserts. As difficult as the desert is for us, the prophet promises that there the “glory of the Lord shall be revealed.” Where we are most vulnerable, there God’s power will be felt. Perhaps God won’t provide a quick escape hatch, instant relief, but the tender God the prophet describes is concerned about exiles and refugees who see a long desert journey ahead of them.

Today’s selection from Mark is the Prologue to the gospel. Notice what is missing in the opening of Mark’s gospel: no Annunciation, no journey to Bethlehem, no stable, no angels, no Herod, no Kings! Mark’s gospel starts with John the Baptist signaling the beginning of Jesus’ public career. Before the story gets going and a cast of characters enters the scene, Mark gives the reader an inside piece of information. We learn a lot about Jesus in these first eight verses and are immediately told that Jesus is “the Son of God.” He is empowered with the Holy Spirit and ready to give it to those who accept him. He is not just a shadow or echo from the past for us. This Jesus is God’s way of opening a whole new future for us. God the Creator is ready to start again with us; to remake us. We don’t have to be stuck in our old selves for, while John baptized with water, Jesus will bring God’s Spirit and recreate us from within. Strange place for the crowds to go to hear a message of renewal—the desert. There was a temple in Jerusalem that could have been the place for people to meet their God and be renewed. Instead, the renewal and fiery encounter (for that is what God’s Spirit provides) comes in the desert, the place the slaves fleeing Egyptian bondage first met and got to know their God. It is where God still wants to meet us, in the place where we are stripped of distractions and ready and anxious to listen. In the desert all our facades are removed.

Mark tells us today that the desert places may very well be a suitable place to hear God speaking to us—and what we hear there is good news for desert travelers. He links us to Deutero-Isaiah’s words as he evokes the Israelite desert times. In the desert, the Israelites were asked to believe that God was going to bring them home, to a permanent place of security and intimacy with God. John the Baptist’s voice announces that now the time is at hand when God will fulfill the ancient promises to Israel. Those who heed his voice are to repent, turn from their self-delusions and thoughts that they can make it on their own. John says that God has noticed their plight and that One is coming who will be powerful, where they are weak. This One will pour God’s Spirit into them, to revive their own drooping, discouraged and road-weary spirits. A new road is being cut thought the desert and it is Jesus who will walk with us along it; help us deal with hills and valleys that would make it impossible for us to travel them on our own.

What is dependable and sure are not the events, but the surprising ways God finds to come back into our lives again and again. Can you hear the promise of John the Baptist today; his voice in barrenness and in the empty places? He calls out to us from what feels like desolation, the desert places in our lives. Accustomed to its harshness, he sees our need and makes a promise to us. One is coming (at this moment? This Eucharist? This period of our lives?) who comes with power to breathe a Spirit of God over us and transform us. Who or what else will be our surety, our journey companion in what lies ahead? The events of our lives are not dependable; God is. Here is a desert experience: a woman, who just went through a terrible losing battle with her husband’s cancer, said that through it all she felt the most profound experience of the intimacy, the presence of God, each step of the way. It wasn’t a feeling of warmth, it wasn’t cozy, but it was God, she is sure of it. “A voice cries out in the desert, prepare the way of the Lord.”

The dependable One is reaching out to us today through John the Baptist, inviting us to repent. John is preaching to the “chosen people” the very message they preached to others. None of us is superior to the others, there is no room for smugness, no room to look at others we consider inferior. Here is John’s invitation to repent of our useless patterns of living, to be honest about ourselves, to stop maintaining an illusion of innocence. Doing this welcomes in the God of this Advent, the God who will be our dependable source for our newly-born life. If we are ever going to the manger, get to experience the “Spirit of Christmas,” we need to pass through this deserted place, free ourselves of distractions, so that we can hear his call to put aside our guises of respectability and independence and claim our dependable God.

This Gospel begins in a desert, stripped of noise and distractions. John the Baptist touches into their hungers. God has noticed them and sends a powerful prophet to speak to them and invite them to a new way to live with new choices and new goals. John asks for repentance. Hardly sounds like an attractive “sales pitch.” But they come out in droves to hear him and accept his invitation to repent. That’s what they need, a chance to admit they are feeling the forces of other powers. The good news for them is that they can admit their need, ask for repentance and be forgiven. The passage puts it in the right order: first repentance, then, “for the forgiveness of sin.” One follows the other, no doubt about that. The Jesuit biblical scholar John Kavanaugh says that repentance means we have hope. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Things don’t have to be this way forever, they can change, I can start over again. The presence of the Savior also means the rebirth of my fatigued and bloated spirit. That is the joy of Advent.

Weekly Memorization

Taken from the gospel for today’s session…

I have baptized you with water, he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit

Living the Good News

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today’s reading and discussion?

Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions or the meditations which follow:

Reflection Questions

• From Barbara Reid, O.P., in America magazine
  What is God speaking to your heart in the hollowed-out spaces of these Advent days?
  What are the signs of a dawning “new creation” that you perceive?
  What obstacles need to be removed to make the way straight for the present coming of our God?
• From Jude Siciliano, O.P.
  Advent is a time for dreaming big dreams, and so we ask ourselves: What changes must I make in my ways of acting and my ways of thinking as I prepare for the Lord’s coming?
  In what new places will I look for the arrival of the Lord this Advent?
• The setting of this Prologue to Mark’s gospel is the desert. What is metaphorical about this setting?
• Can you recall an experience of waiting for someone important in your life to arrive? How did you prepare? How did you feel?
• The actual translation of the Greek word Mark uses when he says metanoia is not repentance, but conversion or a changing of our mind, or a change of the direction of our life. How is Advent a callato metanoia?
• In this gospel, John the Baptist links baptism and conversion (or repentance).
  How is that likened to or different from our traditional notion of baptism?
• What are the signs of a dawning “new creation” that you perceive?
• What obstacles need to be removed to make the way straight for the present coming of our God?
  Advent is a time for dreaming big dreams, and so I ask myself: What changes must I make in my ways of acting and my ways of thinking as I prepare for the Lord’s coming?
• In what new places will I look for the arrival of the Lord this Advent?
• The site of the beginning of this gospel is the desert. What desert am I experiencing right now? Is it internal or external?
  Can I fix this desert space myself? Where does God fit in? What is God speaking to my heart in the hollowed-out spaces of these Advent days?
• Recall a time when an important event changed your life. Did you know about it ahead of time? If so, how did you prepare? If not, how did you respond?

