Weekly Reflections
31st Sunday in Ordinary Time, November 3, 2024
Do not obsess about rules; instead, act out of love
Gospel: Mark 12: 28–34
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength; You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Do not obsess about rules; instead, act out of love
Mark 12:28–34
One of the scribes, when he came forward and heard them disputing and saw how well he had answered them, asked him, “Which is the first of all the commandments?”
Jesus replied, “The first is this: ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone!
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’
The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
The scribe said to him, “Well said, teacher. You are right in saying, ‘He is One and there is no other than he.’
And ‘to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself’ is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
And when Jesus saw that [he] answered with understanding, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And no one dared to ask him any more questions.
Music Meditations
- “Love (One Another)” (Maranatha! Music) [YouTube]
- “10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord)” (by Matt Redman) [YouTube]
Opening Prayer
From Love, A Guide for Prayer, by Jacqueline Bergan and Marie Schwan:
Companions for the Journey
When I was growing up in the pre-Vatican II Irish Catholic ghetto into which I was born, there were a lot of rules to learn, commandments to keep and strictures which must be followed. In Judaism, there were over six hundred commandments in the religious laws Jesus’ time and rabbis were often asked to prioritize them for their disciples so as to put appropriate stress on those that were more important (“heavy laws”) and those less important (“less weighty”). I think the version of American Catholicism in which I was brought up had that number of 600 Jewish laws beat by a mile. The majority of these rules were prohibitions, with appropriate and dire consequences to follow if we strayed out of the lane we were supposed to be in and committed a sin. Being a good Catholic was identified with obeying the rules of the Church, large and small. We divided infractions of the laws as either mortal or venial sins, and spent a lot of time convincing ourselves that what we did wrong fell into the venial, or lesser category. The main motivation was fear of angering God and therefore going to hell. There also existed the “rules” of our individual Catholic families or our particular culture (some of which were unwritten, but just “known”). These “rules” seem to be something all human institutions create in order to keep people in line and to keep society running civilly, if not smoothly.
The problem occurs when we, like some of our Jewish ancestors, mix up our priorities.
Jesus tells us throughout the gospels that if we do all sorts of good things, observe the most stringent practices, avoid even the occasion of sin, we are missing the mark if our motivation is only religious self-preservation or personal happiness. Jesus’ answer to the scribe (a sort of canon lawyer) is not radical or set apart from what a devout Jew might have said. In fact, he draws from the Hebrew scriptures for his answer. To describe the love we should have for God he quotes Deut. 6:5; which still is the daily prayer prayed by Jewish believers—the Schema. Love of neighbor is commanded in Lev. 19:18, (It is quoted three times in the New Testament, more than any other text from the Hebrew scriptures.) His response provides an over-riding principle that applies to all our religious, ethical and social behavior. All the laws and customs under which we live are to be guided and interpreted according to Jesus’ commandment. It is obvious that Jesus’ teaching about the greatest commandment was very important in the early church since all three synoptic gospels have it.
He emphasizes the two most important commandments out of which all of our actions should flow. Everything we do must be motivated by authentic love of God, out of which will naturally flow love of neighbor. We want to be careful today not to emphasize a message that turns this invitational goal of loving God and neighbor into a command to love God and neighbor. The Invitation to love God completely doesn’t come as a mandate from a dictator God who wishes slave-like docility and complete dedication. You can’t demand such love by issuing a decree from on high. No one can make us love and we cannot make anyone love us. God’s love, like all love, is always invitational and never coercive. So our measuring stick is not how many boxes of goodness we can tick off, how much we give up in Lent, or even if we gave up our bodies to be burnt. St Paul says:
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
And St Teresa of Calcutta put it even more succinctly:
“Not all of us can do great things, but we can all do small things with great love.”
Further reflection:
Weekly Memorization
Taken from the gospel for today’s session…
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength; You shall love your neighbor as yourself
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
- Are you fulfilling these commands?
What do you need to do to love God more?
To love your neighbor more? - If the most important thing is to have a loving heart, how demanding to you find that to be?
What makes it hard to love others? - What commandment(s) are a priority for me?
Which do I struggle with? - How can you love someone you don’t like?
How can you love someone with whom you are angry?
How can you love someone when you just don’t feel like it? - Love is action, not a feeling. Agree or disagree?
- What are some of the ways I can practice loving the unlovable?
- How hard is it to love your neighbor as yourself when you don’t really love yourself?
What does loving yourself mean? - Does our own need for love sometimes push us into dark places?
How do we counter that? - From Sacred Space, a service of the Irish Jesuits:
I notice, too, what Jesus says are the two important commandments. They are about love, not about rules. Do I sometimes think rules are the most important thing?
Do I sometimes judge those who break the rules? - Was there ever a time in my life when I wanted to love or to be loved, but was unable to elicit either?
- How often have I expressed my love for another by saying: “I’m sorry”, or “I understand”, or “You matter to me”, or how can I help”?
- Is it hard for me to love those who are continuous whiners or blamers?
- Is it hard for me to love someone who is richer, prettier, smarter, more successful, someone who writes those “braggy” Christmas letters or curated Instagram posts?
How do I get past resentment or envy or irritation to love someone less than loveable? - How, exactly, do I define neighbor?
- What are the signs in my life that, like the scribe, I am “not far from the kingdom of God?
Am I a sign of the kingdom of God to others?
When and how? - A long time ago in England, Jonathan Swift said: “We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.” How true is this today?
Has our religious tradition ever been guilty of fearing, judging, criticizing or even “hating” other religious traditions?
How can we deal with this issue?
Can you point to specific instances of improved relations between Catholics and Jews in recent years?
What importance do they have? - Father Walter Burghardt, S.J. said, in a commentary on this gospel, that the opposite of love is not hate; the opposite of love is indifference. What do you think?
Meditations
A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:
From Sacred Space, a service of the Irish Jesuits:
Lord, why should I love you with all my heart? Because if a group of good people set up a beautiful house and gardens for me to live in, I would love them. If they worked against all that might hurt me, I would love them . If one of them would die a horrible death to save me from disaster, I would love them. If they, Lord, promised eternal joy, I would love them.
Question: Is this love, gratitude or coercion? Is it possible for us to mix up our motives for loving and confuse love with self-interest?
How hard is it to separate love from gratitude or love from habit or obligation? Can you make some love you by being good to them? Have you ever “guilted” someone into “loving” you be showering them with gifts, attention or helping them out of a tight spot? How, then, do you know it is love? How, then, does God know it is love?
A Meditation in the Franciscan Style/Action:
Just how do I love myself? To take care of my needs, I plan ahead; I give energy, time and money to those things that provide comfort and enjoyment, for example. So, do I love others in the same way? I consider this quote by St. Basil the Great, also a Doctor of the Church from the fourth century: “The bread which you do not use is the bread of the hungry; the garment hanging in your wardrobe is the garment of him who is naked; the shoes that you do not wear are the shoes of the one who is barefoot; the money that you keep locked away is the money of the poor; the acts of charity that you do not perform are so many injustices that you commit.” How does this relate to the second part of the great commandment? Is it too strict and too harsh? What changes can you make in your need to possess and to be comfortable that somehow benefits those less fortunate? Make a plan and execute it.
