Fourth Sunday in Lent, March 30, 2025

Forgiveness from God is ours for the asking, and we in turn must forgive those who have hurt us

Luke 15:1–3, 11–32

The tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to him, but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So to them he addressed this parable.

Then he said, “A man had two sons, and the younger son said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of your estate that should come to me.’ So the father divided the property between them.

After a few days, the younger son collected all his belongings and set off to a distant country where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation.

When he had freely spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he found himself in dire need.

So he hired himself out to one of the local citizens who sent him to his farm to tend the swine.

And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody gave him any.

Coming to his senses he thought, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food to eat, but here am I, dying from hunger.

I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.

I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.”’

So he got up and went back to his father. While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him.

His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son.’ But his father ordered his servants, ‘Quickly bring the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.

Take the fattened calf and slaughter it. Then let us celebrate with a feast, because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found.’ Then the celebration began.

Now the older son had been out in the field and, on his way back, as he neared the house, he heard the sound of music and dancing.

He called one of the servants and asked what this might mean.

The servant said to him, ‘Your brother has returned and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

He became angry, and when he refused to enter the house, his father came out and pleaded with him.

He said to his father in reply, ‘Look, all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders; yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends.

But when your son returns who swallowed up your property with prostitutes, for him you slaughter the fattened calf.’ He said to him, ‘My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours.

But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’”

Music Meditations

• Going Home—Bryn Terfel (see music meditation below)
• Great is Thy Faithfulness—Selah
• In the Hollow of thy Hand—Janice Kapp Perry
• Turn to Me—John Foley
• Gracious God—Jesse Manibusan
• I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say, (to the tune KINGSFORD), sung by Choir of Manchester Cathedral

Preparation / Centering

Adapted from Sacred Space: The Prayer Book 2025

If done in a group setting, the prompts are read aloud by the leader; otherwise a silent meditation.

Presence of God:

As I sit here, I become aware of the beating of my heart, the ebb and flow of my breath moving and the movements of my mind (pause). All are signs, loving and prodigal Father, of your ongoing creation of me. I pause for a moment and become aware of your presence within me.

[1-2 minutes of silence]

Freedom:

Jesus, I ask you to free me from my own preoccupations, of my grievances with others, of my sense of entitlement, of my need to be right. I ask you, also, for the freedom to seek and grant forgiveness and for the joy that will bring

[1-2 minutes of silence]

Consciousness:

Holy Spirit, Divine Sophia, how can I become more aware of your guidance and care? Do I seek wisdom and understanding? Can you lead me beyond myself to an awareness of the cosmic goodness that is your spirit within me, within others, within this beautiful spring re-creation? Give me eyes to see, ears to listen and a heart to encompass goodness.

[2-3 minutes of silence]

Opening Prayer

Lord, you have no favorites. You understand that some people need more patience and understanding than others. You understand that sometimes we are especially needy and selfish in what we desire from you or those in our life. You understand that we are, most of the time, simply doing the best we can. Help us extend that understanding to those we live with, work with, sometimes tangle with. Help us extend that understanding to ourselves so that we can bask in the joy that is your steadfast caring, forgiveness, and love.

Companions for the Journey

This is taken from “Living Space” 2022, a service of the Irish Jesuits:

The prodigal father

The most striking story in chapter 15 of Luke is the third parable. We normally call it the “Prodigal Son” but, in fact, the emphasis is less on the son than on the father, who clearly represents God and Jesus. No one can deny the appalling behavior of the younger son. He took all that his father generously gave to him as his inheritance and used it in leading a life of total debauchery and self-centered indulgence. Eventually, he had nothing and was reduced to living with pigs, something utterly abhorrent to the Jewish mind, and even sharing their slops, something even we would find appalling. “Served him right,” might be the reaction of many, especially the good and morally respectable. This, however, is not the reaction of the father, who has only one thought in his mind – how to get his son to come back to where he belongs. The father does not say: “This son has seriously offended me and brought disgrace on our family. May he rot in hell.” Instead, he says: “My son went away, is lost and I want so much to have him back.” And he stands at the door of his house watching and waiting… His love for his wayward son has not changed one iota.

No force

There is no force involved. The police are not sent out. Servants are not instructed to haul him back. No, the father waits. It is up to the son himself to make the crucial decision: does he want to be with his father or not? Eventually he “came to his senses”, that is, he realized the wrongness of what he had done. He became aware of just how good his father had been. The process of repentance had begun. He felt deeply ashamed of his behavior and then, most significantly of all, he turned round to make his way back to his father.

The father, for his part, filled with compassion for his son’s experiences, runs out to meet him, embraces him and brushes aside the carefully prepared speech the son had got ready. If the son had known his father better, he would have realized that such a speech was unnecessary. Immediately, orders are given to bring the very best things in the house and a banquet is laid on.

This is forgiveness, this is reconciliation and, on the part of the son, this is conversion, a real turning around of his life and a return to where he ought to be. All this, it is important to remember, is in response to the comments of the Pharisees and Scribes about Jesus mixing with sinners. This story reveals a picture of God which, on the one hand, many of us have not yet fully accepted and, on the other, a way of behavior that does not come easily to us in our own relationships with others.

No understanding

That is where the elder son comes in. He simply cannot understand what is happening. He was never treated like this and had always been a “good” boy. What kind of justice is this? One brother stays at home keeping all the rules [Commandments] and seems to get nothing. His brother lives riotously with prostitutes in a pagan land and when he comes back he is treated like royalty. He could not understand the mind of his father and some of us may have difficulties too. In some ways God is very unjust – at least by our standards. He is corrupted by love! But fortunately for us, he is like that. Supposing we went to confession one day and the priest said, “Sorry, that’s it. There can be no more forgiveness, no more reconciliations. You’ve used up your quota. Too bad.”

Of course, it is not like that. There is no limit to God’s forgiveness. As was said earlier, God is not interested in the past but only in the present. I am judged not by what I have done or not done earlier. Nor need I be anxious how I will behave in the future. I am judged by my relationship with God here and now. It was on that basis that the murderous gangster crucified with Jesus was told, “This day you will be with me in Paradise.” He is promised eternal life “this very day”. It was on the same basis that the “sinful woman”, presumably a prostitute, becomes totally reconciled with Jesus there and then and all her past behavior forgotten. “She has no sin [now] because she loves so much [now].”

All I have to worry about is whether right now I have a loving relationship with God and with all those around me through whom I come in contact with him.

What limits do we set?

There is clearly much for reflection, too, in today’s readings on how we deal with those we feel have “offended” us. In wanting to experience God’s forgiveness, we also need to learn how to be forgiving to others. Do we set limits to our forgiveness? To be reconciled with God we need to learn how to be reconciled with all those who are sources of conflict or pain in our lives.

We thank God that we have a Lord who is so ready to forgive and welcome us back again and again. But we cannot stop there. We have to learn to act towards others in the same way. “Forgive us our sins AS we forgive those who sin against us.” We, too, need to see the person in the here and now and not continue to dredge up past hurts and resentments, anger and hatred.

By imitating Jesus more, we find that our relationships improve. In so doing we are coming closer to having the mind of Jesus but we are doing something else as well. We will find that life will become a far more peace-filled and harmonious experience. It is a perfect win-win situation.

Weekly Memorization

Taken from the gospel for today’s session…

But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.