Meditations

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions

From Sacred Space, a service of the Irish Jesuits:

The attraction of John the Baptist is mysterious. People flocked to him, not to be flattered but to be told the truth. They listened because of what they saw, a man who was indifferent to the world’s prizes, a man of minimal needs, who could not be bought by pleasures, comforts or money, but passionate about God. They recognized holiness. Show me, Lord, what there is about my life that takes from the value of my words and makes me less convincing.

John the Baptist preached forgiveness. This is one of the special gifts of God, and one of the big celebrations of Advent. We are a forgiven people, and we welcome the forgiveness of God in our repentance. This means we are firstly grateful for forgiveness—that we do not have to carry forever the burden of our sin, meanness, faults and failings. God covers them over in mercy.

The second step of welcoming forgiveness is to try to do better in life—to move on from this sinfulness and meanness to a life of care, compassion, love and joy, and to make steps to forgive others.

A Meditation in the Augustinian Style/Relationship:

God was present all the time and I did not recognize him. I thought it was darkness but it was light… As excessive light of the sun blinds the human eye, so the excessive light of God plunges man into thick darkness. And God is approached in darkness and emptiness and nothingness simply because He is the mystery of mysteries.

—William Johnston, The Inner Eye of Love: Mysticism and Religion

I think of a dark time in my life when I experienced loss, pain, guilt, confusion, even the absence of God. How long did the period last? Is there any growth in my relationship with God that I am aware of that resulted from this terrible experience? I speak of this time with Jesus who knows so well what it means to suffer. Is there some life issue or relationship issue that is leading me into the “dark night of the soul” at this moment? I take the time to explore this with the Spirit of Light and try to discern what God seems to be asking of me at this time.

A Meditation in the Ignatian Style/Imagination:

As I reflect on this gospel, I try to imagine John the Baptist preaching to the crowds about the beginning of Jesus’ ministry: I see a small, wiry man, dressed in rags and tatters. His clothes are dirty and hang off his too-thin frame. They say he eats little—locusts and honey gathered from the parched land he and the other Essene inhabit in the hills. Stranger and stranger. But there is something about the man that forces me to stay and listen to what he has to say. His voice, his eyes, speak eloquently of the passion which drives hiim… The conviction that time is short and the kingdom of Heaven is near rings out over the crowd. He makes us feel that we and the world we inhabit are at a crossroads. Something momentous is upon us. His name is Jesus. We must repent. Repent.
Repentance—Metanoia—more than a confession of sins.
More than guilt and anxiety.
More than fear of the Lord’s wrath.
Metanoia.
A complete change of heart.
To turn one’s very soul around.
Away from self-centeredness, selfishness and self-aggrandizement.
Away from meanness, from sniping at others to make myself more secure.
Away from greed, clutching frantically at what I have, holding it close because of anxiety that there might not be enough.
Enough time, enough money, enough attention, enough love.
We are called to turn our minds and hearts
Away from evil.
From envy of what others have achieved or acquired,
Envy fostered by the fear that someone might just have more of something than I do.
Metanoia.
A turning around.
A turning back.
Back to goodness.
Back to kindness.
Back to loving.
Back to God.

How would I respond to John the Baptist if I were sitting listening to him? What does his life and message say to me?
Would my heart be touched by the Spirit and would I experience the deep conviction that I must, MUST realign my will to God’s and live my life accordingly?
Do I realize the hardships this might entail?
Pleasures I might have to forgo or defenses I might have to abandon in order to be open to God’s call, to God’s living presence?
I sit with this story, trying to integrate it into my own circumstances, my own life. I speak to Jesus about by my desire to change my heart, to forgive, to let go of resentments, to align my heart with his. I give thanks for this time together with him…..

Poetic Reflection:

Psalms are songs of our call to God out of our individual experiences. The psalms of lament are particularly poignant. In this kind of psalm, we reveal ourselves the way we really are, bringing our questions about injustice and wickedness, our fears about the future. Psalms 17, 10 and 22, for example, are a plea for help when things get overwhelming, and Psalm 51, a true penitential psalm, asks for conversion. We stand before our God, bearing our pain, naked in our wretchedness. This is real prayer. Read one of the psalms of lament then read this poem by Father Ed Ingebretzen in Psalms of the Still Country:

“You Are Hungry”

Father
you are hungry
and we may be nothing in your hands

but let us at least
taste your fire:
let us be ash,
be dross, be waste
in the heat of your desire.

Let us at least
need, and want, and learn
that it is impossible
to want you too much,
to want you too long.

May the heat of our thirst
for you
dry the rivers
reduce the mountains to dust,
thin the air.

God, you who want us
more than we want you,
be a fan to our flame,
the end to our need,
the ocean we seek to drain.

Closing Prayer

Take time to call to mind all those you know who are experiencing particular deserts in their lives right now, reciting after each name you say aloud: “Lord, comfort your people”, or “Lord, give hope to the hopeless”.

Take time to call to mind several people you need to forgive or who need to forgive you, reciting after each name: “Lord, give me patience, understanding and the grace to forgive”, or “Lord, help me in my desire to do better”.

Recite the Lord’s Prayer.

First Sunday of Advent, November 29, 2020

Gospel: Mark 13:33–37

Theme: We are called to discernment and watchfulness

Mark 13:33–37

Jesus said to his disciples: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come.

“It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with a particular task, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Therefore, keep awake—in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly.

“And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.”

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Music Meditations

• “In Every Age” (by Janèt Sullivan Whitaker) [YouTube]
• “Wait for the Lord” (Taizé) [YouTube]
• “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” (sung by Enya) [YouTube]

Opening Prayer

“To Keep from Singing” by Ed Ingebretzen, S.J.:

To us who live in darkness
a great grace
passes through the night
like a star

the valleys and the mountains
are one land
the lion and the young lamb
are one heart
darkness and light
are one life:

Peace shall find a home in us;
He shall walk with us
the long day
the great climb

Let us reflect on what we are waiting for in this dark time, either for ourselves or someone else, what graces we are keeping watch for during this advent. After each petition, pray: “Come Spirit of Hope.”