A Meditation in the Augustinian Style/Relationship:
Psalm 19 is actually a better reflection on the gospel than Sunday's psalm 18, because it deals with God's laws, the laws of nature and the laws (commandments) which govern human behavior. Read this verse from Psalm 19 and contemplate the rewards of following God’s laws. Then re-write the psalm as a personal letter to God, using the second person to address God, and to tell God personally how the laws of the universe and the laws governing personal behavior have affected you personally: ("Lord, your law is perfect", because it revives my soul, … etc.).:
The law of the Lord is perfect, it revives the soul. The rule of the Lord is to be trusted, it gives wisdom to the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, they gladden the heart. The command of the Lord is clear, it gives light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is holy, abiding forever. The decrees of the Lord are truth, and all of them are just. They are more to be desired than gold, than the purest gold, And sweeter are they than honey, than honey from the comb. So in them your servant finds instruction; great reward is in their keeping.
A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:
If you were God, what would be the laws of the universe that you would devise? What commandments would you give to your people? How are your commandments different from what you perceive as the laws God has set in place? Which of God’s laws are the hardest for you to obey? Love your enemy? or feed the hungry (not the deserving--the hungry)? or comfort the afflicted? or visit the imprisoned? or.......?
Pick one precept that you find particularly difficult to deal with and pray to God for the gift of empathy and generosity.
Poetic Reflection:
Read the Following poem by Stanford graduate Thomas Centolella. What does it say to you about the one thing that is necessary to create the kingdom of God on earth?
“In The Evening We Shall Be Examined On Love”
-St. John of the CrossAnd it won’t be multiple choice,
though some of us would prefer it that way.
Neither will it be essay, which tempts us to run on
when we should be sticking to the point, if not together.
In the evening there shall be implications
our fear will turn to complications. No cheating,
we’ll be told and we’ll try to figure the cost of being true
to ourselves. In the evening when the sky has turned
that certain blue, blue of exam books, blue of no more
daily evasions, we shall climb the hill as the light empties
and park our tired bodies on a bench above the city
and try to fill in the blanks. And we won’t be tested
like defendants on trial, cross-examined
till one of us breaks down, guilty as charged. No,
in the evening, after the day has refused to testify,
we shall be examined on love like students
who don’t even recall signing up for the course
and now must take their orals, forced to speak for once
from the heart and not off the top of their heads.
And when the evening is over and it’s late,
the student body asleep, even the great teachers
retired for the night, we shall stay up
and run back over the questions, each in our own way:
what’s true, what’s false, what unknown quantity
will balance the equation, what it would mean years from now
to look back and know
we did not fail.(from Lights & Mysteries)
Closing Prayer
From Ed Ingebretzen, S.J.:
Commentary on the Letter to the Hebrews from “First Impressions”
Since early October the second reading has been from the letter to the Hebrews. Reginald Fuller says that the letter is addressed to Christians in Italy who have stagnated in their faith. It sounds less like a letter and more like a sermon, for it lacks the epistolary style of the other letters.
Since early October the second reading has been from the letter to the Hebrews. Reginald Fuller says that the letter is addressed to Christians in Italy who have stagnated in their faith. It sounds less like a letter and more like a sermon, for it lacks the epistolary style of the other letters. It appears to be a “series of pep talks” addressed to a church that is like the ancient Israelites, a people who are wandering through the desert. Like the Israelites, they have been freed from slavery, but have not yet entered the Promised Land. That generation of desert wanders, along with Moses, had failed to enter the Land because they lacked faith. For Christians, Christ has delivered us; but we still await the complete freedom we will have when he returns. This epistle will exhort its early readers and us not to lose faith on the way, lest we too fail to enter God’s promise. Hebrews is addressed to stagnated Christians who have grown bored with the routine of their faith. I wonder if this doesn’t describe a lot of us church goers and the routine we can get into. Faith can become merely a matter of fulfilling customs, but lacking the fire that gives vitality and direction to daily life. We can expect the church to be there for us when we need it for key transitional moments like births, deaths and marriages, but otherwise life is little affected by what we profess each week at this Eucharist.
When Christians first gathered, they celebrated a faith in the risen Jesus that gave an entirely new direction to their lives. Their worship gave them a chance to celebrate their new life; to share the Word that illumined their faith, to break a bread that would strengthen the days ahead and keep the memory of Jesus alive for them. Each time we assemble, as we do today, we share the same life the first Christians knew in their gatherings, we celebrate common rites of passage, everyday joys and struggles, our responsibility for each other and our common holy days. If this is not what we feel when we gather, then the letter to the Hebrews is addressed to us, as it was to those for whom worship had become a routine. Hebrews reminds us that Jesus is at the center our lives. While we may be stagnated in our faith, his sacrifice on the cross is a constant source of new life for us—a way of invigorating us again and again. What had to be done for us, we are told, was done by Jesus. We don’t need to go elsewhere to find a guru or new method or religious tradition to quicken our spirits and satisfy our thirst for meaning to our days. The author of Hebrews wants us to look again at who we are, what our needs are and how Christ, who shared our human state, can now raise us up to a renewal of our faith. He is our “high priest” whose sacrifice has and always will bring us life.
The message about Christ’s priesthood is introduced early (2:17) and dominates the section from which today’s reading is taken (4:14-10:31). According to Hebrews, Jesus has two “priestly qualifications”: he has been faithful in serving God and has “been tested as we are”( 4:15) and therefore, he can sympathize with our struggle. So, rather than present an other-worldly Christ for our worship and admiration, Hebrews affirms early that He was very much of this world. He knows from his own experience what we are up against in life. In his humanity, Jesus showed us what is possible for us, he opened our eyes to the dignity and fullness we humans can have. His life death and resurrection enable for us a new way of living we could not achieve on our own, but is now offered to us through faith in Christ. In Hebrews, Jesus is shown in solidarity with humans, he was “tested” through what he suffered, “beset by weakness “ (5:2). Sometimes we need to be reminded that Christ is not above us, but readily shared our lot. At these times we turn to him, as we do today, as a sign of what is possible for us. We are reminded that, despite present difficulties and frustrations, through him we are “saved,” we are able to endure our present trials and one day we will together enter “God’s rest.”
The other aspect placed before us in Hebrews is shown in today’s reading. Jesus is now above the fray. While he knows our human limitations, he is no longer subject to them. But he is available to us to help us overcome what we are not able to do on our own. He has passed through the trials and is ready to help us do the same. Unlike the levitical priests. ( those select few from the tribe of Levi who we part of the upper class in Israel because they inherited the lucrative job of being priests in the temple) whose priesthood lasted only as long as they lived, Jesus’ priesthood is eternal, and his sacrifice “once for all.” Hebrews sees Christ as called and found acceptable to God and able to accomplish the task of being mediator for us. As our high priest he has passed beyond the grip of death and is “holy innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, higher than the heavens.”