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 the word “prodigal” mean to you?
• Do you identify more with the younger brother, the older brother or the father in the parable?
  How do you feel about the others?
  Do you think the younger brother is sincere?
  What do you make of the older brother’s reaction?
  What about the father’s response to each of his sons?
  What do your feelings about each tell you about yourself and your relationships, your moral code? Your compassion?
• Have, I ever, particularly in my younger days, felt the need to explore life and have new experiences on my own. Away from family?
  Is this a normal thing or a bad thing?
  What did I learn about myself from those experiences?
• Have I ever, like each son at one time or another, felt “trapped” by a situation I was in and longed to break free?
  Did I stay “home”, but resentful, or did I extricate myself, sometimes disappointing another?
  Did I ever “leave home” without actually going anywhere?
  Did I withdraw emotionally from those around me?
  Did I “return”, and what was my reception?
• Was resentment ever a part of my emotional arsenal?
• Tim Keller (in The Prodigal God) says that the elder son’s pride in his moral record, his sense of righteousness, keeps him from entering his father’s feast. Have I ever felt outraged that my steadfastness, adherence to the rules, and hard work were not sufficiently recognized or rewarded?
  How did I react?
• Is it difficult for us sometimes to see that good things happen to people who don’t deserve them?
  Have I ever uttered “Life is unfair”?
  Have I ever felt I had to be rich or beautiful or accomplished in order to be recognized or loved?
• Could the father been a little more aware of the resentment of the older son?
  Was he cruel or clueless?
  Was resentment of the older son blinding him to the love his father had for him?
• Has there ever been a time when I failed to be appreciative of something that someone has done for me or for others?
  Have I ever assumed that another knew of my gratitude without expressing it?
  Have I ever assumed that another should have been able to sense what my needs were and simply ignored them
• What does it mean to me to realize that forgiveness is a gift?
  How graciously have I ever accepted forgiveness?
  Why is it so difficult to forgive without condition?
  Is there someone in my life who needs my forgiveness?
  Do I hold grudges?
• Are there some unhealthy family patterns that I need to work to change?
• Do I need forgiveness?
  Why is it sometimes hard to say “I’m sorry,” or “I was wrong”?
• What experiences of reconciliation have inspired you in your life?
• Was there ever a time that I was “away” from God, my father or mother?
  How did I get back?
  Did I get back?
• Do I understand that God’s hand is ever stretched toward me, even when I sin?
  Do I believe God always wishes me well?
  In what ways have I tried to use my “goodness” to get something I wanted from God or someone else?
• From Sacred Space: A service of the Irish Jesuits:
  Can I let God say to me; “You are always with me, and all that I have is yours”?
• How might the parable of the prodigal son help me to participate in the sacrament of reconciliation this Lent?

Meditations

Music Meditation:

Listen to “Homeward Bound”, on YouTube, written by Marta Keen and sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. How do the words of this song capture the restlessness of the younger son as he left home to find adventure and his fortune, to find his calling?

In your life, have you ever experienced a need to go beyond the experiences of your childhood and have new adventures, new challenges?

Then listen to “Going Home”, the largo from by Antonin Dvorak’s 9th symphony, with lyrics by William Arms Fisher. A beautiful version is sung by Bryn Terfel, the legendary Welsh bass-baritone.

Imagine that you are the younger son heading back to the father. Do you think he felt as sure of his welcome as the lyrics of this song suggest?

What is it about home that evokes such emotion in us?

Now play the song again, this time thinking of Jesus as he heads for Jerusalem and the finale of his journey abroad from his father.

Where are you in your life’s journey?

A Meditation in the Ignatian Style/Imagination:

How would you have handled this story if it were your parable about family dynamics to write in a modern setting? (Tobias Wolff did a masterful job in his short story “The Rich Brother” from Back in the World.) What would be your overarching message? How would you want it to end? Are the main characters all male, all female, or a mixture? Does your choice in this make a difference in the outcome?

Who would be the offender, the “bad guy”? Who would be the aggrieved one, feeling wronged? Who would be the “father figure? Write your own short story, taking the time to delve into the strengths, weaknesses and motivations of each character in this modern day parable.

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:

Please reflect on the part of the parable where the son realizes what a mistake he made in seeking happiness in the wrong things, and realizes also that his very life depends on returning home and to his father, and pray your responses to the Father:

After a few days, the younger son collected all his belongings and set off to distant country where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation. When he had freely spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he found himself in dire need. So he hired himself out to one of the local citizens who sent him to his farm to tend the swine. And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody gave him any. Coming to his senses he thought: “How many of my father’s hired workers have enough food to eat, but here I am, dying from hunger. I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him: ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat your hired workers.’”

Did you ever stray from your true “home”, seeking happiness or validation in the wrong things? Was there ever a time that you were away from God your father? How did you get back?

Do you need forgiveness? Why is it sometimes hard to say “I’m sorry,” or “I was wrong”?

Is it difficult for us sometimes to see that good things happen to people who don’t deserve them? How do we deal with this problem?

Pray the Our Father, paying special attention to the phrase: “Forgive us our sins as we forgive the sins of others.” Why is it so difficult to forgive without condition? Is there someone in your life who needs your forgiveness?

A Meditation in the Franciscan Style/Action:

The parable of the Prodigal Son is a story that speaks about a love that existed before any rejection was possible and that will still be there after all the rejections have taken place. It is the first and everlasting love of a God who is Father as well as Mother… It is the love that always welcomes home and always wants to celebrate.

—Henri Nouwen: The Return of the Prodigal Son, p108-109.

This showing of compassion extends to showing it to ourselves.

Try to let go of some issue you have been blaming yourself for, and trust wholeheartedly in the love of God.

Try to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation this Lent

A Meditation in the Augustinian Style/Relationship:

Read Psalm 32 and let the words of the psalm wash over you. With which of the phrases do you most identify? Why?

Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit. When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD”—and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you while you may be found; surely when the mighty waters rise, they will not reach him. You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you. Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you. Many are the woes of the wicked, but the LORD’s unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him.

Literary Reflection:

The following poem by Father Ed Ingebretzen, S.J., captures for us the close relationship God, through Jesus has with humanity, and reaffirms our belief in God’s unending love:

“Creed”

We believe in one God implicit in a thousand faces a God who is not merely kind. He has breathed our mud and lust, graveled feet as we over stones; broken bread, bones. He Is not merely kind. Touch him he bleeds as we, also bleeds burns as we in love’s irrevocable heat. We are to God’s amazing vision crucial —this our endless agony still, endless peace. In large circles we open with God and with God we close and are just begun.

Literary Reflection:

Read the following poem by Wendell Berry. How does it relate to God’s forgiveness of us?

“To My Mother”

I was your rebellious son,
do you remember? Sometimes
I wonder if you do remember,
so complete has your forgiveness been.

So complete has your forgiveness been
I wonder sometimes if it did not
precede my wrong, and I erred,
safe found, within your love,

prepared ahead of me, the way home,
or my bed at night, so that almost
I should forgive you, who perhaps
saw the worst that I might do,

and forgave me before I could act,
causing me to smile now, looking back,
to see how paltry was my worst,
compared to your forgiveness of it

already given. And this, then,
is the vision of that Heaven of which
we have heard, where those who love
each other have forgiven each other,

where, for that, the leaves are green
the light a music in the air,
and all is unentangled,
and all is undismayed.

Suggested Reading:

Stanford Author Tobias Wolff has written a wonderful short story called “The Rich Brother”. It can be found in his short story collection Back in the World.

Closing Prayer

I ask you, Lord, to bless me with compassion, mercy, and understanding for those who have messed up their lives in some way. I ask you Lord, to extend your mercy and compassion toward me, to extend forgiveness for my self-absorption and for the hurts I have inflicted on others. I ask you, Lord, to help me return renewed, to strengthen my relationships with others in my life, to strengthen my relationship with you….

6th Sunday in Ordinary Time, February 16, 2025

Who is truly blessed, in my value system?

Luke 6:17, 20–26

And he came down with them and stood on a stretch of level ground with a great crowd of his disciples and a large number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon.

And raising his eyes toward his disciples he said:
“Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours.
Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man.

“Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven. For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way.

“But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
But woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep.
Woe to you when all speak well of you, for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.”

Notes on Chapter six of Luke, which is the subject of the next three Sundays:

from USCCB:

[6:17] The coastal region of Tyre and Sidon: not only Jews from Judea and Jerusalem, but even Gentiles from outside Palestine come to hear Jesus (see Lk 2:31–32; 3:6; 4:24–27).

[6:20–49] Luke’s “Sermon on the Plain” is the counterpart to Matthew’s “Sermon on the Mount” (Mt 5:1–7:27). It is addressed to the disciples of Jesus, and, like the sermon in Matthew, it begins with beatitudes (Lk 6:20–22) and ends with the parable of the two houses (Lk 6:46–49). Almost all the words of Jesus reported by Luke are found in Matthew’s version, but because Matthew includes sayings that were related to specifically Jewish Christian problems (e.g., Mt 5:17–20; 6:1–8, 16–18) that Luke did not find appropriate for his predominantly Gentile Christian audience, the “Sermon on the Mount” is considerably longer. Luke’s sermon may be outlined as follows: an introduction consisting of blessings and woes (Lk 6:20–26); the love of one’s enemies (Lk 6:27–36); the demands of loving one’s neighbor (Lk 6:37–42); good deeds as proof of one’s goodness (Lk 6:43–45); a parable illustrating the result of listening to and acting on the words of Jesus (Lk 6:46–49). At the core of the sermon is Jesus’ teaching on the love of one’s enemies (Lk 6:27–36) that has as its source of motivation God’s graciousness and compassion for all humanity (Lk 6:35–36) and Jesus’ teaching on the love of one’s neighbor (Lk 6:37–42) that is characterized by forgiveness and generosity.