Companions for the Journey

From “First Impressions” a service of the Southern Dominican Province 2020

Even if you are only live streaming Mass these Sundays have you noticed the changes today? Not just the cooler weather. Not the vestments from green to violet. It is the first Sunday of Advent and we have shifted to Mark for the Sunday gospel readings. Mark is the earliest of the four Gospels and the shortest.  It is only 16 chapters long, but it had a profound effect on the others. There is a great deal of emphasis in Mark on the suffering and death of Jesus and the call for disciples to follow him by taking up their cross. In the other Gospels Jesus promises blessings for those who give up houses and family for his sake. Only in Mark does Jesus indicate that with blessings there will also be persecutions (e.g. 10:30). Mark wrote his gospel around 70 A.D. and the consensus is that he wrote it for the church in Rome during Nero’s persecution. Like Mark’s first readers we find strength in God’s Word and the Eucharist to follow the way of our Master, denying self and taking up his cross of self-giving love.

During Advent and Lent the Scripture readings are more thematic. Today’s emphasize watching and waiting. Especially during these pandemic-threatened days, as we wait for a vaccine, we call out, “When are you coming to rescue us O Lord? Where are you? Why do you delay?”

Jesus directs us, “Be watchful! Be alert!” For what? He urges us not to get discouraged in the overwhelming details and questions raised by these days, but to be ready to welcome him. How can we do that? We are doing that already as we try to prayerfully be attentive to the Word, respond to what we hear and watch for his entrance into our lives as we wait for his final return?

Do the powers around us really have our best interests at heart? If these crisis days have taught us anything they have shown us the debilitating effects of political wrangling and selfish interests. Those  powers seem demonic with intentions to rip apart the ties that should bind us to one another like: compassion, understanding, forgiveness and communal interests. Jesus urges us to keep awake lest we let those evil-intentioned powers break into our “house.” What can we do this Advent to be faithful servants who have the responsibility for the household Jesus has left in our care?

A big handicap to our spiritual growth is that we “doze off,” that is, we live almost unconsciously. We are preoccupied by our routine and habitual lives and don’t notice opportunities to grow in awareness of what is happening in our world and immediately around us. If the pandemic has any good side-effects, and who wants to admit anything good can come from this horror (!), it might have awakened us and made us more watchful for how and when the Lord is coming to us throughout the day—“whether in the evening, or at midnight, or at cock crow, or in the morning.”

A while back I took a friar to the hospital emergency room. We checked in and were told to take a seat and wait for an available doctor. There was quite an assortment of sick and needy people waiting with us. Some of their needs were plainly visible, bleeding wounds, a smashed wrist, etc. Others had ailments that were not obvious, but there we all were in the emergency room waiting for a skilled doctor to come to help us.

I think Advent is a waiting room like that. Some of us need help for visible ailments, other needs lie below the surface, but affect others. Here we are waiting, not sure when help will come. But he did promise he would and that gives us hope. While we wait we’ll pray for ourselves and each other that we don’t give up and remain watchful and hopeful.

During Advent those able to gather in church will sing, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” The prayer goes back to the late fifth, or early sixth century. It was a time of marauding Vandals, Huns and other barbarians who were pillaging, killing and also “vandalizing” the great libraries of Europe. It was a prayer for the millions forced into exile—the hymn names them—“lonely exiles.”  Today another pillaging pandemic has invaded every country, race and class of people. We yearn to return to our Advent warm and comfortable churches. But instead these days we are joined to our ancestors in faith pleading, like them, for deliverance. Vikings are not at our gates coming to wreak havoc. Instead, the virus has forced its way into the very inner sanctums of our homes evoking fear and a sense of impotence. What shall we do? We pray as our ancestors in faith prayed, “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.”

I am sure at this time of the year we have heard more than one warning about commercialism and consumerism. Let’s presume most of the readers of these reflections are trying to avoid the secular pitfalls the season presents. Let’s also presume we are already looking for ways to preserve, even nourish, the spiritual aspects of the coming Christmas season. That is what Advent can do for us, be a time of reflection on our lives and show us changes we must make. The scripture readings through this season can help us along our path of self examination and readiness for the Lord’s coming.

We have also been told by medical experts to: be alert, wear masks, wash our hands, keep social distance, etc. Now Jesus is giving a similar kind of advice, “Be watchful! Be alert!” Many of us are very busy trying to keep our jobs, or find new ones; teach the kids at home; shop safely for food. For what else do we need to watch and be vigilant?

Advent can seem like the “same old, same old.” We’ve heard the stories and sung these hymns before. Maybe that is why the first gospel of this new season calls us to wake up. We will need help to do that. Today’s Psalm response can word our prayer for the beginning of Advent, “Lord make us turn to you: let us see your face and we shall be saved.”

Weekly Memorization

Taken from the gospel for today’s session…

Stay Awake!

Living the Good News

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today’s reading and discussion?

Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions or the meditations which follow:

Reflection Questions

• The message of today seems to be that we must be alert to the presence of God in our lives, or we may miss it in the busyness and illusion that invades our consciousness and sometimes controls us. Some signs of God’s light might be so subtle that we miss them. Hence the advice to watch, to pay attention, and remember that we are not in charge, God is.
  Pay attention! When did I notice God’s presence in the good times, the simple good things I experienced this week?
  Pay attention! When did I notice God’s presence in the painful times this week?
• Someone said that when we get on the good train heading to hope, this is where we are more apt to see Jesus.
  How do we do this?
  How can I help dispel the darkness of fear, isolation, anger or self-pity the surrounds us all?
  How can I be a true sign of light and hope to others?
• At the moment, if the darkness is to be called back, I’ve got to do it. How can I be a small sign of light for someone?
• How does denial pay out in our spiritual lives?
• What is “active waiting”?
• What does God want to reshape in your life this Advent?
• What gifts has God given you to be shared in this time of watching and waiting?
• Walter Burghardt, S.J., once said “ If you want to Live Advent, BE Advent.” How can we be a sign of hope to the hopeless this Advent season?
• From Jude Siciliano, O.P.:
  In what place in my life am I waiting for God to act?
  How do I feel during this time of waiting?
  What enables me to wait in patience?
• Has there ever been a time when you were wrestling with a spiritual question? Did others dismiss the question or offer facile answers? What eventually helped bring you peace or resolution?
• Life has a way of catching us off-guard. Have there ever been moments that have thrown you off-balance? How do we live our lives so that daily care and attentiveness can sustain us somewhat when life plays its tricks on us?
• Have I ever had someone or something that I was willing to wait for? How did I deal with my impatience? Was I willing to sit with the process or did I jump into a quick fix?
• Have I ever tried to get out of a bad place by doing something, anything, to get out of the discomfort of where I was emotionally or physically? How did that work out?
• Often, we think of waiting as a desert between where we are and where we want to be. Am I awaiting a time when all of my problems will be solved? What will solve them?
• Saint Augustine, who finally converted to Christianity, was said to have prayed: “God give me the virtue of chastity, but not yet…” Is there any behavioral change I have been putting off until “the time is right”?
• Is there something in my own life that I am unwilling to deal with? What is it, and what is the source of my unwillingness? What are my denial mechanisms? Are they helpful for me in the long term?
• The Greek word Parousia (the return of Christ in glory) is Adventus in Latin.
  Is this gospel only about the Parousia? (If not, then what IS it about?)
• What are some real-life attention-getters that we sometimes do not recognize as a visitation of the Holy Spirit?