We have limitations and are sinful, but because of Jesus and his sacrifice, permanent relationship with God is available to us. No need to shrink from God. No one need feel he or she is inadequate or too much a sinner to pray to God. Sometimes people express a sense of unworthiness, asking that a minister, priest or sister do the praying for them. Asking others to be a part of our community of prayer is one thing; not feeling worthy to pray for ourselves is quite another. If we need assurance of God’s disposition towards us we have as proof God’s sign of compassion, Jesus our high priest.
The letter, with its priestly and temple imagery puts the reader into a “temple mentality.” If priests offer sacrifice in temples and if, by our baptism, we share in the priesthood of Jesus (“priestly people”), then we can see our lives in priestly terms. Now--we are already in the presence of God, offering gifts. Now---we are in the temple and all that we do is done as offering to God, the totality of our lives in this faithful community is a sacrifice to God. Now--- God dwells here with us, and where God is, so is the temple for worship. We too have roles similar to that of Jesus—our lives of sacrifice, our daily attempts to be faithful to our roles, are pleasing in God’s sight. These lives are public worship, visible signs to others that we look upon our world and our work in it in reverential ways. When we serve “the least,” seeing Jesus in them, we are doing worship in a public temple. When we give of our time and suffer the inconvenience of interrupted schedules, we are making public sacrifice at the altar. When we remain trusting, despite sickness or limitations of old age, we are proclaiming the Gospel from a worldly pulpit. When we resist daily temptations and dishonest shortcuts at work, we are making present to all around us the holiness of our one “high priest”—“holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, higher than the heavens,” who is “always able to save those who approach God through him....”
By Jude Siciliano, OP
28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 13, 2024
Who or what keeps me from loving God completely?
Gospel: Mark 10: 17–30
How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the Kingdom of God.
Who or what keeps me from loving God completely?
Mark 10:17–30
As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus answered him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.
You know the commandments: ‘You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you shall not defraud; honor your father and your mother.’”
He replied and said to him, “Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth.”
Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, “You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to [the] poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”
At that statement his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.
Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!”
The disciples were amazed at his words. So Jesus again said to them in reply, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!
It is easier for a camel to pass through [the] eye of [a] needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
They were exceedingly astonished and said among themselves, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “For human beings it is impossible, but not for God. All things are possible for God.”
Peter began to say to him, “We have given up everything and followed you.”
Jesus said, “Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come.”
Music Meditations
- “Seek Ye First” (sung by Maranatha! Praise Band) [YouTube]
- “The Summons” (sung by Robert Kochis) [YouTube]
- “Be Thou My Vision” (sung by Fernando Ortega) [YouYube]
Opening Prayer
Jesus, you ask us to leave everything and to follow you. I think you mean all those things that insulate me from your love and from the love of others. Let me examine what is the one thing holding me back from freedom. I can walk away or I can ask you help me to deal with this stumbling block. Help me to see what is truly necessary and life-giving and to use whatever goods and talents I have for the purpose of loving. Help me to be free of those attachments, even to those I love, that hold me back, that weigh me down. Help me to set myself free to follow you.
Companions for the Journey
Adapted from “Living Space”, a service of the Irish Jesuits:
Today we have the story of a rich man, that is, a man who believed he was rich or who believed that in his material wealth was his happiness. He was a well-meaning man. “Good Teacher, what must I do to share in everlasting life?” “You know the commandments,” says Jesus and then proceeds to list only those commandments which involve our relations with others, omitting those relating directly to God: not killing; not committing adultery; not stealing; not bearing false witness; not defrauding; respecting parents.
“I have kept all these things since I was young,” says the man. He was indeed a good man insofar as he did respect his parents and he did not do any of the sinful things mentioned.
Jesus looked at the man with a real love. This is not a love of affection or attraction. It is the love of agape, a love which desires the best possible thing for the other. This man was good but Jesus wanted him to be even better. So he said to him: “But there is one more thing: go and sell all you have and give to the poor. After that come and follow me.”
On hearing this, the man’s face clouded over. He walked slowly away full of sadness because he was very rich. Jesus had asked him for the one thing he could not give up. Jesus had asked for the one thing which the man believed showed he was specially blessed by God. He had not expected this. After he had gone Jesus looked at his disciples and said: “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!” Now it was his disciples’ turn to be alarmed and shocked.
Their whole tradition believed that wealth was a clear sign of God’s blessings; poverty was a curse from God.
Jesus removes any misunderstanding on their part: “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God.” In other words, quite impossible. This was really too much for them. “In that case,” they asked each other, “who can be saved?” If those who have done well in this life cannot be saved what hope can there be for the losers? It would take them time to learn the truth of Jesus’ words. And it is a lesson that many of us Christians still have to learn.
And we might ask, Why is it so difficult for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God? Is there something wrong with being rich? The answer depends on what meaning we give to ‘rich’ and to ‘Kingdom of God’.
A person at a lower middle class level in Europe or the United States may be extremely wealthy with the same resources if living in some African or Asian countries. Similarly a ‘rich’ peasant in a remote village may live a life that is primitive compared to a family on welfare in Europe.
When Jesus uses the word ‘rich’ he means a person who has more, a lot more, than those around him and especially when many of those around him do not have enough for their basic needs. For a person to cling to their material goods in such a situation, to enjoy a relatively luxurious standard of living while those around are deficient in food and housing is in contradiction to everything that Jesus and the Kingdom stand for.
And we need to emphasize that the ‘Kingdom of God’ here is not referring to a future life in ‘heaven’. Jesus is not saying that a rich person cannot go to heaven. He is concerned with how the rich person is living now. The Kingdom is a situation, a set of relationships where truth and integrity, love and compassion and justice and the sharing of goods prevail, where people take care of each other.
The man in the story said that he kept the commandments. One should notice that, except for one, all are expressed negatively. The man could observe several of them by doing nothing! Jesus was asking him to do something very positive, namely, to share his prosperity with his brothers and sisters in need. That he was not prepared to do. As such, he was not ready for the kingdom. He could not be a follower of Jesus. Nor can anyone else who is in a similar situation.
We might also add that the teaching applies not only to individuals but to communities and even nations. There are countries in the world today enjoying very high levels of prosperity with all kinds of consumer luxuries available while a very large proportion of the rest of the world lives mired in poverty, hunger, disease. It is one of the major scandals of our day. This is not a Kingdom situation and much of it is caused not by an uncaring God, or natural causes but by human beings who just refuse to share their surplus wealth. As someone has said, the really rich are those whose needs are the least.
A final reflection. We may feel that, in our society, we personally could by no stretch of the imagination be called rich and so the story does not apply to us. But we can cling to other things besides money. I might profitably ask myself today if there is anything at all in my life which I would find it very difficult to give up if God asked it of me. It might be a relationship, it might be a job or position, it might be good health.
To be a disciple Jesus means that he is asking me to follow him unconditionally, without any strings, ready to let go of anything and everything (although he may not actually ask me to do so). It is the readiness that counts. The man in the story did not even seem to have that. And still Jesus looked at him with love…
Weekly Memorization
Taken from the gospel for today’s session…
How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the Kingdom of God.
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
- Who are some people you know who might fit this description of the rich young man?