[6:20–26] The introductory portion of the sermon consists of blessings and woes that address the real economic and social conditions of humanity (the poor—the rich; the hungry—the satisfied; those grieving—those laughing; the outcast—the socially acceptable). By contrast, Matthew emphasizes the religious and spiritual values of disciples in the kingdom inaugurated by Jesus (“poor in spirit,” Mt 5:3; “hunger and thirst for righteousness,” Mt 5:6). In the sermon, blessed extols the fortunate condition of persons who are favored with the blessings of God; the woes, addressed as they are to the disciples of Jesus, threaten God’s profound displeasure on those so blinded by their present fortunate situation that they do not recognize and appreciate the real values of God’s kingdom. In all the blessings and woes, the present condition of the persons addressed will be reversed in the future

Music Meditations

• The Lord Hears the Cry of the Poor
• Psalm 22 (My God, My God, Why have you left me here)—Psalm Project—captures the plight of the poor, the reviled, neglected
• Psalm 1—Psalm Project feat. Lance Edward
• Palm 34—(a new musical setting) Karl Kohhase
• Blest are They

Opening Prayer

Lord, help me to be open to your word, even as it might make me uncomfortable or defensive. Help me to become more aware of the need to work for a transformation of those systems and attitudes which keep people mired in poverty and others mired in acquisitiveness and selfishness.

Companions for the Journey

This Pre-Note is adapted from Living Space, a service of the Irish Jesuits.

Today we begin what is known as Luke’s ‘Sermon on the Plain’ which more or less parallels Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount. Luke’s is much shorter but both begin with the Beatitudes and end with the parable of the house builders. Some of what is found in Matthew’s Sermon is found elsewhere in Luke as Matthew’s ‘Sermon’ it consists of disparate sayings of Jesus gathered into one place. Luke also omits Matthew’s specifically Jewish material which would not have been relevant to his Gentile readers.

The Sermon, which encompasses three weeks of gospel readings, can be summarized as follows: An introduction of blessings and woes (20-26) The love of one’s enemies (27-36) The demands of loving one’s neighbor (37-42) Good deeds as proof of one’s goodness (43-45)

The parable on listening to and acting on the words of Jesus (46-49) is not included in the lectionary readings for the next three weeks, but actually concludes Jesus’ ‘sermon’. It might be helpful to read the entire chapter (6) before beginning these three weeks of readings.

This commentary is taken from “First Impressions” 2009, a service of the Southern Dominican Province:

Prior to today’s gospel passage Jesus went up to the mountain to pray. When Jesus goes off to pray that’s Luke’s way of signaling that Jesus is about to do or say something very important. After he prays he comes down and speaks to his disciples about God’s reign; he lays out the basics for his community of disciples. In Matthew, the parallel passage is called “The Sermon on the Mount.” In Luke it’s “The Sermon on the Plain,” because Jesus stands on “level ground” to speak to his disciples. He is among them, one of them. He will live the beatitudes he spells out so that they will be able to live them too.

Luke’s beatitudes differ from Matthew’s. Matthew has eight (or nine), Luke has four beatitudes and four woes. The first impression is that, like the prophet Jeremiah, Jesus is also placing a choice before us. Will we choose to live according to his beatitudes or according to what the world usually considers “beatitudes”? What the world values, Jesus says, is worthless. If we place our security on wealth, merriment, popularity and having our fill of food---we will be disappointed in the end. In Jeremiah’s terms, we will be like a “barren bush in the desert.”

If those usually neglected, the poor, hungry and weeping, are cared for by believers then something new is afoot in the world and those who observe it will “hear” a new message. But if the poor are neglected, as we know they frequently are, Jesus says they will be blessed by God---who does not overlook them. But more. Jesus warns those who are rich, filled and happy. Those who are satisfied now, while others are in need, these are in trouble: woe to them for ignoring their brothers and sisters. There is a great reversal at work in God’s realm. We who have eyes to see ought to make sure we observe the reversal and live our lives accordingly.

What the world usually calls the “good life,” if it is so at the expense of others and their neglect, then there will be a great reversal in God’s reign. The believer must live “in reverse”---see things with kingdom eyes. Thus, the poor, hungry and weeping are blessed by God and Jesus promises them fulfillment when God’s reign comes to completion at the banquet table. Then the great reversal will finally be complete.

It would be wise then, for those of us who treasure God’s blessings, to get close to the ones Jesus calls “blessed,” living such a life by responding to the least will show our commitment to Christ and will, as he predicts, receive enmity from others who see and live in the opposite manner. We who live our lives “on account of the Son of Man” will suffer the consequences at the hands of the world. When we do, we can be assured that we too are counted among those Jesus calls “blessed.” We, who have sided with the poor, will also find ourselves marginalized with them. That’s what those who live the new life we have received from Christ can expect.

Our churches can be effective instruments in society as we use our influence to reach out to the poor and speak and take the side of the marginalized. If we receive praise for such advocacy we can be happy. But if our church communities blend well into the mainstream and “receive the first places” at society’s overflowing table, then we need be aware, for we will have gone from the side Jesus has blessed to that of those who have earned his “woes.” Like the prophet Jeremiah, in our first reading, Jesus places before us two contrasting ways to live and invites us to choose---both as individuals and as communities of the baptized. Jesus has reversed the usual measuring rods for “the good life” by his life, death and resurrection. Do we perceive it? Jesus has given us another way to live. He is our wise teacher who knows where true happiness is to be found and he doesn’t want us to miss it.

Actually, it isn’t so much that Jesus’ pronouncement of the reign of God has turned things upside down. But the opposite is true. If there are poor, neglected abused and marginalized people in the world, then that’s the proof that things are upside down. Jesus and his gospel make it quite clear that’s not how things should be. His life and message have put things right side up and that’s the way things ought to be.

Remember earlier in Luke’s gospel Jesus, in the synagogue, announced the inauguration of the hoped-for year of Jubilee. This announcement is his “mission statement” as he begins his ministry. The poor and oppressed will hear the good news and be liberated; the sick will be healed. In Jesus, the great reversal has begun. Today’s gospel is a further articulation of what will be the effects of Jesus’ coming: the poor and powerless are blessed and the rich and powerful will be unseated in woe.

Those who live comfortable lives have been given much to think about and if they follow Jesus they will wisely use their wealth to help the poor, hungry and weeping ones Jesus calls blessed. Jesus doesn’t spell out how they should do that; but the one who has announced the Jubilee wants us to find ways to release the poor of their burdens. The choice is ours and the new life that Christ gives to us makes such a choice possible.

Weekly Memorization

Taken from the gospel for today’s session…

Blessed are you poor Blessed are you who are now hungry Blessed are you who are now weeping Blessed are you when people hate you Woe to you rich Woe to you who are filled now Woe to you who laugh now Woe to you when people speak well of you