Meditations

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:

Adapted from When Christ Meets Christ by Walter Burghardt, S.J.

We need to remember Christ is here.
Christ is present in the Eucharist
Christ’s real presence is in the world, although it requires us to pay attention and notice His presence.
Christ is here in the love we have for Him, and our obeying His commandment to love one another.
Christ is alive in others, including the most annoying and the most needy as well as the most lovable.
Christ is alive in all creation, in the glory of the mountains and seas, the beauty of trees and plains, the exquisite animal kingdom.

So, how do I bring Christ to others?
So, how do I radiate the presence of Christ in me?
So, how to I care for and nurture the earth and all its creatures instead of destroying nature for economic gain?

I resolve to pay attention and notice God’s presence in the world around me this week, and pray for gentleness and courage to be Christ in the world.

A Meditation in the Franciscan Style/Action:

Reading: Psalm 10: 13-14, 16-18

Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless.
Why does the wicked man revile God? Why does he say to himself: ”He won’t call me to account”?
But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted; you consider their grief and take it in hand.
The victims commit themselves to you; you are the helper of the fatherless.
The Lord is King for ever and ever; the nations will perish from his land.
You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,
defending the fatherless and the oppressed, so that mere earthly mortals will never again strike terror.

Reflection adapted from Wm. Bausch in Once upon a Gospel:

Yes, there are terrible things going on in the world. But faith people like health workers and faith agencies like Catholic worker House remind us that the hidden Lord is among us: unsung, unannounced, unreported by the media, but here. Be alert for him. Watch!

Finally, this truth is our challenge. Our deeds of charity, our acts of forgiveness, our compassion, our morally lived lives, like pinpoints of light in a morally dark world, must show a weary and anxious people that the Lord really has come and is here, and if there is any watching to be done to detect Him, it is to watch us.

If others watch us, if others watch me, what signs of the Lord’s presence in this world will they see?

This Advent, I invite you to make a special effort to notice those around you who are struggling, albeit silently, and to offer help where you can. I challenge you to donate something to a charity of your choice: in this area, we have Catholic Worker House, the Giving Tree, the Red Cross, St. Elizabeth Seton School, Catholic Relief services, and the guy begging on the corner near the shopping center, (just for starters…)

A Meditation in the Augustinian Style:

I read Psalm 62. What am I worried about, or what do I feel threatened by at this moment? How real are my worries? When have I relied on God for comfort? When Have I relied instead on myself, on others, on wealth, on talent or on social position for comfort? I write my own version of Psalm 62.
—Anne Greenfield: Songs of Life, Psalm Meditations from the Catholic Community at Stanford

Poetic Reflection:

This is how one woman stays aware and stays awake until whatever comes her way. A novel way of “waiting” by “not waiting”:

“Advent at Midlife”

I am no longer waiting for
A special occasion;
I burn the best candles ordinary
days.

I am no longer waiting for
The house to be clean;
I fill it with people who understand that
Even dust is sacred.
I am no longer waiting for
Everyone to understand me;
it’s just not their task.

I am no longer waiting for
The perfect children;
My children have their own names
That burn as brightly as any star.

I am no longer waiting for
The other shoe to drop;
It already did, and I survived.

I am no longer waiting for
The time to be right;
The time is always now.

I am no longer waiting for
The mate who will complete me;
I am grateful to be so
Warmly, tenderly held.

I am no longer waiting for
A quiet moment;
My heart can be stilled whenever it is
called.

I am no longer waiting for
The world to be at peace;
I unclench my grasp and
Breathe peace in and out.

I am no longer waiting to
Do something great;
Being awake to carry my
Grain of sand is enough.

I am no longer waiting to be recognized;
I know that I dance in a holy circle.

I am no longer waiting for
Forgiveness.
I believe, I believe.

—by Mary Anne Perrone (National Catholic Reporter, 12/15/06)

Poetic Reflection:

This excerpt from the Fifties Beat Poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti is a lighthearted introduction to the central issue of Advent: Advent is a time of waiting. But what are we waiting for, and how are we waiting?

“I Am Waiting”

I am waiting for my case to come up
and I am waiting for a rebirth of wonder
and I am waiting for someone to really discover America
and wail
and I am waiting for the American Eagle
to really spread its wings and straighten up and fly right
and I am waiting for the Age of Anxiety to drop dead
and I am waiting for the war to be fought
which will make the world safe for anarchy
I am waiting for the Second Coming
and I am waiting for a religious revival to sweep thru the state of Arizona
and I am waiting for the Grapes of Wrath to be stored
and I am waiting for them to prove that God is really American
and I am seriously waiting for Billy Graham and Elvis Presley
to exchange roles seriously
and I am waiting to see God on television piped onto church altars
if only they can find the right channel to tune in on
and I am waiting for the Last Supper to be served again
with a strange new appetizer
and I am perpetually awaiting a rebirth of wonder

and I am waiting for the meek to be blessed
and inherit the earth without taxes
and I am waiting for forests and animals
to reclaim the earth as theirs
and I am anxiously waiting for the secret of eternal life to be discovered
by an obscure general practitioner and save me forever from certain death
and I am waiting for life to begin
and I am waiting for the storms of life to be over
and I am perpetually awaiting
a rebirth of wonder

Closing Prayer

From Isaiah and Psalm 80:

Yet, O Lord, you are our Father;
We are the clay and you the potter;
We are all the work of your hands.
Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we will be saved.
Amen.