- Has there been a time in your life when you found “getting and spending” no longer enough and yearned for something else to focus on?
- Why did Jesus tell him to sell everything and give the proceeds to the poor before following Jesus?
What are the implications for us? - Realistically speaking, do I think Jesus us asking everyone, including me, to give everything I have to the poor?
How then, do I interpret this suggestion, for myself? - In my desire to enter the kingdom, is there some one thing that I lack?
- What are some hindrances besides wealth that can keep us from following Jesus?
- In your daily life do you think of wealth or talent as a blessing?
How has your wealth or talent been a blessing in your life?
How can it be a distraction from our relationship to God?
Why do you think Jesus seems to find wealth a problem? - Are riches always condemned in the gospels?
How can we reconcile our “riches” with God’s kingdom? - How does our consumer culture make it hard to say we have enough?
- Do you know people who seem to want to be sure that they will receive eternal life, or say that they know that they are saved?
Do you feel that these people have a sense that they are guaranteed eternal life?
Why is that so important to them?
What, besides “keeping the rules” must we do to obtain eternal life?
Were you surprised at Jesus reaction to the rich young man’s refusal to do what He suggested?
Have you even been involved with someone who asked for advice, then refused to take it?
How do we feel/react when people refuse to accept advice we give them “for their own good”? - How does my family/society treat those who choose to turn their backs on wealth and success in order to, say, work with the poor or disenfranchised?
Would your loved ones be happy or dismayed if you made such a choice?
Or:
Would I be happy if my child made such a choice? - All normally feel bad if they do something bad.
Have I ever felt bad about something good I DID NOT do? - If we focus on the eye of the needle, trying to drag our particular camel through it, do we see it as a pretty discouraging responsibility? So how do we deal with those issues?
- What is the difference between an invitation and a command?
If you were the young man, how would you have reacted?
What does that tell you about your own spiritual life? - How can we as individuals respond to God’s powerful gift?
- Nothing is impossible for God. When we invoke God’s power on our behalf, what do we humans usually ask for?
What does Jesus seem to be saying we ought to ask for?
Meditations
A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:
What do you think the phrase “Kingdom of God” means? We have to think about this a lot, because many were taught that the kingdom of God only refers to heaven—the afterlife. But a more complete reading of scripture holds two images of the kingdom in a sort of tension: it is a world in this life which mirrors God’s ultimate plan for everyone, a world of justice peace and love. It is also life with God where all of these thing are ultimately completed. Beyond this life. Today’s passage does manage to conflate the two ideas: The Kingdom of God is now and not yet. If we only focus on getting into heaven, then we squander all our energies just trying to stay out of sin. Exhausting! But trying to make a better world is not exactly easy either.
This is where we need God. So I ask myself:
Where in my spiritual life have I focused all my energies?
What attachments do I need to free myself from to be free to love as Jesus did?
What if I cannot be perfectly good or perfectly generous of my time and treasure?
Do I ask God’s help in this mighty endeavor of a lifetime?
Do I understand that no matter where I am in my journey, God is right there with me helping my drag my particular camels through a narrow passage we call the saintly life?
A Meditation in the Ignatian Style/Imagination:
“Well, Well, Well! Look who has just come up to talk to this preacher guy! Aren’t you surprised to see the son of our local chief, with all the wealth and distractions he possesses, come to speak to this dusty, unimpressive little man whom they call Jesus? Everybody else is dressed for a coming journey with Jesus, in their worn tunics and dusty sandals. This young man is dressed in a lovely wool tunic, what loos like new sandals. He has some rings on his fingers and his beard is neatly trimmed; he surely stands out it this crowd. We all know that this young man is considered a sort of “straight arrow”, obeying all the rules. What could he possibly want from Jesus? He has everything any of us could ever hope to have. But wait, the young man exchanges some earnest words with Jesus, then turns and leaves, looking very downcast. Those standing around seem very quiet and it is as if all energy has left with this young person. It is sad. I wonder what Jesus said to him. Whatever it was, it was not an angry exchange, because Jesus is looking at this man who is leaving with love and compassion. Maybe I will find out later just what was said….
Well, all three synoptic gospels relate this story, and several things stand out: Jesus asked the man to give up everything he owned and follow Jesus, and the man was sad because he was not ready to make that commitment and to give up every material thing he possessed. But Jesus did not condemn him and hurl a curt dismissal of the man; instead Jesus seemed to feel a genuine sympathy for him. And every gospel account relates Jesus commenting how hard it is for those who are rich to enter the kingdom of God. Yes, how hard it is for me to enter into a kingdom where children do not go to school hungry, if they go to school at all; how hard it is to enter a kingdom where no one goes without healthcare, and other necessities like a place to live, IF IT MEANS THAT I HAVE TO GIVE UP SOMETHING I POSSESS IN ORDER TO MAKE IT HAPPEN. And yet, Jesus seems to understand my reluctance, and waits and hopes for me learn to let go of some of the trappings of power and wealth in order to bring the Kingdome of God to fruition. I hope I develop the wisdom and courage to get there….
A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:
Adapted from “First Impressions”, a service of the Southern Dominican Province, 2024:
Frequently people will say they are “blessed” because they are healthy, have a good family, comfortable home, food to eat, etc. What does that say about people who lack these “blessings” because of poverty, sickness, civil conflict, etc. Are they not “blessed?” Are they left out of God’s loving care and concern?
The rich man and his contemporaries would have regarded his wealth as a sign of God’s blessing. And more. They would have attributed their blessings” to their faithful observance of the law. Which was suggested by the man’s response to Jesus’ listing of the commandments. “Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth.” To that response Mark tells us, Jesus looked at him with love and invited him to sell everything and join the rest of his disciples. “Go sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” But if he gives up his worldly possessions, what will he have to show he is “blessed” by God?
The question for me is: how do I regard the good things and the bad things that have happened in my life? Do I think of God as a dispenser of good luck as a reward for being good? Do I think God “blesses” those who follow the rules and are considered “good people”, with good luck and good fortune? Have I ever prayed for God to grant me a particular favor, because I have played by the rules and I have sort of earned it? On the other hand, have I ever looked upon those who have suffered a job loss, economic reversal, even bad health or the loss of a loved one as people who must have done something to deserve it? Have I considered them worthy of pity, but in a condescending, somewhat judgmental sort of way? How do I think Jesus viewed the rich and successful people he encountered? How do I think he viewed the poor, the sick, the outcast?
A Meditation in the Augustinian Style/Relationship:
Adapted from Sacred Space, a service of the Irish Jesuits:
I allow myself time to think about what Jesus loves about me. This is not attraction or friendship, this is AGAPE (a love that wants only the best for me, and is unconditional). I rest in the knowledge that anything Jesus hopes for me, wants for me is my happiness and joy—and I don’t move on until I do!
Jesus may show me the one thing that is holding me back from freedom. I can walk away or I can ask for help to deal with it.
Can I assure Jesus that I adhere to his basic commandments? If not, which one is most difficult for me right now?