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

• In this gospel, Luke has Jesus speaking in the second person” Blessed are you…”, as opposed to the third person: “Blessed are those…” Which is more powerful, in your mind?
  Why?
• In each of the “blessings”, it seems as if Jesus is actually describing a situation that we would normally wish to move away from, and telling us we should rejoice in that situation:
  Did reading these words have an impact on me when I was ever in such a situation?
  Do they now?
  What is in me that urges me to move on from poverty, sadness, hatred and exclusion?
  Which is the hardest for me to move on from?
  Do I feel “blessed” if I am experiencing any of these situations?
  Are my feelings normal human feelings?
  How do I get to where Jesus wants me to be?
• Think of a time in your life when you felt that things were not going well at all (relationships, finances, studies, work). What lessons did you learn from the experience?
  Were there any “consolations” that helped mitigate the experience?
• What does Luke see as the dangers of wealth?
  Do you consider them dangers?
  Has there ever been a time in your life when you simply did not consider what it might be like to be poor and needy?
• What does your political affiliation tell you about your attitude toward those who have no work, no home, no country, no money?
• What are some of the things money buys?
  What are the dangers?
  What can money not buy?
• What makes up your concept of happiness now?
  What do you think would make you even happier?
• What norms do I use to measure “success” in life?
  How would those norms measure up to the Beatitudes?
  Or, are they among the “woes” Jesus rejects?
• In these beatitudes from Luke, Jesus does not idealize hunger.
  What does Jesus mean when He says “Blessed are you poor”?
  What is the danger for me, and religion generally, of making poverty a spiritual blessing?
• What do I say to the 43.1 million poor in America, or the nearly half of the world’s population that live on less than $2.50 a day or to the 22,000 children who die each day to poverty?
  Why is “God loves you” or even “God blesses you” not enough?
• Woes: Why are the rich in trouble?
  How do I define rich?
  How does Jesus, do you think?
• Woes: Why are those currently laughing in trouble?
  What are they laughing about?
• Woes: Why are those currently ”filled” now in trouble?
  Does it have to do with inequality or callousness, or greed?
• Woes: why are those of whom people speak well in trouble?
  What sort of situation is Jesus describing?
• “Behold, your reward will be great in heaven.” Does this passage mean we should never enjoy any of the good things in life because we will pay for that later, or is the message more nuanced?
  What are the dangers of thinking of this world as simply a waiting room for the next?
  Have I ever stopped to think that the only things I am able to bring into the next life are the things I have given away?
• This passage seems to be calling for internal transformation. What should it look like for you?
• by Daniel J Harrington, S.J.
  When misfortune, spiritual or physical befalls us, on what or whom can we call?
  What place do trusting in God and walking in God’s way have in your search for happiness?
  Is Jesus’ vision of eternal happiness merely “pie in the sky”? Why should we take it seriously?
  Where does resurrection come in?
• How can we turn woes into blessings for ourselves and others?

Meditations

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:

Read Mt 5:3ff (The Beatitudes) and then reread Luke 6:20-28. What are the differences you see? Which set appeals to you more? Which set is tougher? Why do you think Luke included fewer blessings and added woes to the mix?

A Meditation in the Augustinian Style/Relationship:

This set of “Wealthitudes” is adapted from a homily by Fr, Jude Siciliano, O.P. in “First Impressions”:

Blessed are the rich and famous, for they shall have what they want. Blessed are they who cut their losses, and get rid of the losers; they will live to win another day Blessed are the rich and powerful, they will inherit the earth Blessed are the white and well educated, the world is theirs Blessed are they who cry for vengeance, they will be seen as protectors of society Blessed are they who cultivate the right people, they will go far Blessed are they who tailor their morals to meet the marketplace, they will be rewarded. Blessed are Americans for they shall have the earth’s riches at their beck and call

Which of the world’s beatitudes is a particular temptation for you? How do you deal with it? Which of Jesus’s beatitudes do you find the most comforting? Which do you find the most annoying? Which beatitude do you have the most difficulty living out? Which of the woes are particularly bothersome to you? Imagine Jesus saying both these blessings and woes to you directly and looking straight into your heart. Pray for the openness to hear what He says to you.

A Meditation in the Franciscan Style/Action:

from Songs of Life: Psalm Meditations from the Catholic Community at Stanford:

Choose one work of mercy (Feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, visit the imprisoned, shelter the homeless, visit the sick, bury the dead), and make a conscious effort to live it out this week. Say the prayer of St. Francis each day:

“Lord make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Teacher, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.”

Poetic Reflection:

Read the poem “March 1 1847, By the First Post”, about the Irish potato famine (from the collection In a Time of Violence), by Eavan Boland, the late director of Stanford's Creative Writing Program. How does it capture the indifference of those with a lot of comforts toward thoe who have none?

Closing Prayer

Lord, help me to live an uncluttered life, free of an unnecessary goods and attachments. May I learn to live in solidarity with those who are the poor and marginalized. Help me, Lord, to be transformed from withing so that I challenge the value systems my culture may live by that are not the value systems of Your Kingdom. May you count me among your “Blessed”.

5th Sunday in Ordinary Time, February 9, 2025

God’s call to the first disciples/God’s call to me

Luke 5:1–11

While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God, he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret.

He saw two boats there alongside the lake; the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets.

Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.

After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.”

Simon said in reply, “Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets.”

When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their nets were tearing.

They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come to help them. They came and filled both boats so that they were in danger of sinking.

When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”

For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him and all those with him, and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners of Simon. Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”

When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him.

Notes:

This incident has been transposed from his source, Mk 1:16–20, which places it immediately after Jesus makes his appearance in Galilee. By this transposition Luke uses this example of Simon’s acceptance of Jesus to counter the earlier rejection of him by his hometown people, and since several incidents dealing with Jesus’ power and authority have already been narrated, Luke creates a plausible context for the acceptance of Jesus by Simon and his partners. Many commentators have noted the similarity between the wondrous catch of fish reported here (Lk 5:4–9) and the post-resurrectional appearance of Jesus in Jn 21:1–11. There are traces in Luke’s story that the post-resurrectional context is the original one: in Lk 5:8 Simon addresses Jesus as Lord (a post-resurrectional title for Jesus—see Lk 24:34; Acts 2:36—that has been read back into the historical ministry of Jesus) and recognizes himself as a sinner (an appropriate recognition for one who has denied knowing Jesus—Lk 22:54–62). As used by Luke, the incident looks forward to Peter’s leadership in Luke-Acts (Lk 6:14; 9:20; 22:31–32; 24:34; Acts 1:15; 2:14–40; 10:11–18; 15:7–12) and symbolizes the future success of Peter as fisherman (Acts 2:41).

[5:11] “They left everything”: in Mk 1:16–20 and Mt 4:18–22 the fishermen who follow Jesus leave their nets and their father; in Luke, they leave everything (see also Lk 5:28; 12:33; 14:33; 18:22), an indication of Luke’s theme of complete detachment from material possessions.

Music Meditations

• “The Summons”—Robert Kochis
• “Here I Am, Lord”—John Michael Talbot
• “The Servant Song”—Maranatha Singers

Opening Prayer

From Sacred Space, a service of the Irish Jesuits:

Lord, you tell me, as you told Simon to “Put out into deep water”. You are ready to surprise me with the depths I can find in myself, with the work you can do through me. Save me from complacency, from settling for a routine existence. Open me to recognizing your hand in my daily encounters.

Companions for the Journey

This is a short writing from one of the Christian or non-Christian witnesses of our tradition, with a message that embodies the theme of the gospel we are studying today:

This is excerpted from a homily given at CC@S in 2004:

A few years ago, there was a show on television called “Nothing Sacred”, written by a Jesuit, Father Bill Cain. It was about a Catholic priest who was pastor of an inner city parish in Chicago, and how he coped with the crises he experienced, both private and professional. It only lasted a year, and the loudest critics of the series were people who were scandalized at the portrayal of a priest who was all too human: he was young, hip, cute. He wore jeans and sweatshirts; he had a wicked sense of humor and a wicked temper, and had many blind spots where his family was concerned. It was clear that he sometimes got a little mad at God, and often had doubts about his effectiveness or even his choice of a vocation. He was very, very human. Well, it seems that people who watch shows or movies about priests wanted a Bing Crosby in “Going My Way” --you know, the fatherly type who smokes a pipe, always has a smile and a ready answer, has no doubts, no weaknesses, They wanted a father-knows-best in a roman collar--one that he wears all the time. All the time! And if he can sing, all the better!

Anyone who has really looked at the gospel stories about Jesus’ disciples, especially Peter, would know that Jesus did not have those same requirements. When Peter said: “Leave me Lord, I am a sinful man”, he was just being honest. For one thing, he was frequently clueless about Jesus’ message and mission. Just one example: Peter had heard Jesus preach and preach about forgiveness and still was stupid enough to ask: “Lord, when my brother wrongs me, how many times do I have to forgive him, seven times?” (the real question--when is it okay to take my revenge?) Peter was also impulsive and prone to violence on occasion. Remember the incident in Gethsemane? Like the rest of the apostles, he was ambitious and guarded his position with Jesus jealously. There are incidents reported in all four of the gospels of the Apostles bickering among themselves as to their importance. At the last supper Peter engaged in a little self-promotion when he boasted: “Even if I have to die with you, my faith will not be shaken.” Of course we know how long his promise lasted.

So, in many instances, Peter came across as downright stupid and venal, insecure and self-promoting, full of bravado but cowardly, impulsive and sometimes even violent. Is this the kind of person you would trust to carry on your life’s work?

Well, Jesus did, and I think the reason why is right here in today’s gospel. Peter saw his own flaws very clearly, and told Jesus he was not worthy. In his finer moments, Peter recognized his human failures, and in admitting them, he opened his heart to all the rest of humanity--flawed, troubled, needy humanity.