Solemnity of Christ the King, November 22, 2020

Gospel: Matthew 25:31–46

Theme: What have I done for Jesus?

Matthew 25:31–46

Jesus said to his disciples: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left.

“Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.’

“Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’

“Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

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Music Meditations

• “Whatsoever You Do” (sung by Robert Kochis) [YouTube]
• “The Lord Hears the Cry of the Poor” (sung by John Michael Talbot) [YouTube]
• “The Summons” (John L. Bell) [YouTube]

Opening Prayer

From Thomas Merton:

Teach me to go to this country beyond words and beyond names.
Teach me to pray on this side of the frontier, here where these woods are.
I need to be led by you.
I need my heart to be moved by you.
I need my soul to be made clean by your prayer. I need my will to be made strong by you.
I need the world to be saved and changed by you.
I need you for all those who suffer, who are in prison, in danger, in sorrow.
I need you for all the crazy people.
I need your healing hand to work always in my life.
I need you to make me, as you made your Son, a healer, a comforter, a savior.
I need you to name the dead.
I need you to help the dying cross their particular rivers.
I need you for myself whether I live or die.
It is necessary.
Amen.

Companions for the Journey

Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty, or naked?

If you know anything at all about Jesus’ life, you know that he was, in reality, in an historical sense, king of nothing. The Kingdom Jesus speaks of in the Gospels of is Jesus’ vision—his dream of, and a metaphor for, what the world ought to be like. Before we look at the gospel, let’s extend the metaphor and look and some “kingdoms” right under our very noses.

First, there is the kingdom of Silicon Valley—the land of the dot-com bazillionaires. A world:

• Where there are houses purchased for many millions of dollars and then torn down to make room for houses worth many more millions of dollars
• Where bedrooms for the new baby can cost $50,000 to decorate.
• Where a child is considered educationally disadvantaged for not having a computer at home.
• Where preschool can cost $27,000 a year for a half day, and private high school upwards of $43,000 a year.
• Where we are offended by shopping carts piled high with a person’s belongings.
• Where we are annoyed or outraged by beggars holding up signs as we leave Draegers.

Then there is the kingdom of all of Santa Clara Valley. A world:

• Where, recently, Second Harvest food bank distributed food to 500,000 people monthly,73% of whom were also on food assistance.
• Where schools have been a primary source of breakfast and lunch meals for the 1 in 3 children who experience food insecurity.
• Where the homeless population has reached close to 10,000 people, only 18% of which are sheltered. Of the others, 34% are on the streets or in encampments, 18% are living in their vehicles, 13% are living in structures not meant for human habitation.
• Where there live many “invisible poor” whom we never see, many of whom have been rendered jobless, homeless and hungry by Covid-19 and its economic effects.

And now we come to Jesus’ vision, the Kingdom of God. A world:

• Where no five-year old goes to kindergarten weak with hunger,
• Where no homeless person shivers in the cold lying on a pallet under a bush in downtown Palo Alto.
• Where no baby is born facing family disruption, addiction, or death at an early age.
• Where no 80-year old has to choose between medicine and heat.

And we do try. There are a lot of agencies and individuals who are making a difference. This is the time of the year when we work to find ways to share our good fortune, and there are many. While busy with all these activities, while donating to worthy causes, how many of us carry negative opinions about the poor—that poor people do not work hard enough or somehow are fully responsible for their situations? In today’s gospel, Jesus is telling us to put a name and a face to all those statistics, and in the words of Mother Teresa, to love humanity one person at a time.

We need to get inside the skin of those who are hungry, or poor, and see, if we can, the eyes of Christ in their eyes.

We have to become large enough to accommodate all the small lives that otherwise would be forgotten. We have to raise ourselves to the power of ten. Love more, require less
—paraphrased from “At Big Rec” by Thomas Centolella, from Lights and Mysteries

We need to give our time and our talent and our treasure—not out of obligation, grudgingly, but out of love, openly and generously.

Ideally we recognize the poor as Christ—in reality, I’d like to hope that we at least recognize them as fellow travelers—sisters and brothers who have lives, needs, hopes, pain, just like the rest of us. I’d like to leave you with a poem that, for me, captures the message of today's gospel better than my own poor words ever could. It goes like this:

My name is not “Those People.”
I am a loving woman,
a mother in pain, giving birth to the future,
where my babies have the same chance to thrive as anyone.

My name is not “Inadequate.”
I did not make my husband leave—he chose to,
and chooses not to pay child support.
Truth is though, there isn’t a job base for all
fathers to support their families.
While society turns its head, my children pay the price.

My name is not “Lazy, Dependent Welfare Mother.”
If the unwaged work of parenting, homemaking and community building
was factored into the Gross National Product, my work would have untold value.
And I wonder why my middle-class sisters
whose husbands support them to raise their children
are glorified—and they don’t get called lazy and dependent.

My name is not “Ignorant, Dumb or Uneducated.”
I live with an income of $621 with $169 in food stamps.
Rent is $585. that leaves $36 a month to live on.
I am such a genius at surviving that I could balance the state budget in an hour.

My name is not “Lay Down and Die Quietly.”
My love is powerful and my urge to keep my children alive will never stop.
All children need homes and people who love them.
They need safety and the chance to be the people they were born to be.
The wind will stop before I let my children become a statistic.
Before you give in to the urge to blame me,
the blame that lets us go blind and unknowing into
the isolation that disconnects us, take another look.
Don’t go away.

For I am not the problem, but the solution.

And…My name is not “Those People.”

—Julia Dinsmore

My friends, take another look.

You just might be looking into the face of Christ.

Weekly Memorization

Taken from the gospel for today’s session…

Whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.

Living the Good News

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today’s reading and discussion?

Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions or the meditations which follow:

Reflection Questions

• What does faithfulness look like in a time of waiting?
  Are we in a time of waiting now?
  Do I have any idea when my time of waiting will be up and Jesus will ask me to account for my time on earth?
  What will I say?
• Have you ever had a time in your life when you experienced being left out of life’s mainstream activities, left behind or left out emotionally or financially?
  How did you feel?
• What do I hope I will be judged on at the end of my life?
  What does Matthew say will be the criterion for final judgement of each individual?
• Someone said that at the last judgement, each one will go to the group he or she has chosen in this life.
  Do you agree? What group would you be in?
• By Jude Siciliano, O.P.:
  How much do thoughts of the final judgement figure into your day to day thoughts and actions?
  On the basis of your life here and now, how might you fare at the Last Judgment?
  Do I sometimes find it hard to see Jesus in the distressful disguise of the poor?
  Do I wait for someone to ask me for help or am I sensitive to their needs even before they ask?
• If at the end of life, you were not asked how you avoided sin, but instead were asked how you loved others, how you have cared for the others, especially the poor, the needy, the lonely and marginalized, how will you answer?
  Where does neglect fit in?
• Sometimes, in reading this passage, or the beatitudes, we tend to romanticize the poor, and to see Jesus as existing only in the poor and marginalized.
  Can a poor person be as difficult to love as a non-poor person?
  Is this passage about putting down the affluent, or something else?
• During this past week, have you seen anyone who was “hungry”, “naked”, “imprisoned” (by anything), “sick”, “thirsty”? How did you respond?
• Paul, on the way to Damascus, was informed that by persecuting the Christians, he was persecuting Jesus. Do I see the face of Jesus in the faces of those the world ignores?
  Where are the hungry, the naked, the homeless who would call on me if they could reach me?
  Have I organized my life so that I am isolated from such people?
• A preacher recently preached a sermon that said: “When you want to heal the sick, then you had better be where the sick are.”
  How does that apply to my life and those in need?
• Whom do I consider my brothers and sisters?
  How do I define solidarity?
• Do I sometimes find it hard to see Jesus’ face in the poor and needy?
  Do I think of the global poor as part of my mission?
• “Nobody gets into Heaven without a letter of reference from the poor.” How do you react to that statement?
• Are Christians defined mostly by their belief systems and their liturgies, their devotion to right living, their private spiritual practices, or are they also defined by action on behalf of the poor?
  What does this say about how often we should be engaged in these activities?
  What if we fail?
  What kind of Christian are you, the praying kind, the acting kind, or both?
• “When I feed the poor, they call me a saint, but when I ask why the poor are hungry, they call me a communist.”
  —Dom Helder Camara, Archbishop of Recife, Brazil, and one of the great prophets of Christian “Liberation theology”)
  What is the difference between personal charity and social justice?
  Where does your political party stand on the issues of poverty, equality of access to education, housing and jobs, immigration, the stranger in our midst, those in prison, the death penalty, etc.?
  How actively have you acted on the larger issues of social justice?

Meditations

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:

I read Psalm 72, then I reflect on the way power is revered in our society, and, in the main, how that power is used. What are the dangers of power? This psalm is frequently used as a description of the way an ideal ruler must use power. I think of our history and all of the ways in which power has been abused. Has this been the story in our own church? In what way am I myself tempted by my desire for power and control? What steps can I take to combat this natural tendency? I pray to Christ for the courage to let him be in control.

A Meditation in the Ignatian Style/Imagination:

In John’s Gospel, Jesus washed the feet of his disciples at the Last Supper. In a culture that went barefoot and didn’t have spas and pedicures, this was a fairly unsavory task. In my mind’s eye, I see Jesus, the King, washing my feet, aware of all my flaws and imperfections. I look at his face and see the love and tenderness there. In my heart, I speak my response to this incredible gesture. In addition, I see this story as a clear message that those who are to lead are to be the servants of those who follow. I speak to Jesus about the difficulties such a message imposes.

A Meditation in the Franciscan Style/Action:

Submitted by Anne and Bill Werdel, from the parish bulletin of Sacred Heart Cathedral, Raleigh, N. C., 2008:

The Gospel is not only about our own individual goodness or charity. It is about our responsibility to help change social structures and national policies to make them more compassionate. We must ask the Gospel questions and struggle to change the answers.

Does our nation feed the hungry? Or do we cut support programs in order to fund an ever increasing military budget?

Does our nation welcome strangers? Or are our immigration limits and laws making it more and more difficult for those seeking a better life to find one here in our country?

Does our nation clothe the naked? Or do we support the sweatshops, which make the lives of the poor a misery while making cheap clothing more available for those who already have an abundance?

Does our nation care for the sick? Or are health care plans and medical care available only to those who can afford it?

Does our nation visit Christ in prison? Or as the nation with the highest percentage of its population behind bars do we ask why these brothers and sisters of Jesus come mostly from minority groups and situations of extreme poverty?

What can I do?

1. Read the Gospel from the perspective of the poor.
2. Be informed.
3. Pray that “God’s kingdom come” for all God’s children.
4. Get involved in advocating for “The Kingdom of God”.

Poetic Reflection:

This poem, written by Thomas à Kempis in the fifteenth century, shows us the difference between our notions of power and the power God favors:

Oh, love, how deep, how broad, how high,
Beyond all thought and fantasy,
That God, the Son of God, should take
Our mortal form for mortal's sake!

He sent no angel to our race,
Of higher or of lower place,
But wore the robe of human frame,
And to this world himself he came.

For us baptized, for us he bore
His holy fast and hungered sore;
For us temptation sharp he knew;
For us the tempter overthrew.

For us he prayed; for us he taught,
For us his daily works he wrought,
By words and signs and actions thus
Still seeking not himself, but us.

For us by wickedness betrayed,
For us, in crown of thorns arrayed,
He bore the shameful cross and death;
For us he gave his dying breath.

For us he rose from death again;
For us he went on high to reign;
For us he sent his Spirit here
To guide, to strengthen, and to cheer.

All glory to our Lord and God
For love so deep, so high, so broad;
The Trinity whom we adore
Forever and forevermore.

Closing Prayer

I pray to our Lord Jesus Christ for all those who need our compassion and care, for all those who commit themselves to the poorest and for those who are afraid to be involved,
Lord, make me serve you in people.

For all who have lost their way in life I cry out to you to make the Church welcome them and give them you and your Good News to live for,
Lord, make me serve you in people.