Is Jesus asking more of me—a loving concern for my poorer neighbors that gives generously without counting the cost? Taking the extra time to talk to someone in my family or friend circle who is lonely—needy and maybe annoyingly so, yes, but also lonely? Jesus does not invite me to mediocrity. I need to challenge myself a little.
He asks everything but he does it with great love. What is Jesus asking of me right now? What is my answer? Do I realize he loves me no matter what my answer is?
Speak to Jesus about your response to his invitation; speak to him also about your recognition of his great love.
Poetic Reflection:
The rich young man in the gospel was asked to give up his wealth and his comfortable life, to “go further in”. What does Thomas Centollela (former Stegner fellow) say it means to “go further in”:
“At Big Rec”
A few hours spent in the dry rooms of the dying.
Then the walk home, and 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 on the rail above the empty diamonds
where, in 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 for a while,
tap along with his cane past the market stalls
and take in, as if they were abandoned,
the little blue crabs which within 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.
Closing Prayer
Lord, your world is so wide, so big, and my heart is often so small, so narrow. Help me to focus less on sin and staying out of it, and more on love and staying in it.
27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 6, 2024
It’s all about relationships
Gospel: Mark 10: 2–16
Whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it
It’s all about relationships
Mark 10: 2–16
The Pharisees approached and asked, “Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?” They were testing him. He said to them in reply, “What did Moses command you?” They replied, “Moses permitted him to write a bill of divorce and dismiss her.” But Jesus told them, “Because of the hardness of your hearts he wrote you this commandment.
But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother [and be joined to his wife], and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh.
Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate.”
In the house the disciples again questioned him about this.
He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”
And people were bringing children to him that he might touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this he became indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it.” Then he embraced them and blessed them, placing his hands on them.
Music Meditations
- You Are Mine--David Haas
- Come Thou Font of Every Blessing--Mormon Tabernacle Choir
- All Creatures of our God and King--John Rutter
Opening Prayer
Lord, help me to be understanding of the problems facing many marriages and many families today. We are quick to judge and slow to perceive the pressures that face many people in the face of covid, and political and economic uncertainty. I hold up to you [a specific person, or people]. Please keep them in your care and give them the strength to carry on.
Companions for the Journey
From “First Impressions”, 2006, a service of the Southern Dominican Province:
Jesus continues teaching his disciples on their way to Jerusalem. As a test, the Pharisees raise the issue of divorce and this allows him an opportunity for another teaching. The law the Pharisees refer to (Dt. 24: 1-4) allowed a man to dismiss a wife for “something objectionable.” The issue of divorce was not an insignificant one for the religious community in Jesus’ time. (It isn’t insignificant for our time either.) Many rabbis were asked their opinion on the matter and each had one to give. Rather than discuss the allowance for divorce in the law, Jesus calls them back to Genesis and reminds them of God’s plan for marriage.
What he says is a hard teaching since so many these days have had divorces; in our country almost 50% of new marriages are expected to end in divorce and many believers have to deal with Jesus’ teaching in the face of the realities of modern life. So, let’s wrestle with what Jesus says and what we experience among family, friends and maybe ourselves. First of all: the reason for a strict teaching against divorce.
In ancient societies, and even now, marriage laws were societal ways to protect women, who could not own property and would suffer without a husband or man’s support. The laws also protected children who were the most vulnerable in society. The laws safeguarded such members of the community from the whims of fathers and husbands. Some interpreted the law’s permission for divorce rather loosely. The “something objectionable” might be rather miniscule—a man could dismiss his wife for poor cooking or because she was elderly. When a woman was divorced she became vulnerable and dependent on the male members of her family for support. If they wouldn’t or couldn’t help her, remember the extreme poverty of the vast majority of the people, she was left on her own. So, stricter marriage and divorce laws helped those who needed protection. Jesus’ teaching is a difficult one. If we look at Matthew’s gospel for the parallel passage to this one in Mark, we notice that it can be found in the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus lays down other difficult teachings about: loving enemies; living the Beatitudes, the ideal of nonviolence; turning the other cheek; giving without expecting return. In the light of these ideals that Jesus places before us we must admit that we all fall short. Perhaps the teaching about marriage and divorce should be treated as we treat his other ideals; we fail in so many ways to live the life that Jesus has described for members of his kingdom and we are always in need of mercy from our compassionate God.
This is not to excuse ourselves from what he says to us today. We can’t close our ears to the teachings Genesis and Jesus place before us; that marriage is an indissoluble bond and that it represents, as our church teaches, the unbreakable bond between God and God’s creation. So, the union between man and woman calls for fidelity on many levels, not only sexual, but in the giving of one to the other in loving trust and support so as to make manifest a fidelity that resembles God’s fidelity to us.
That’s the ideal of Christian marriage, the one taught by our Church. We believe that the sacrament of marriage is to mirror God’s love for us and Christ’s love for his church. But in our human condition, we who strive for the ideal, often fail. We try to be faithful to living the life Jesus has modeled and taught, but we fall short. Today we bring that struggle and good intention to the altar as we offer ourselves to God and God, in return, gives us Christ and his Spirit to help us live what we profess. As church people we are not blind to human weakness. Over the years we have come to a deeper understanding of what makes full human consent possible. We realize that at certain stages of a person’s life or because of circumstances, a fully free and human consent is not possible. And so, with this newer awareness, there are more dissolutions of marriage in our church because of inadequate consent. But there are still other situations that do not qualify for such official declarations.
Pastors, in their care of the faithful, come across couples who may not be able to receive ecclesial declarations of nullity of previous marriages. These people have decided on remarriage and live good family lives, trusting that God will forgive whatever responsibility they bear for the failure of a previous marriage. They hunger to participate in their parish community and its sacramental life. These people, aware of their situation regarding the laws of the church, have decided, with sincere consciences and even the advice of their pastors, to return to the sacraments. Obviously this is not the official teaching of the Church; but still, it is not uncommon pastoral practice and has been an opening to a renewed spiritual life for probably many divorced Catholics. Other Christian churches have decided to allow second marriages under similar conditions.
Today’s gospel condemns divorce. Yet, we all fail in many ways to live up to the radical demands of the gospel and the question might be asked: why is the issue of divorce and remarriage any different? Perhaps strict laws are necessary to help protect the ideal. With them in place, married couples might be encouraged to work out or find help when problems arise. A friend, married for 30 years and still in love with his wife said, “Over the years, we almost got divorced about 5 times.” Or, as a young mother told me, “Being married is the toughest thing I have ever done.” Yet she and her husband continue to work hard at it. We’ll hold on to the ideal, but we need to find ways to tend to people caught in a crisis or who find themselves in situations for which they are not responsible. Even faithful Christians must deal with personal sin and live in and be affected by a broken world. When the ideal breaks down, we have the mercy of God as a refuge and that is Jesus’ most basic teaching, isn’t it? —God’s compassion for our broken and sinful nature. When, with all our best planning and good intentions for faithful and permanent married relationships, we fail, then God’s mercy comes forward and center stage.
