Reflection for the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time and BACK TO CHURCH SUNDAY 2019

Yes!
TOGETHER!

This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Of these I am the foremost. But for that reason I was mercifully treated, so that in me, as the foremost, Christ Jesus might display all his patience as an example for those who would come to believe in him for everlasting life.

Welcome BACK TO CHURCH! If this is your first time visiting with us, we want you to know how happy we are. If you are longstanding faithful parishioners, we want you to know how happy we are.

You may be thinking to yourselves, why is he happy, why should the community be happy if I am here? Maybe he is just one of those pastors who is happy at just about anything?

Well, yeah, but that’s not the point.

The real point of our joy is the same point St. Paul was making about himself. Paul was overjoyed because he was taken from a life without meaning, without purpose, without hope, to a life regenerated – new life in Christ Jesus. He had eternal life in Jesus and the joy of now working TOGETHER in the community of faith. He received mercy, not allowance to continue his own way, but the mercy necessary to be changed into the very image of Jesus in communities throughout the Mediterranean.

For those who are joining us for the first time, for the first time in a while, or are here again, returning faithfully and diligently, today’s call is about rejoicing in knowing Jesus deeper and better, to experience His exorbitant mercy, and to be changed into His image in our world.

Relying on Jesus and being His image is not an easy choice. It is not popular – and definitely puts us into the core countercultural movement of our time, but so it was with Paul and all the early Christ followers. Paul counted it as mercy – to be saved from sin into a new life that actually mattered, and he worked together with others to spread knowledge of that salvation. Paul stood as an example of what is possible in Jesus, and so must we.

Today, and each week we are happy you are here. We are happy that the mercy of Jesus is so all encompassing, so total, that He will not leave any behind. We are happy because now together, in Jesus, we celebrate and rejoice.

September 2019 Newsletter – Living All-In

you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

What does it mean to be all-in with God? Throughout Church history we have confronted the problem of minimalism. It is the problem of just doing enough. It seems somewhat counterintuitive. If we love something or someone, we want to do more than we are even able. We stretch ourselves, we exceed our perceived boundaries, and reach for the stars for the one we love. Yet, not many do that with God or His community, the Holy Church. Priests would tell you that in hearing someone’s confession, there are two types of sorrow the penitent may have for the sake of absolution. They can have ‘attrition,’ that is a fear of punishment or they can have ‘contrition,’ a deep sorrow for having offended God, for having broken relationship with Him. While both qualify as adequate, attrition is minimalistic – only that which is absolutely, barely necessary. I remember being told as a teen the minimums required for Holy Mass. I could arrive and stay from the Gospel to Communion, and then leave. It was just enough. Some (and it rarely ever happens in our parish) use the bare minimum as their way of dealing with God and His community. Yet, a God who calls us to be all-in with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength will not look kindly on a love that is loafing or limping or lowest common denominator. His call to us is to live love deeply, wholly, and completely. Our own consciences call us to that truth. There is much for us to do as we enter the month of September. The Solemnity of Brotherly Love reminds us of Jesus’ all-in call to love God and neighbor. BACK TO CHURCH Sunday calls us to take action – to invite and build up the church with at least a 25% gain in active participation. This new season reminds us that we have the opportunity to renew our own faith and participation in God’s community to the maximum. Let us live that call and be all-in.

September is here and the calendar is full of events that bring us together and renew great friendships. We have the Solemnity of Brotherly Love, BACK TO CHURCH SUNDAY, and regular worship and fellowships that renews and strengths us for the journey together.

Come, be All-In together.

Read more in our September 2019 Newsletter.

Bible Study for the Week of Brotherly Love 2019

This week’s memory verse: Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.

Romans 12:10
  • 9/8 – Hebrews 13:1
  • 9/9 – 1 John 4:20
  • 9/10 – John 13:34
  • 9/11 – John 15:13
  • 9/12 – 1 John 4:7
  • 9/13 – 1 Peter 3:8
  • 9/14 – 1 Thessalonians 4:9

Pray the week: Lord, grant us ever increasing brotherly love and the strength to act out of love in every situation.

Reflection for the Solemnity of Brotherly Love 2019

Outstanding, outgoing,
out-of-here.