With all people driven from their homes, with the many victims of war and civil strife, with all strangers living in foreign lands, I cry out that people may be hospitable to them,
Lord, make me serve you in people.

With all those who hunger for food, who thirst for justice, who crave for human dignity, I cry out that I may hear your voice in them,
Lord, make me serve you in people.

With all those who care for the sick and the handicapped, with doctors, nurses, pharmacists, midwives, I cry out that I may recognize you in those who need affectionate, loving care,
Lord, make me serve you in people.

With all those who are imprisoned because of their convictions, with all those who are persecuted; who are prisoners of their hatred, their greed or their failings, I ask you to free them,
Lord, make me serve you in people.

The voices that cry out to me, the eyes that plead with me, may I recognize you in them, Lord, and love you in them. Be near to all of us, now and forever.
Amen.

—adapted from Liturgies Alive, Models of Celebration

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, November 15, 2020

Gospel: Matthew 25:14–30

Theme: What are you willing to risk for God?

Matthew 25:14–30

[The Parable of the Talents]

“It will be as when a man who was going on a journey called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them. To one he gave five talents; to another, two; to a third, one—to each according to his ability. Then he went away.

“Immediately the one who received five talents went and traded with them, and made another five. Likewise, the one who received two made another two. But the man who received one went off and dug a hole in the ground and buried his master’s money.

“After a long time the master of those servants came back and settled accounts with them. The one who had received five talents came forward bringing the additional five. He said, ‘Master, you gave me five talents. See, I have made five more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.’

“[Then] the one who had received two talents also came forward and said, ‘Master, you gave me two talents. See, I have made two more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.’

“Then the one who had received the one talent came forward and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a demanding person, harvesting where you did not plant and gathering where you did not scatter; so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground. Here it is back.’

“His master said to him in reply, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I did not plant and gather where I did not scatter? Should you not then have put my money in the bank so that I could have got it back with interest on my return? Now then! Take the talent from him and give it to the one with ten. For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And throw this useless servant into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’”

---

Music Meditations

• “The Ground” (“Pleni sunt caeli”) (composed by Ola Gjeilo) [YouTube]
• “The Summons” (John L. Bell) [YouTube]
• “Eye Has Not Seen” (composed by Marty Haugen) [YouTube]

Opening Prayer

From Thomas Merton:

Teach me to go to this country beyond words and beyond names.
Teach me to pray on this side of the frontier, here where these woods are.
I need to be led by you.
I need my heart to be moved by you.
I need my soul to be made clean by your prayer. I need my will to be made strong by you.
I need the world to be saved and changed by you.
I need you for all those who suffer, who are in prison, in danger, in sorrow.
I need you for all the crazy people.
I need your healing hand to work always in my life.
I need you to make me, as you made your Son, a healer, a comforter, a savior.
I need you to name the dead.
I need you to help the dying cross their particular rivers.
I need you for myself whether I live or die.
It is necessary.
Amen.

Companions for the Journey

Parables

• The meaning of most parables is not so obvious, or at least it shouldn’t be. If we assume we know what Jesus is talking about, we are probably missing the main point; if we are too familiar with the story (having heard it so often before), we might not think carefully enough about its real meaning.
• Most parables contain some element that is strange or unusual. They should cause you to say, “Wait a minute! That’s not how farmers do their work! Wealthy landowners would not give such astronomical sums of money to underlings with so few instructions! That’s not what normally happens in nature!” And this strange element should cause you to think.
• Parables do not define things precisely, but rather use comparisons to describe some aspect of how God acts or interacts with human beings. Yet to say “A is like B” does not mean that “A is identical to B in all respects”; so one should be careful not to misinterpret or misapply the parables. Some would say that parables should be treated as allegory, not metaphor or simile.
• We might think that Jesus spoke in parables to make it easier for people to understand his message. According to the Gospels, however, he surprisingly does NOT expect everyone to understand them! In Matthew, at least the disciples of Jesus understand the parables; but in Mark, even they have a hard time understanding, despite receiving extra instructions in private.

(Adapted from A short analysis by James C. Christensen)

Parables were meant to catch Jesus’ listeners off guard, to make them re-evaluate their normal ways of behaving, and to align their hearts with God’s heart. Many parables, like the one about the Pharisee and the Publican, or the one about the Good Samaritan, employed elements which were very counter-cultural, and shocking to the people of Jesus’ time. In the story of the talents, the master reprimands the last servant for not investing money and charging interest on it. However, every one of Jesus’ listeners would have known that this practice is forbidden in scripture (Exodus 22:25’ Leviticus 25:35-28). This would be a huge red flag to the listener that something is going on here.

In our own case, because we have grown up with them, the details of the parables seem familiar or even ordinary to us, and we don’t experience the shock value of the stories. Often, we need to translate those stories using examples from our own social and cultural situations in order to see how truly counter-cultural they are.

These parables, which appear to be simple and straightforward stories, are actually multi-dimensional and complex. Frequently, we are left with things unresolved and have to make some conclusions of our own. Does the elder brother ever go in to join the party welcoming the prodigal son home? How do those in the vineyard who worked much longer hours respond to the words of the vineyard owner? Does the Good Samaritan return, and what happens to the victim? Does the Pharisee ever understand his spiritual arrogance? Once they get inside, do the five “wise” virgins enjoy the banquet, knowing that their sisters are still outside? Why DID a guest at the wedding feast show up poorly attired and refuse to explain why? Why was a servant actually punished when he did not waste or lose any of the landowner’s money? How we resolve those issues in our own minds tells us a lot about our own attitudes. Are they in line with God’s or not?

If there is some overall wisdom to be gleaned from parables, it is this: God’s ways are not our ways. Parables tell us that the fight for the kingdom is not played out in palaces and war rooms, but in the everyday events of our everyday lives. “The struggle for the kingdom is carried out in our divided hearts, where we sometimes mutter “Thy kingdom come” without fully realizing that we might have to pray “My kingdom go.” (Alan Redpath, British Baptist Preacher). The parable demands that each of us answer the question “What do YOU say? What is YOUR reaction to this story and why?” How we answer defines our moral landscape.

Weekly Memorization

Taken from the gospel for today’s session…

Well done, my good and faithful servant

Living the Good News

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today’s reading and discussion?

Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions or the meditations which follow:

Reflection Questions

• By Jude Siciliano, O.P.:
  Do I treat my faith as something fragile, keeping it close and protected as if it will break if brought out into the open?
  In my daily life, how venturesome before others am I with my faith?
• List some gifts or “talents” you have. Do you consider them to have been given or to have been lent? What is the difference?
  Do you use your talents for your own aggrandizement and success, or do you put them at the disposal of those who need help in some way?
• If you were told to lay your biggest accomplishment thus far before God, what would it be? What does this tell you about yourself?
• This parable might not be about some specific talents we might use for God. It might be about committing all that we have.
  Is there anything I am holding back out of fear, greed, selfishness?
  Are there people in our community who are giving way more than is expected of them?
• What is God’s “property” that has been entrusted to me—the natural world itself, my loved ones, the poor and downtrodden, my career, for example?
  Are the talents I have been loaned by God for this life His property or mine?
• Why do you think the master rewards the man with two talents the same as the man with five talents?
• What does it mean to “reap what you do not sow” and “gather where you did not scatter seed”?”
  The master is also willing to earn money at the expense of others… does this sound like God to you?
  In your mind is Jesus more like the exacting master or more like a shepherd?
• What was the final servant’s motive for being so cautious?
  Did he see his job as basically to do the master’s bidding, or something else? Would we call him a phony?
• In what ways am I too tentative or too cautious in working for the kingdom?
  In what ways do I bury my “talent” so that it doesn’t get in the way of my real life?
  Am I risk-averse?
  Have I been so preoccupied with my own life (family, fears, health, relationships, money, etc) that I lost track of my mission on this earth?
• We think of talents as natural gifts, but in this time and in this parable, it means something of value.
  Could one’s reputation be a “talent”?
  We speak of gifts of the Spirit (Charisms). How might these be talents?
• Do I see the word “talents” as opportunities God has given me? For what purpose?
  Have I seen any opportunities that have come my way to enhance the Kingdom?
• Are these opportunities always recognized, or always welcomed? Can bad luck be an opportunity?
  Do I control my opportunities or does God?
  Do I sense any urgency in the choices I make?
• Do the talents I possess make me careless or arrogant?
  What “talents” have I been given to use for the good of God’s kingdom?
  What, in fact IS my true vocation?
• If the word “talent” were a metaphor for the servant’s true vocation and he buried it so no one could see it, how might that relate to my own life?
  We are either trading with our talents or burying them in the ground. What do I chose?
  Have I ever kept some of what I have been entrusted with as something for my own gain, my own use?
• What, exactly, is the “joy” we are promised? (Satisfaction, good luck, success, feeling of a mission accomplished, etc.)

Meditations

A Meditation in the Dominican style/Asking Questions:

Read Psalm 112:

1Alleluia!
Blessed the man who fears the Lord, who takes great delight in his commandments.
2His descendants shall be powerful on earth; the generation of the upright will be blest.
3Riches and wealth are in his house; his justice stands firm forever.
4A light rises in the darkness for the upright; he is generous, merciful, and just.
5It goes well for the man who deals generously and lends, who conducts his affairs with justice.
6He will never be moved; forever shall the just be remembered.
7He has no fear of evil news; with a firm heart, he trusts in the Lord.
8With a steadfast heart he will not fear; he will see the downfall of his foes.
9Openhanded, he gives to the poor; his justice stands firm forever. His might shall be exalted in glory.
10The wicked sees and is angry, grinds his teeth and fades away; the desire of the wicked leads to doom.

Compare the behavior that is the outcome of fear of the Lord in this psalm with the behavior of the last servant in the parable of the talents. Here are two different meanings of the word “fear”. In many ways, these differing attitudes are the result of how I think of God: Am I visioning a God who asks me to risk wildly for the sake of the kingdom, or am I visioning a God who is primarily the judge who tallies up my sins? My answer also depends on my culture, my personality, and my worldview: If I see the world as a treacherous place luring me into sin, and if I would prefer not to risk making mistakes, I have one view. On the other hand, if I see the world as full of opportunities to grow personally and opportunities to make a difference, if I think it is a failure never to risk failure by stretching myself, then I have another view.

When you think of your relationship with God, which of these meanings fits your own personal behavior? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each?

A Meditation in the Franciscan Style/Action:

This parable is more than an exhortation to use well our qualities. It is about the kingdom, which has been entrusted to the disciples and thence to us, as Jesus embarked on his journey away from earthly life. When Jesus returns, he will expect his servants to have put to work the riches he has entrusted to us. How has the Catholic Church done in this regard? What events or people, especially, have mirrored the mission of growing the Kingdom? What events or people have not? In our own individual lives, we have inherited this command from Jesus. How do I interpret this commission Jesus left me with? What actions are required of me in this world here and now? When my master comes for me, how will I answer?

Poetic Reflection:

How does this poem by Thomas Centollela, a former Stanford Stegner Fellow, capture the urgency of this parable’s message?

“Big Rec”

A few hours spent in the dry rooms of the dying
Then the walk home, the sudden rain
Comes hard, and you want it coming hard,
You want it hitting you in the forehead
Like anointment, blessing all the days
That otherwise would be dismissed
As business as usual. Now you’re ready
To lean upon the rail above the empty diamonds
Where, in the summer, the ballplayers wait patiently
For one true moment more alive than all the rest.
Now you’re ready for the ancient religion of dogs,
That unleashed romp through the wildness, responding
To no one’s liturgy but the field’s and the rain’s.
You’ve come this far, but you need to live further in.
You need to slip into the blind man awhile,
Tap along with his cane past the market stalls
And take in, as if they were abandoned,
The little blue crabs which in an hour will be eaten.
You have to become large enough to accommodate
All the small lives that otherwise would be forgotten.
You have to raise yourself to the power of ten.
Love more, require less, love without regard
For form. You have to live further in.

–Thomas Centollela, from Lights and Mysteries

Closing Prayer

From Ray Stedman, a well-known 20th century Christian preacher:

Lord Jesus, have I ventured anything for you? Have I risked my life for your sake? Or have I but transferred my ambition from the world of business or sport to the world of religion, still busy seeking self-aggrandizement, self-exaltation? Lord, teach me to risk, to abandon, to cast away what would minister only to myself and mine. For your name’s sake. Amen.