If we, as a church, are to take Jesus’ words seriously then we need to do more, not only officially, but as family and friends to support married couples when their relationships are strained. It is harder these days to do that. The culture in which we live is not very helpful, divorce is so common. In addition: we live so far apart from those we love, it is hard to be there when they need us; we are busy multi-tasking; we have responsibilities, not only for our children, but for the care of aging parents; our careers and jobs demand more than the standard forty-hour work week from us, etc. But think of all the weddings we attend. Isn’t there an implied commitment we make at those ceremonies, not only to show up for the service and the party afterwards, but later on, when the couple needs our support, advice, and encouragement to help them “become one flesh.” That’s also the time for us to “show up.”
Weekly Memorization
Taken from the gospel for today’s session…
Whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it
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
- Divorce laws, like most laws, protect the ideal. How do we deal with people who cannot live or have not lived up to the ideal?
- We fail and make mistakes in so many ways, and seek and receive forgiveness. Why is divorce itself, or divorce and remarriage treated so differently?
- Where does compassion come in, where does justice come in, and where does mercy come in?
- Are there some “rules” that are considered more important than others in our society?
Are they spoken or unspoken?
Are family “rules” sometimes different from societal rules?
Are Church “rules” different from the “rules” of family or society? - How do we, as church, deal with divorced people, single parents, or children of same?
- What do we do as a parish to support marriage and families?
Can we do better?
How? - Is there ever a slight whiff of superiority that emanates from those who are in intact marriages (good or bad) toward those who have never married or who are divorced?
- What can I do or say to give support to those who are struggling in their commitment to one another?
- From Faith Book by Jude Siciliano, O.P. 2009
Have I shown compassion and support for those struggling in their marriage?
After a divorce, have I let one of the former spouses slip off my radar screen? - What does it mean to accept the kingdom of God like a child?
- When do children these days lose some of these childlike qualities?
Which childlike qualities are hard for adults to sustain? - In what way is our cultural climate hostile to the physical, mental and emotional well-being of today’s children?
- Besides children, other groups were marginalized in Jesus’ time. What groups are marginalized in our present time?
Meditations
A Meditation in the Ignatian Style/Imagination:
Imagination:
My name is Sarah. Almost nobody knows my name because I am generally referred to as the “woman at the well”, or the divorced woman at the well I want share with you what my life has been like here in Samaria. My family married me off at 15 to an older man looking for sons, and since I was young and healthy, I was considered a good candidate. Unfortunately, no children came, and he decided to obtain a writ of divorce; I was summarily dismissed from his house, and my parents were ashamed but found me another husband. Unfortunately, I was not able to give him children either, and so I was divorced by him. This time, my parents were really not able or willing to have me live with them, and I had no brothers with whom I could live either. I begged a little, scrounged off other relatives and survived until I could find another husband. When husbands 3,4 and 5 found me defective as well, I was on my own again. Luckily, someone came along who was willing to have me. L “live with him” but as I was damaged goods, he was not interested in marriage. Throughout this whole experience, I lost both family and friends because of the stink of failure that surrounded my broken marriages. While I did not seek to divorce anyone, somehow the fact that I was divorced was an embarrassment —I was a loser. Who wants to hang out with a loser? In my little village I could see people consciously avoiding me, whispering to one another about the wreck I had become. Some children called me terrible names, ones they had heard from their parents, no doubt. Occasionally one of the wives of an elder would come up to me and berate me for the scandal I was causing in the community by living with someone to whom I was not married. I was lonely and isolated, and terribly afraid that I might be booted out of the house when my “protector” found a younger, prettier, more fertile potential wife.
So my routine was to creep out of the house in the middle of the day, when it was hottest and the well was absolutely deserted. There, I would fill my buckets in peace and scuttle back to the sanctuary of my empty house, there to wait for my protector to return home and keep me company. It was lonely and sometimes boring, but I really hate confrontation. You can imagine my surprise when a small group of men came to the well and left their leader there while they went into town and the one left behind asked me to give him a drink of water. Men do not talk to unaccompanied women; men do not talk to divorced women; Jewish men do not talk to Samaritans, period. What was this man all about? It was clear to me that he was something special. It was also clear that what he was talking about was way over my head, and I kept asking for clarification. When he asked me to summon my husband to conduct this conversation in a more appropriate manner, I had to admit that I had no real husband. That’s when he revealed that he knew all about me, somehow—my divorces, my current living situation. I read no condemnation or horror in his voice or words; I heard sympathy and honesty. I finally realized how special this dusty, thirsty little man was, and that God’s messiah might be at hand. When the man’s friends returned, I learned that their friend’s behavior was not something they were totally comfortable with. But he was comfortable talking to me and teaching me, and for that reason I decided that this man was truly someone sent by God. No matter what had happened to me before, no matter how shamed and isolated I had felt before, his kindness, intelligence and understanding of me as a human being, not as a failed divorcee, gave me the courage to go back into my town and bring others to experience his message for themselves. His love gave me courage; his understanding gave me back my identity, my name. My name is Sarah.
Reflection:
Too often, Mark 10:2-16 and the conventional preaching on marriage only serves as a further reminder to those who have experienced divorce, that somehow they are failures, are bad people, are losers. If only they had done something different, had behaved better, they would not be in this plight. Many divorcees in the Church feel like they are not quite welcome because they failed to meet the standards that should mark all good Christians. And if they are divorced and remarried they have committed a sin that cannot be forgiven unless they break up their current marriage and family. So I need to ask myself how I view the situation of someone in my life or my church community who has been divorced. Have I passed judgement on them, their parents or their children? Do I look for who is to blame for so failing to meet the standards set by God? Do I recognize the actuality of cultural or societal prejudice against those who have undergone a divorce? In this country, and in many others around the world, one spouse can file for divorce, and the other has no choice but to accept that reality. Do I realize that not everyone who is divorced actually wished to be divorced? Do I view the children of divorce with a kind of superior pity that seeks to cosign them to lesser ranks because they come from what used to be called “ a broken home? How do children experience the stigma of divorce and how do they survive it? ? If I am divorced, do I feel that God understands my imperfect, messy life? How can I myself uphold the aspirational ideal of a forever marriage and still avoid judging or excluding someone (including myself) for whom that ideal was not possible? How can my church?
A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:
Jesus said, in speaking of children, that to such belongs the kingdom of God. What childlike qualities commend themselves to us as qualities which should characterize those seeking to enter the Kingdom? (Here are a few that Father Walter Burghardt, S.J. suggested in a homily written in 1985):
Open, not cynical
Trusting, Rarely suspicious.
Responsive to love and affection
Are not prized only for what they have accomplished
Delighted to be surprised
Every day is often a new day, old hurts forgotten
Forgiving
Honest
Aware of their powerlessness, their dependence on another
See the humor in the ridiculous
Open to a new adventure
(You add some here)
Which qualities come naturally to you?
Which qualities do you admire in others?
Which qualities do you criticize in others
Which qualities are the hardest for you?
A Meditation in the Augustinian Style/Relationship:
From “First Impressions”, a service of the Southern Dominican Province:
From today’s Gospel reading:
Jesus said,
“Whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it.”
Then he embraced them and blessed them, placing his hands on them.