So there is hope for Peter.

Is there hope for us?

Peter’s first reaction--that he wasn’t worthy--was a normal, honest reaction in the face of the immensity of God’s call. But somehow, he was made to see that he was just what God needed at that time. Maybe Peter’s willingness to go out into deep water, to try something new in the face of previous failure was just what Jesus wanted in a companion. His impetuousness, fueled by enthusiasm, gave him the energy to continue in what many might have considered a ministry doomed to failure from the get-go. Yes, Peter was just what God needed at that time.

And make no mistake about it: God needs us as well.

No matter where we are on the imperfection scale, each one of us is called to be disciple, to be a herald of the kingdom. At home. Where we work. In our unassuming little lives or our big famous ones.

Our call is to proclaim the gospel in the most ordinary of circumstances, situations--by words and by a life that witnesses the message of God’s immense love and forgiveness.

Jesus is gone from this earth.

Peter is gone from this earth.

What God is left with is us. You and me. We are called to be the embodiment of Jesus on earth. We are an incarnational church. As Saint Teresa of Avila said: God has no body now but yours, no hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes with which God looks compassion on the world. Yours are the hands which bless all the world.”

OK, maybe we can’t cure illness or walk on water, maybe we can’t move mountains or convert nations, but we can work to bring glad tidings to the poor, proclaim liberty to captives and let the oppressed go free. How? Here’s a start: We can work to change our own hearts. We can be patient and kind, we can refuse to store up grievances, and find joy in the truth. We can trust, hope and endure whatever comes. We can be love. So make no mistake about it. Each one of us is called to be disciple in our own lives, in our own jobs, in our own families. If you haven’t yet heard the call, then listen up.

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

• When Jesus said “Do not be afraid”, he was speaking to Peter and the others, but also to me. Of what am I afraid right now?
  Can I speak to Jesus about these fears?
  In what ways are we all like Peter?
• What did Peter, James, and John expect to get out of following Jesus?
  What guarantees did Jesus give them?
  What do I expect as a result of following Jesus?
  When I am called to make a sacrifice, do I ever ask “What’s in it for me?”, or “What if I fail?”
• Peter’s confession of his own unworthiness made him a better disciple because he could understand the weaknesses of others. Do we ever let our “unworthiness” serve as an excuse for inaction?
• GOD IS SO GREAT, WE ARE SO NOT…
  What are my spiritual inadequacies?
  In what way do they interfere with my sincere desire to work for the Kingdom?
  Do I actually think God is big enough to contain me and all my failings?
  Can I see my inadequacies as ways into the imperfect, flawed, hurting lives of others?
• Can I think of a time when my effort to do good succeeded beyond my wildest dreams?
  Can I think of a time when my efforts failed?
  Jesus told Peter to “try again”. Have I ever been asked by God to try again when my first efforts failed?
  Did I do so, or did I give up?
• They “forsook all and followed Him” (This includes the huge catch of fish, the boats, the nets, their livelihood) Is there anything or anyone in my life that I am hanging on to so tightly that it keeps me from answering the call of Jesus?
• Have I, metaphorically speaking, been paddling about in shallow (read “safe”) waters?
  What, exactly, are shallow, safe, waters for me?
  In our own lives, what “deep water” are we invited to enter? (e.g.: having a difficult conversation, changing my job or where I live, going on a retreat, volunteering)
  If deep water is a metaphor for risk, what am I willing to risk for Jesus?
• When the waters of our lives get too deep, when we feel like we might be sinking, who do we rely on? (or would we never let ourselves get into such a position—which tells us something right there….?)
• Jesus did not approach Peter at a convenient time. It was early in the morning after a long, tiring, frustrating and unsuccessful night of fishing. Has a call to action from Jesus ever come to me at a time when I was not ready to hear?
  What did I do?
• This call to Peter, James and John happens not in the synagogue, but in their workplace. Do I see my workplace as a place where God (and others) might be needing me?
• Peter allowed Jesus to take possession of his most precious part of his identity: his boat and his knowledge of fishing. He allowed Jesus into his life. What control am I willing to relinquish to allow Jesus into my life?
• Jesus did not grant Peter and the others magical new talents and personalities. He chose them for exactly who they were and for the exact talents they possessed. What personality traits, what skills and talents can I use for the good of others?
• WE DID NOT CHOOSE GOD, GOD CHOSE US…
  What is the mission that God has chosen me for?

Meditations

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:

God often spoke to and called His servants in Bible times in various ways. Take a moment to review several of the following servants and note the ways God spoke to them:

1. Abraham Genesis 12: 1-9 2. Moses Exodus 3: 1-12 3. Samuel I Samuel 3: 1-10 4. Elijah I Kings 6:1-8 5. Joseph Matthew 1: 18-25 6. Wise Men Matthew 2:12 7. Saul/Paul Acts 9: 1-9 8. Paul Acts 16: 6-10

From the list above, you can see that God often used dramatic means to get the attention of His servants. God used dreams, burning bushes, voices from heaven, donkeys, and angels. In our own age, the combination of the Servants Prayers, The Holy Spirit’s Whispers, and the Word of God will direct our steps. Make a commitment right now to seek God daily through prayer, listen to the Holy Spirit, and dig into God’s word.

A Meditation in the Franciscan Style/Action:

It seems like almost every fisherman has a “fish story” to tell. Each story is a little different of course, although most focus on “the big one that got away.” Peter and his friends had a whopper to tell too, but their story had a very different ending. Instead of losing the biggest catch of their lives, they simply walked away from it, leaving everything on the beach to follow Jesus. The call of Jesus is so powerful, so appealing, that it causes those who want to follow Him to leave everything behind.

What are you doing to reach the lost in your own community? As this passage has shown us, if we are not reaching our neighbors, we are missing out on the life-change God wants us to experience.

Then there is the fragile global community. What are you doing to partner with agencies like CRS who are reaching the lost in places where the Name of Jesus is dangerous to utter, or has never even been heard? Prayerfully consider how God would have you take part in completing His mission maybe somewhere across the globe, but maybe on our own campus, in our own workplace, in our own families.

Choose one concrete action you can take to respond to the immense need for the love of God to be transmitted to those around you.

A Meditation in the Ignatian Style:

It is not the critic who counts; not the person who points out how the strong one stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the one who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and come short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends herself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so their place shall never be with the cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.

—Adapted from Theodore Roosevelt in a speech given at the Sorbonne in 1910; part of a reflection on Call from The Ignatian Adventure by Fr. Kevin O’Brien, S.J., including the following meditation questions:

What desires, dreams, concerns, fears or hopes does Christ’s invitation stir in me?

What inspires me about the mission of a disciple?

What intimidates or discourages me?

How am I moved to respond now? (I use my own words as I talk to Jesus)

Poetic Reflection:

Excerpted and adapted from ten poems to change your life by Roger Housden. This is part of his commentary. How does it apply to Peter and the first disciples? How does it apply to you?

The true journey of your life requires a kind of madness. After all, from the standpoint of your old life you may be throwing away your life for nothing. You do not even know what you are headed toward. Yet the first step can only ever be taken in darkness. You cannot know where it will take you. You cannot plan for this sort of journey because the entire undertaking relies on the unreasonableness of faith. Faith is unreasonable because it rests on no tangible evidence. It is beyond even belief. The person of faith does not expect everything to turn out the way they want it to; they do not expect some higher power to pick them up when they fall. Their faith is beyond belief and beyond hope. It is the truth that can burn through the mists of confusion, uncertainty, fear, and leave you revealed to yourself, to a new voice that was in you all along.

“The Journey”

One day you finally knew
what you had to do and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice—
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
around your ankles.
“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do—
determined to save
the only life you could save.

—By Mary Oliver, in Dream Work

Poetic Reflection:

The excerpt from T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets (Little Gidding) seems to indicate that our mission in life is constantly be open to God's Call. How hard is that?

With the drawing of this Love and the voice of this Calling   We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time.