Reflection:
Jesus not only shows his affection for children, but he takes advantage of the moment to speak on behalf of society’s most vulnerable members which, in the light of the context, would not only include children, who had no legal status, but divorced women as well. In Jesus’ statement against divorce he followed his usual pattern of protecting the poor and most vulnerable members of society.
So we ask ourselves:
Have I shown compassion and support for those struggling in their marriage?
After a divorce, have I let one of the former spouses slip off my radar screen?
Poetic Reflection:
Read this humorous and satirical love poem by Billy Collins. What does it tell you about the all-too-human imaginary speaker of this litany to his or her loved one? Are we ever slightly competitive with those we love?
“Litany”
You are the bread and the knife
The crystal goblet and the wine.
—Jacques CrickillonYou are the bread and the knife
the crystal goblet and the wine.
You are the dew on the morning grass
and the burning wheel of the sun.
You are the white apron of the baker
and the marsh birds suddenly in flight.However, you are not the wind in the orchard,
the plums on the counter
or the house of cards.
And you are certainly not the pine-scented air.
There is no way you are the pine-scented air.It is possible you are the fish under the bridge,
maybe even the pigeon on the general’s head,
but you are not even close
to being the field of cornflowers at dusk.And a quick look in the mirror will show
that you are neither the boots in the corner
nor the boat asleep in the boathouse.
It might interest you to know,
speaking of the plentiful imagery of the world,
that I am the sound of rain on the roof.I also happen to be the shooting star,
the evening paper blowing down an alley,
and the basket of chestnuts on the kitchen table.I am also the moon in the trees
and the blind woman’s tea cup.
But don’t worry. I am not the bread and the knife
You are still the bread and the knife.
You will always be the bread and the knife
Not to mention the crystal goblet and—somehow—the wine.
Closing Prayer
Lord, we know your way is one of faithful love, but we also know that human love of all kinds can be fragile. Help me to bring compassion to all who are finding relationships and commitments difficult right now. I hear you calling me to love, to forgiveness, to fidelity and patience; I realize that I need courage and resolve in each of my relationships to be able to answer that call.
26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 29, 2024
Who is a true disciple; who is a false disciple?
Gospel: Mark 9: 38–43, 45, 47–48
Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, amen I say to you, will surely not lose his reward.
Who is a true disciple; who is a false disciple?
Mark 9:38–43, 45, 47–48
John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us.”
Jesus replied, “Do not prevent him. There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name who can at the same time speak ill of me.
For whoever is not against us is for us.
Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward.
“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe [in me] to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.
If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed than with two hands to go into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire.
And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life crippled than with two feet to be thrown into Gehenna.
And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. Better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna, where ‘their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’”
Music Meditations
- Make Me a Channel of Your Peace---Vincent Ramkhelawan
- We Are Called (see YouTube @maryelizabethanne2)
- Here I am, Lord---John Michael Talbot
Opening Prayer
Lord, open my eyes to all the good that is being done in your name, whether it be by people in my religious group, or by others. Help me to understand that discipleship is not a competition to prove that I and my religious cohorts are better, more faithful followers. May I show generosity of spirit in welcoming others to join in your mission to save all. I especially commend to you [a specific person], who is not of my religious tradition, but who is a powerful witness to your message.
Companions for the Journey
By Jude Siciliano, O.P. (jude@judeop.org). From “First Impressions” 2021, a service of the southern Dominican Province:
I wonder why Eldad and Medad weren’t at the great meeting with Moses and the seventy elders when God bestowed the spirit of prophesy on them? Did they forget the time and date of the gathering? Had there been a disagreement between them and the others and so they refused to attend? Still, Eldad and Medad received the spirit of prophecy, just like the rest. Joshua, part of the “in group” protests, and wants Moses to restrain Eldad and Medad. Joshua has a restricted spirit and a small heart. If things aren’t done by the standards of the inner circle they must be stopped. Only those who are on our side and who think and do things according to our ways get to share in the gifts of God and experience God’s presence. But Moses will have none of that kind of thinking because he has met and experienced God’s bigness of heart. We don’t have to clutch God to ourselves as our private property. Some religious people do that, restricting God’s presence and activity to conforming members and in precisely enacted rituals.
The gospel parallels the reading from Numbers. A person who is not a member of the disciples’ community is driving out demons using Jesus’ name. Wouldn’t you think the disciples would be happy to know a person had been cured of a dreaded ailment? Why didn’t they also celebrate that Jesus’ name was spreading and others would be learning about the master they had left everything to follow? Apparently, when they chose to follow Jesus and leave their possessions behind, they did not leave their sense of entitlement behind as well. The disciples were closest to Jesus and they had never given permission for some stranger to use Jesus’ name to heal – a power that Jesus had shared with them. You would think that if good is being done and evil overcome in the world, what does it matter who is doing the good deed, especially if they are doing it in Jesus’ name? We do not belong to an exclusive and privileged club with strict rules for participation. God’s love breaks out beyond our restrictions and borders. Nor is God’s activity limited to our using the right words and formulas and performing the proper gestures.
As a Christian I look for Christ’s presence in the world doing what he did in his lifetime. The details may differ from the gospel’s; someone may not be invoking Jesus’ name in doing the good they do. Still, when someone forgives a wrong done; a neighbor sacrifices time and resources to help someone in need; medical personnel travel across the country to relieve a pandemic-swamped emergency room; a grammar school collects food and clothing for the poor – though the name of Jesus may not be spoken, and the people involved might not be Christian, still, I see him present, doing what he always did, reaching out to raise up the fallen and rejected. A quote from THE INTERPRETERS BIBLE sums up this part of the passage: “These words of Jesus, then, are a rebuke to all our blind exclusiveness, our arrogant assumptions, that God’s action in the world is limited to the forms with which we are familiar. ‘Something there is that does not love a wall.’ It is the mind of God. The church has suffered terribly, and the world has suffered terribly, from this fence-building frenzy. If one tenth of the time which Christians have devoted to building fences had gone into building roads as a highway for God, the world would be a far better place today. Jesus came to heal the sick and help the poor. If a doctor dedicates her life; giving of her free time; not charging indigent patients who don’t have health care; even providing free medication – but doesn’t explicitly invoke the name of Jesus – would she also come under Jesus’ banner -- “For whoever is not against us is for us”? Mother Theresa thought if you gave a cup of water to a thirsty person out of love, you were in fact a follower of Jesus. While we don’t need to “baptize” every good, non-believer for their works still, we can say they are living in a way Jesus would recognize and applaud.
There is a shift in today’s gospel that may be hard to hear, the part about putting a millstone around the neck of a scandalous member and casting them into the sea; cutting off an offending hand; casting someone into an unquenchable fire in Gehenna, etc. What’s going on here? We must recognize Jesus’ Middle Eastern way of speaking and the use of hyperbole to make a point. Note, that Gehenna wasn’t another name for hell, but referred to Jerusalem’s smoking, foul-smelling garbage dump – a perfect metaphor to warn disciples of the consequences of sinful behavior, being cast into a smelly, burning garbage dump! Mark follows the conversation between John and Jesus about the disciples’ sense of entitlement, with this teaching about extreme measures to avoid sin. In the context, the disciples’ elitist attitude can be a scandal to the “little ones” in the community. Those of rank in the community, or the “established members,” must set an example of humility and sensitivity for the believing faithful. In the images of the gospel, if we seek the place of honor in a procession we should cut off our foot. If we refuse to see the abusive behavior of some in the community, we should pluck out our eye. Could Jesus have made his point in any stronger terms? We know from recent coverups of abusive behavior by some of our church leaders, that Jesus’ words have not worn out their meaning.