Poetic Reflection:

Enjoy this prayer/poem by a sister I took a course with—I cannot remember her name, but I have not forgotten her poem based on the version of this story as told by the evangelist John:

In the beginning was the Word./ A Word who must be spoken./ A Word spoken into skies./ and called into hills./ Spoken into rivers/ and fields/ A Word Spoken into life in flowers/ in birds/ and in every kind of animal./ A Word spoken with love and breathed into the heart of man and woman/ that they might be ready to hear./ And when the time came that all was in readiness,/ The Word was spoken into flesh,/ spoken to call his own/ out of the darkness and into the light./ To those who would know this Word, he beckoned/ and still is beckoning--now--to you./ Come, see where I live;/ spend your time with me/ Be my own,/ Be disciple./ Is the question of the first who followed your question still:/ Teacher, where do you live in my world?/ The answer they heard is the same, / which, in silence you will know:/ Come, I will take you there./ I live within your heart./ Your heart that I have seen,/ Your heart that I have known/ I live there, calling you beyond yourself/ Calling you into my own life,/ Calling you to the vision of my Father/ Calling you to be fishers of people./ Calling you to be disciple.

Closing Prayer

Adapted from Sacred Space, a service of the Irish Jesuits:

Lord, it is only when I take risks and push myself for you that I realize that it is not me giving to you, but you enriching me. Give me the confidence that comes from your call, and give me the courage that comes from you unwavering love for me. Help me to listen carefully for whatever you may have in store for me.

Solemnity of Christ the King, November 24, 2024

Jesus and power; my relationship with power/Jesus and truth; my relationship with truth

John 18:33–37

So Pilate went back into the praetorium and summoned Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”

Jesus answered, “Do you say this on your own or have others told you about me?”

Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?”

Jesus answered, “My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom did belong to this world, my attendants [would] be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not here.”

So Pilate said to him, “Then you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”

Music Meditations

• “How Great Thou Art” (sung by Selah) [YouTube]
• “Soon and Very Soon” (Andraé Crouch) [YouTube]
• “Sing to Jesus” (sung by Fernando Ortega) [YouTube]
• “The King Shall Come When Morning Dawns” (sung by OCP Session Choir) [YouTube]
• “Alleluia, Sing to Jesus” (sung by Saint Michael's Singers) [YouTube]

Opening Prayer

From Sacred Space, a service of the Irish Jesuits:

Jesus, in the midst of all the noise and distractions of this world we find it hard to hear your voice.
Open our ears Lord that we may hear and take account of your word.

Companions for the Journey

From a homily delivered at Memorial Church, Stanford, for the Feast of Christ the King, 2006:

Let’s do a little word association:

What comes to mind when I say King?

What came to my mind was: King Henry the VIII, King David, King Louis XIV, Elvis, King Kong….

What they all had in common for me was the idea of wealth, dominance, power, and the abuse of same.

This feast of Christ the King is just the opposite. It is not about power at all. And it is not about heaven. It is about God’s vision for the earth—a transformed world, a world where kings or dictators and systems of economic or physical domination and exploitation do not exist.

The Jesus whom we meet in today’s gospel, this battered, exhausted little man standing in front of Pilate, is not a King as you and I would define one, and his kingdom is not a place; it is a moral landscape we inhabit, where the values of the world are turned upside down. We describe it in today’s preface to the Eucharistic prayer: “an eternal and universal kingdom: a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of Justice, love and peace.” Is this the kind of world we want? (I think so)

We celebrate that Jesus came, in the words of Luke and Isaiah: “to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives, and the recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Jesus was about inclusion, not exclusion, about sharing, not domination. His friends were those marginalized by the society in which they traveled: women, the uneducated, the poor, the unclean, the schizophrenic, the criminals, tax collectors and other sinners. In Matthew he is reported to have said to the righteous leaders of Israel: “Even tax collectors and prostitutes will enter into the kingdom before you.”

Jesus spent his life as a subverter of the order that existed. That’s what got up the noses of the Scribes and Pharisees. They were complicit in a system that bled the poor people dry in order to feed the massive machinery of war and government that Rome had constructed. Rome ruled the Jewish homeland through native collaborators of the elite class—temple authorities and Jewish aristocracy under a high priest appointed by Rome. They had a stake in how Galilean Jews behaved—an economic stake in whether those Jews paid tithes to the temple and a political stake in whether those Jews were restive and prone to rebellion. Along the way, they skimmed off a little for themselves, but the real issue was that they participated in and benefited from an economic system that oppressed the rest of the population (1) Jesus was openly critical of them, and that’s why they considered him so dangerous.

Scripture is political. It is about God’s passion for a different kind of world—one in which people have enough not as the result of charity but as the fruit of justice, (2) a world in which success is not measured by the size of our automobiles or the number of our toys, but by the quality of our service to others. Jesus’ vision of the kingdom was a world in which the laborers in the vineyard were paid according to their economic and physical needs, not necessarily according to the amount of their labor. Jesus’ vision of the kingdom was a world in which a spendthrift son who dissipated his inheritance came home to a warm welcome and absolute forgiveness from a loving father. No questions asked.

Is that the kind of world we want? (I wonder…)

Jesus spoke and still speaks on behalf of people at the bottom who are victims of a systemic social sin that finds it easier to blame the victims for a speck in their eye than society itself for the timber blinding its own eye. (3)

Jesus’ vision is one of a world where the Good Samaritan risks ritual uncleanliness and personal safety to rescue a man found along a barren roadside. He gives out of his own pocket money to care for this man who is a stranger and from an enemy tribe. Pretty risky and very irresponsible, some might say.

Jesus’ vision is of a world where we don’t rely only on governmental “safety nets” to save the old, the ill, the poor, the disabled in any way. A world in which in which we give to those who ask without judging the recipient as worthy of our “charity”. A world in which we can look a raggedy, dirty street beggar in the eye and recognize our brother or sister, or maybe Jesus.

Is that the kind of world we want? (The jury is out on this one.)

An examination of the values of the kingdom provides a lens through which to bring the questions of our personal life into sharp focus: What will make me happy? What shall I do with my work? How shall I spend my money? Who shall be my friends? How am I to love? Filtering the questions of one’s personal life through the scope of the kingdom brings to light the vision on which Jesus was focused. Such a process can stamp out selfishness, vindictiveness, hatred and judgmentalism, and substitute generosity, forgiveness, inclusion and understanding, but only if we are open to change. (4)

When Jesus spoke of the Kingdom of God he posited a countercultural lens through which to view the world. [The kingdom] suggests a cataclysmic shift in which the poor, the blind, the lame and the captives are represented and included. (5) Is that the kind of world you want? Make no mistake about it, that’s the kind of world Jesus was talking about.

Before we pray “thy kingdom come” we must be willing to pray “my kingdom go” (6) and that requires a shift in values and a desire to conform our will to that of Jesus. The world would look a little different from what it looks like right now: Right now 6% of the people (all American) control 59% of the entire world’s wealth, 80% live in substandard housing, 70% are unable to read, 50% of the world’s people suffer from malnutrition. For all that to change, we have to understand that the “good life” cannot be measured by what we own. For most of us caught up in this frenzy of getting and spending that exploits both nature and the poor, but fuels our society, Jesus’ world is not a world in which we might feel at home.

Someone once said” Show me where you spend your money and I will show you your priorities.” Worth a thought.

Many of us have sung “make the kingdom come, make the crying done, make the kingdom be, kingdom of the free”, but we want it to happen without changing anything in our own lives, in our own priorities, in our own comforts. —Can’t happen. So I am telling you. Your job will be to carry God’s love to the hungry, to the homeless and the helpless, and add a steward’s care for God’s good earth that we ravage so pitilessly. (7)

So I am telling you: If you do not wish for His kingdom, don’t pray for it. But if you do, you must do more than pray for it; you must work for it.(7)

Notes:
1. Marcus Borg, Jesus p226
2. Marcus Borg, Jesus p225
3. Raymond Schults, National Bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church of Canada LP Jan-March 2006
4. The Rev. Dr. Rebecca Pugh Brown, LP January-March 2006, p 6
5. The Rev. Dr. Rebecca Pugh Brown, LP January-March 2006, p 6
6. The Rev. Alan Redpath , LP January-March 2006, p 6
7. Walter Burkhardt S.J. LP 1-3 2006