Weekly Memorization
Taken from the gospel for today’s session…
Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, amen I say to you, will surely not lose his reward.
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
- Why does there seem to be competition between religious groups, or between certain members of our own religious group?
- Do we regard our Catholicism as some sort of personal privilege to be jealously guarded, refusing to acknowledge any good being done by those of another faith tradition?
-
Too oft we think our church is right
Can we often be proprietary about our own religion, dismissing what good things others are doing, or good ideas others may have who are not part of our "tribe"?
The other branches wrong
It’s we! who spread the gospel light
Who sing the one true song
—author unknown - Do we assume that someone who is not speaking with specific approval from our religious authorities or institutions has nothing to say?
Has anyone ever criticized our Church and been right? - What is the difference between “Whoever is not against us is for us”, and “Whoever is not for us is against us.”?
Which adage do we seem to follow in our present culture? - In our personal secular lives, have we ever seen the negative effect of jealousy and possessiveness or the positive effect of being able to rejoice that good is being done, irrespective of the person who is doing it?
- How do we discern when someone is speaking or acting in God's name and when someone is merely self-promoting, or simply causing trouble to be provocative?
- How hard is it in our world to “empower” others and let go of the need for personal praise or gain?
- In Baptism we are anointed as priests and prophets. Do we believe this? Do we live it?
- How DO we preach? How ARE we disciples in our own little sphere of influence?
- Overemphasis on the sheer drama of this passage may lead us to forget that Jesus was about love… Basically, anything that denies or negates that love is not what Jesus wants us to embrace.
Have you ever done something for someone and had its positive effects ripple out beyond your expectations?
Have you ever done something negative to someone and had this action cause more damage than you ever intended? - Can you think of anyone who has led others astray and caused great damage to Church or society?
- Is there anything in my life which I need to “cut out” in order to follow Jesus more closely?
- When has my need for affirmation or self-gratification let to behaviors that hurt myself or others?
- Ignatius: “Everything on earth is created by God to help us get close to him.”
What gets in the way?
What gifts can be misused?
Meditations
A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:
Adapted from “Sacred Space”, a service of the Irish Jesuits:
Jesus noes not jealously protect his power. Rather, He empowers others, of whatever religion or none, and whether they know it or not. He even says that his followers will do greater things than he has done (John 14:12) Do we ever need this reminder? Does it warn me against thinking that I, or my group, have a corner on God’s grace? When I see others doing good or tackling evil, and just because they are “not following us”, do I feel a proprietary resentment? Do I understand that the salvation of the world is collaborative event and not given to one group alone? How can I overcome my narrowness of heart and jealousy of the good others do?
A Meditation in the Augustinian Style/Relationship/Memory:
I think of those in my own life who have been an example to me, or who have nurtured my growth and development. Did their religion matter? Why or why not? Who, besides those of my own religious tradition, were mentors and advisors to me? Have I ever let any of them know how much they changed my life for the better? Have there been others from whom I learned how to be more Christ-like, even if they did not know they were mirroring Christ for me? Do you think there is anyone in your life new for whom you might be an example or a mentor? Do I ever stop and appreciate the good deeds done by others? Have I ever acknowledged that to them?
A Meditation in the Ignatian Style/Imagination:
Read the gospel story of the Good Samaritan, (Lk 10:29-37) putting yourself in the place of the outcast who stopped to help a stranger from another culture. How did you feel when you saw this severely wounded person who clearly was a Jew –someone who traditionally hated people like you? Were you tempted to pass him by? What led you to stop and help? Were others around you looking at you strangely, such as the innkeeper suspicious of your motives when you brought this bedraggled stranger to his door? What led you to go the extra distance and leave money for the stranger’s care?
Now, imagine you are one of Jesus’ audience listening to this story. Does it make you irritated or even angry that he makes a hero out of someone from group of people that are considered enemies of God and enemies of Israel by those in your culture? Do you believe such a story is possible, or does it seem like a tall tale or purely provocative teaching to you? How do you feel when he discusses the callousness or religious scrupulosity of “your own? Does this parable simple make you angry, does it close your mind to what Jesus is teaching, or are you provoked onto looking at “the other” differently?
In your own life, have you ever run into religious and sincere people who clearly have nothing good to say about what is being done in the name of Jesus? Have you ever fallen into the trap of slyly belittling the good works done by another tradition, as if it were a competition between Roman Catholicism and all other religions?
Poetic Reflection:
Here are two poems roundly criticizing the smugness of those who think their religious tradition and beliefs are better than others. What do they seem to say about how God views them and those of us who sometimes think we have a corner on the truth and on God’s regard?
“The Hippopotamus”
The broad-backed hippopotamus
Rests on his belly in the mud;
Although he seems so firm to us
He is merely flesh and blood.Flesh-and-blood is weak and frail,
Susceptible to nervous shock;
While the True Church can never fail
For it is based upon a rock.The hippo's feeble steps may err
In compassing material ends,
While the True Church need never stir
To gather in its dividends.The 'potamus can never reach
The mango on the mango-tree;
But fruits of pomegranate and peach
Refresh the Church from over sea.At mating time the hippo's voice
Betrays inflexions hoarse and odd,
But every week we hear rejoice
The Church, at being one with God.The hippopotamus's day
Is passed in sleep; at night he hunts;
God works in a mysterious way --
The Church can sleep and feed at once.
I saw the 'potamus take wing
Ascending from the damp savannas,
And quiring angels round him sing
The praise of God, in loud hosannas.Blood of the Lamb shall wash him clean
And him shall heavenly arms enfold,
Among the saints he shall be seen
Performing on a harp of gold.He shall be washed as white as snow,
By all the martyr'd virgins kist,
While the True Church remains below
Wrapt in the old miasmal mist.—T.S. Eliot
“The Cambridge ladies who live in furnished souls”
the Cambridge ladies who live in furnished souls
are unbeautiful and have comfortable minds
(also, with the church’s protestant blessings
daughters, unscented shapeless spirited)
they believe in Christ and Longfellow, both dead,
are invariably interested in so many things—
at the present writing one still finds
delighted fingers knitting for the is it Poles?
Perhaps. While permanent faces coyly bandy
scandal of Mrs. N and Professor D
.... the Cambridge ladies do not care, above
Cambridge if sometimes in its box of
sky lavender and cornerless, the
moon rattles like a fragment of angry candy—e.e.cummings
Closing Prayer
Lord, help me to be open to bringing your word to others regardless of their religious inclination, their political allegiances, or my particular biases. Help me to prune from my life the “branches” that are impeding my growth, or hurting others with their sharpness, especially [a particular behavior].