Weekly Memorization

Taken from the gospel for today’s session…

My kingdom is not of this world

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 often thought of God’s kingdom as a place in the afterlife, rather than a vision of how the world could be here and now?
  How does this affect my actions?
• When you hear the word “king” what comes to mind?
  Is it a person or a title?
  Are the images positive or negative?
  Are you comfortable with the “Christ the King” image?
  How do you describe the Kingdom of Jesus?
• Why do the words “king” and “power” sometimes go together?
  Which type of power do I fear?
• Why is Jesus’ kingdom different?
  What about this “kingdom” attracts me?
  What about this “kingdom” scares me?
• What has our culture “enthroned” (money, success, addictions, pleasure, for example)?
  What is my lodestar in this culture’s firmament?
• What disconnect do you see between the values of the “kingdom” and the values of this world?
• From “First Impressions,” a service of the Southern Dominican Province, 2003:
  What are we living for?
  What energizes and gives meaning to each day?
  To whom or what do we give our allegiance?
  At what altars do we burn incense, bend our knee in submission?
  What power holds sway over us?
• In what ways has truth been perverted in our current culture?
• In this passage Jesus claims that he has come into this world to bear witness to the truth.
  Have you ever been in a position where you were called on to do the same?
  What were the difficulties or risks?
  What was the outcome?
• What is the basic truth Jesus wants me to understand?
• Our text ends with the statement by Jesus that everyone who belongs to the truth listens to his voice.
  What do you think Jesus means by this statement?
  How do you LISTEN to God speaking truth in your life?
• Jesus was dismissed as a rather unprepossessing individual—small, slight, probably dirty—Have you ever met someone whom you judged as more-or-less wonderful based on her appearance?
  Have you ever been wrong?
  If so, how did you deal with it?
• Like Jesus and Pilate, did you ever have a conversation with someone, and you felt like you were really not connecting with the person and they to you?
• From Faith Book, 2006:
  Who or what set of values rule my life and guide my daily decisions?
  What can I do to respond more fully to Jesus’ rule in my life?

Meditations

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:

“Are you the King of the Jews?” Pilate seems to be searching for the truth about Jesus. Maybe he is asking the wrong question, because the truth about Jesus is not that simple. As a matter of fact, getting to what is true about anything is not that simple. First of all, the truth may be more nuanced than simply a collection of facts. Second, we tend to act as if we owned the truth, that the truth belongs to us. Whom do we listen to when we think the truth belongs to us? Do we listen to those who think and act like us? Do we listen to the voice of anxiety and insecurity? Do we listen to the voice of a particular political stance? Do we listen to our prejudices? Do we listen to our individual needs and desires? What, in particular, do listen to when I think I own the truth? What does it mean to belong to Jesus’ truth? What are some of Jesus’ truths that are hard to swallow? Here are some voices from “the Kingdom”: Isaiah 41:10; Mt 20:20; Mk 12:31 and Luke 6:27-37? Which one is the most comforting? Which is the most challenging?

A Meditation in the Ignatian Style/Consideration:

Imagine that you are Pontius Pilate and the Jewish scribes and priests have dragged this man Jesus of Nazareth before you. He is a typical Jewish man of his time, small in stature (maybe about 5’4”, and weighing 125 pounds or so—remember, he was so small and fragile that someone had to help him carry his cross) and dressed in very poor garments which he has been wearing for who knows how long since he is homeless. He has been up all night being questioned and badgered by the high priests and their thugs and looks a little worse for wear. You have heard that this man is accused of setting him self us as the King of the Jews. What do you think about this Jesus? Does he strike you as regal or powerful? Is he just delusional? Are the accusations credible? How do you feel when Jesus refuses to answer your question with a simple yes or no? Do you understand all of his talk about a “kingdom not of this world”? What sort of kingdom is Jesus talking about? Why does he make you uncomfortable? Zooming ahead to our own time, you can ask the same questions: what kind of kingdom is Jesus talking about? How consistent is this kingdom with a world that worships power? How comfortable am I with this vision of God’s realm? What do I have to change in my own heart so that my aspirations conform more closely to those of Jesus?

A Meditation in the Augustinian Style/Relationship:

Pray the Lord’s Prayer, being especially attentive to the words “Thy kingdom come”. Talk to God about the kind of kingdom you think God wants. When you ask for God’s kingdom to come, what of your own personal kingdom must go? Ask Jesus to conform your will to His, so that God’s will may come to pass through the actions of your life. Write or speak a set of resolutions about honesty, power, forgiveness and selflessness that you can live out in order to make God’s kingdom happen in your little corner of this earth.

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.

Poetic Reflection:

“Salvator Mundi: Via Crucis” by Denise Levertov gives us another way to look at what Jesus renounced in order to be the kind of King that the world really needs:

Maybe He looked indeed
much as Rembrandt envisioned Him
in those small heads that seem in fact
portraits of more than a model.
A dark, still young, very intelligent face,
A soul-mirror gaze of deep understanding, unjudging.
That face, in extremis, would have clenched its teeth
In a grimace not shown in even the great crucifixions.
The burden of humanness (I begin to see) exacted from Him
That He taste also the humiliation of dread,
cold sweat of wanting to let the whole thing go,
like any mortal hero out of his depth,
like anyone who has taken herself back.
The painters, even the greatest, don’t show how,
in the midnight Garden,
or staggering uphill under the weight of the Cross,
He went through with even the human longing
to simply cease, to not be.
Not torture of body,
not the hideous betrayals humans commit
nor the faithless weakness of friends, and surely
not the anticipation of death (not then, in agony’s grip)
was Incarnation’s heaviest weight,
but this sickened desire to renege,
to step back from what He, Who was God,
had promised Himself, and had entered
time and flesh to enact.
Sublime acceptance, to be absolute, had to have welled
up from those depths where purpose
Drifted for mortal moments.

Closing Prayer

Jesus, I ask you to help me know your kingdom and its values. Help me to care myself and for others as you would have me do, regardless of my personal biases and prejudices. Help me to understand that the moral landscape that is “The Kingdom” requires me to love as you did, forgive as you did, and pray as you did, for those who need help. [Take a moment to think of one or more particular people whom you especially wish to raise up in prayer.]

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, November 10, 2024

Be slow to judge holiness, or the lack of it, by appearances

Mark 12:38–44

In the course of his teaching he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to go around in long robes and accept greetings in the marketplaces, seats of honor in synagogues, and places of honor at banquets.

They devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext, recite lengthy prayers. They will receive a very severe condemnation.”

He sat down opposite the treasury and observed how the crowd put money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums.

A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents.

Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them, “Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury.

For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood.”

Music Meditations

• “All That I Am, All That I Do” (composed by Sebastian Temple) [YouTube] — Folk Mass
• “For All That You Have Done” (Rend Collective) [YouTube] — Praise and Worship
• “Lord I Offer My Life to You” (Heavenly Voices) [YouTube]
• “Peace Prayer” (John Michael Talbot) [YouTube] — Prayer of St. Francis

Opening Prayer

From Sacred Space, a service of the Irish Jesuits:

Jesus, help us to be alert to our selfishness and our judgmental attitudes toward others. We are far from loving our neighbors as ourselves, and yet that is what you ask us to do. We cannot profess to love you and act with thoughtlessness to our neighbor, so teach us, Lord.

Companions for the Journey

Commentary on the Gospel by Daniel Harrington, S.J. in “America” (a Jesuit weekly publication)

Who Is Holy?

“This poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury” (Mark 12:43)

The central characters in Mark’s Gospel are Jesus and the Twelve, though a number of minor characters are spread throughout the entire narrative. At the end of Chapter 10, however, a series of lesser characters emerge, who (in contrast to the Twelve, who become increasingly obtuse) respond to Jesus in remarkably positive ways. They include Bartimaeus, the friendly scribe of last Sunday’s reading, the generous widow in today’s text, the woman who anoints Jesus at the beginning of the passion narrative, Simon of Cyrene, the centurion at the cross, the women at the cross and at Jesus’ tomb and Joseph of Arimathea, who sees to Jesus’ burial. The reader is encouraged to admire and identify with these figures. Today’s passage from Mark 12 features a contrast between scribes, who carefully cultivate their reputation for holiness, and a poor widow, who really is holy.

In Jesus’ time scribes wrote out legal and other documents for people who were illiterate. They were experts in Jewish religious traditions and knew Israel’s Scriptures very well. Bear in mind that the religious law for Jews was the Torah (the first five books of the Bible). The scribe combined the roles of lawyer and theologian.

The description that Jesus gives of the scribes in today’s passage from Mark is very negative. (Recall, however, his positive attitude toward the friendly scribe in Mark 12.) Jesus first accuses them of being ostentatious in their piety and of doing everything in public in order to gain a reputation for holiness. Then he charges them with using their position to take advantage of widows, the most defenseless members of Jewish society in Jesus’ time. They are condemned for making their reputation for piety a cloak to conceal their dishonest and profitable dealings. These scribes are not really holy. They provide negative examples of behavior to be avoided by Mark’s readers.

By way of contrast, the Markan Jesus points to the poor widow as a positive example of generosity and the true religious spirit. The scene takes place at the Jerusalem temple, a large complex of structures more like a campus than a cathedral. There seem to have been there several trumpet-shaped metal receptacles into which people could throw coins for the upkeep of the temple. Those who threw in many coins would make a lot of noise, while the widow who tossed in two small coins would make hardly any noise at all.

In this context Jesus points to the poor widow as a good example, a model of humble generosity. Even though she contributed little in quantity, the quality of her giving—she gave all she had—makes her into a good example to be imitated. This “minor” character reminds us that genuine holiness resides in a humble and generous spirit before God. Holiness does not always reside in religious professionals, like the scribes, in those who are learned in the things of God and with a public reputation for holiness. As a Catholic priest, biblical scholar and public religious person, I know that none of these roles is an absolute guarantee of holiness and closeness to God. There is more to holiness than ordination, theological education and public position.

For the generous widow the religious activity of almsgiving was not intended as a show to impress others or an opportunity to improve her social and economic status. For her, as one totally dependent on God and without social or economic importance, her action was what a religious action should be (as in Matt 6:1-18)—an expression of love of God and love of neighbor.

The lesson from the contrast between the scribes and the poor widow is this: Be slow to judge holiness by appearances only and be slow to equate holiness with office, credentials and honors. Look beyond appearances and externals, and you may well find to your surprise some very holy persons. These persons are loving and generous—not full of themselves and their own achievements—and knowing and acknowledging their dependence on God. Though only a minor character, the poor widow in today’s Gospel passage shows us that genuine holiness can exist in some surprising persons and places.

Weekly Memorization

Taken from the gospel for today’s session…

She, out of her poverty, gave everything she had

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

Note: language about “the poor” is very uncommon in the gospel of Mark. So we should take note when it appears.
• Is it human nature to seek proper recognition for our position or our accomplishments?
  Does our society encourage this tendency?
  What does Jesus say about this very human trait?
• Have I ever been quite impressed with someone, based on her position or title, his car or dress, or other external measurement?
  Have I ever judged someone negatively based on appearances or demeanor, only to revise my opinion after I got to know him or her?
• In our culture, how much do we dwell on what makes us different, separate, better than those around us?
  What is the role of ambition in our spiritual life?
  What does it mean to cultivate “downward mobility”?
• Thomas Merton said; “No person enters heaven alone.” What does that mean in terms of our own spiritual development?
• From “Sacred Space”, a service of the Irish Jesuits:
  Do I think too much about what others think of me?
  Does this influence my behavior?
  Am I ashamed of who I am?
• What image do I try to project to the world?
  How does this affect my behaviors?
• The many and heavy coins the wealthy put into the collection made a lot of noise. The widow’s coin was so small that very likely no one heard it. Have I ever done something for someone or given ostentatiously so that everyone know of my generosity?
  Have I ever given in secret?
  What does that say about my motives?
• Do we encounter hypocrisy in our society?
  In our Church?
  In our politics?
  In our relationships?
  How do we counter this?
• In what instances are the less significant “devoured” by those who are more important?
• The New Testament is full of stories of people who were invited to risk all and follow Jesus or his message. (The rich young man, Mary Magdalene, various Apostles, the little child with the loaves and a few fishes, the “good Samaritan”, the widow in this gospel story) How difficult is this to do?
  What is the cost?
  What is the reward?
• How did the action of the widow demonstrate her absolute (and radical) reliance on God?
  Do we “hedge our bets” when asked to risk something for the kingdom?
• Do we act out of a mentality of scarcity or a mentality of abundance?
  How does this mind-set inform our actions?
• How does this story of someone giving “all she had” presage the story Jesus will live out at the end of this gospel?
  Do I really believe that Jesus gave everything he had to his Father and to the mission on which he had embarked three years before?
• From Daniel Harrington, S.J.:
  How do you define holiness?
  Can you think of any apparently unlikely persons who were (or are) really holy?
  Can you think of persons whom you once regarded as holy, but found out that they were (or are) not?
• Who are the contemporary “widows and orphans”?
  How does society treat widows and widowers, or, by contrast, divorced people?
  What gifts might they bring to us as a community?
  Is there anything we can to about the isolation that many people in our society experience?
  How about our own community here at Stanford?
• Do I appreciate the qualities that may be found in the old, the poor, the less important in the world?
  Do I reach out and help old or vulnerable persons?
• What priorities in my life do I have about the use of my money, how much or little I may have?
  Do I feel I owe any of it to those less fortunate?
  Does what I give reflect my gospel values?
• When people give money to others or to causes, which range from The Opera to Second Harvest Food Bank, what do you think is their motivation?
  Do you have a cause you feel strongly about?
  Do you give time or money? Why or why not?

Meditations

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:

From a homily on Christ the King: “Christ and the Kingdom of Nobodies”:

Jesus, according to the famous Catholic spiritual writer Father Henri Nouwen, was about downward mobility, not upward mobility; His friends were those marginalized by the society in which they traveled: women, the uneducated, the poor, the unclean, the schizophrenic, the criminals, tax collectors and other sinners. In the Kingdom of God, the poor are the messengers of the good news. God’s kingdom is a kingdom of nobodies. A Kingdom of Nobodies.

Is that the kind of world we want?

Often, I think that we don’t “get” Jesus because we don’t want to. In order to belong to God and to one another, we must welcome all to the table of God’s bounty and love. In order to be successful in the eyes of God, we might have to re-evaluate what success means.

Take a look at Jesus’ comments on the Laborers in the Vineyard, Blind Bartimaeus, the poor widow… Listen to Jesus telling his disciples that the last shall be first and the first shall be last…

An examination of the values of Jesus’ kingdom provides a lens through which to bring the questions of our personal life into sharp focus:
What will make me happy?
What shall I do with my work?
How shall I spend my money?
Who shall be my friends?
How am I to love?

Filtering the questions of one’s personal life through the scope of the kingdom brings to light the vision on which Jesus was focused. Such a process can stamp out selfishness, vindictiveness, hatred and judgmentalism, and substitute generosity, forgiveness, inclusion and understanding, but only if we are open to change.

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Raising Questions:

Let us consider the word “risk”. To risk means to face possible loss due to our action or the lack of it. Some of us are natural risk takers; others of us are risk-averse. Certainly, in the area of money, our culture is always preaching about not being careless or foolish with our money. Will there be enough for college? Will I be able to handle the debt? How can I support a family? Will there be enough to retire? We are also cautioned not to risk our physical safety or our reputations. Conversely, The New Testament is full of stories of people who were invited to risk all and follow Jesus or his message. (The rich young man, Mary Magdalene, various Apostles, the little child with the loaves and a few fishes, the “good Samaritan”, the widow in this gospel story.) How difficult is this to do? What is the cost? What is the reward? I pick one story and meditate on the courage and the faith (read trust) it takes to stretch beyond our comfort zone. I think of a time in my life when I was asked or encouraged to do this. How did it turn out? Would I be willing to risk all? For whom? If not, what holds me back?

A Meditation in the Franciscan Style/Relationship:

Psalm 146 is a hymn of declarative praise for all that God has done for those most in need. According to some sources (since I don’t know Hebrew, this is an act of trust) “to praise” in Hebrew also means “to thank”. What do you have to be thankful for? Write your own hymn of praise or thanksgiving for all that you have been given such as opportunities, health, even life…

A Meditation in the Franciscan Style/Action:

Adapted from Walter Burkhardt, S.J.

My challenge for you this week is to make a start—take a small risk—Put more than you can “afford” in the basket today. Or drop it in the basket provided by a beggar outside the supermarket. Waste an hour of precious study time with someone in the dorm who needs you. Take an afternoon off and walk on the beach to contemplate creation and thank God for it. Let God speak to you. You and God know who you are, where your gifts lie, what keeps you from risking, why you keep giving only out of your surplus. Stretch yourself. Live dangerously and live life in abundance. Risk for God. Dare to be Christ.

Poetic Reflection:

This poem, by former Stegner Fellow Thomas Centollela, invites us to step out of our place of safety, to risk all that we are and all that we have for the Kingdom:

“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.

—from Lights and Mysteries

Closing Prayer

Jesus, you were poor and loved the poor. Help me to overcome my own need for more and more attention and praise, more and more importance, and help me to purify my attitude so that I am open to your invitation to follow you. Please help those in our world, who work so hard and who have so little. Please help me to be more generous to them and to work to change systems that keep them trapped in their poverty.