But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each man teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, `Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD

Happy Sunday new Israel! Indeed, we are the new Israel. We are the holders of the New Covenant sealed in the blood of Jesus. As recipients, and beneficiaries of the New Covenant, we have the Lord written on our hearts. We are the Lord’s people. We belong to Him. With the Lord’s Law of love written within us, we no longer have need to be told ‘know this’ or ‘know that.’ Rather, we have innate and intimate knowledge of God’s way.

On this Sunday, dedicated to Brotherly Love, we see Jesus reminding us of the importance of living by the Word implanted in us. Two, a priest and a Levite, saw the man in need and passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan came to where he was; and when he saw him, he had compassion. The priest and the Levite did not connect with the Covenant in their hearts. They ignored it, or misinterpreted it, or just plain missed it. Yet the Samaritan, who was supposed to be outside the Covenant, responded. He didn’t seek a book or an advisor for guidance, he responded with compassion. Jesus made His point about actually living the Covenant. Having done so, He told the young man, who wanted to justify himself, to “Go and do likewise.”

So it is to us. As children of the New Covenant, we must live fully connected to God’s way in the midst of every situation. What we see, the situations we run into, are all a call to action – to respond with the action of brotherly love.

The Covenant was in the Samaritan. It called him to act in an outstanding way, to stand out with love. The Covenant called the Samaritan to be outgoing, to go out of his way to act with love. The Covenant called the Samaritan to get out-of-here, to get out of his own head, thoughts, needs, and desires so to act with love. Today, throughout this week before BACK TO CHURCH SUNDAY, and thereafter, let us live the New Covenant in our hearts by being outstanding, outgoing, and out-of-here.

Bible Study for the 22nd Week in Ordinary Time 2019

This week’s memory verse: Remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Thessalonians 1:3
  • 9/1 – 1 Corinthians 3:8
  • 9/2 – Ephesians 4:28
  • 9/3 – Colossians 3:23
  • 9/4 – John 6:27
  • 9/5 – Exodus 20:9
  • 9/6 – James 5:4
  • 9/7 – Genesis 2:15

Pray the week: Lord, bless and prosper our work. Send Your bounty down upon us. Grant Your justice and thwart the work of those who hate justice. May they flee before You.

Reflection for the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time 2019

He
provides!

A bountiful rain You showered down, O God, upon Your inheritance; You restored the land when it languished; Your flock settled in it; in Your goodness, O God, You provided it for the needy.

Welcome and happy Labor Day weekend! This weekend offers us an excellent opportunity to focus on God’s provision and what we, as Christians, and as a nation, do with His provision.

Our verse of focus is taken from Psalm 68. Biblical scholars, those who slice and dice original language, verse structure, the paradigms that existed at the time something was written have often opined that Psalm 68 is one of the most difficult Psalms to understand. Yet to us, the ordinary reader, the Psalm seems pretty straightforward.

The Psalm begins with a prayer for God to arise, and recounts what happens to God’s enemies and to His favored righteous. As a result of God’s action, the righteous rejoice, they sing praises. God defends and provides, no one is lonely or a prisoner.

The Psalmist recounts God’s saving history. He praises God again saying: Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, Who daily bears our burdens. He calls on God again to save, to rescue. Confident in God’s rescue and provision, he again calls the people to praise.

We can imagine historians and scholars looking at the paradigm of our times 3,064 years from now. They would say that our times are the most difficult to understand. Yet the ordinary reader would say, it is not difficult to see what was going on. A nation of success and riches failed to provide avenues of advancement for its workers. Wages were stolen by the rich, justice was not done through a fair and equitable distribution of the wealth of a nation. The people cried out, suffered, but were not heard by their brothers and sisters. Those who traveled from afar, seeking refuge were turned away.

On this Labor Day weekend let us begin. Ask the Lord to arise again to scatter and defeat those who work to thwart justice. Let us pray that this Labor Day will mark the rising of the Christian people who have a God of power and might. May our words and work be a bountiful rain. Let us restore the landfrom its languish. Following God, we “will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.“

Bible Study for the 21st Week in Ordinary Time 2019

So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

1 Peter 2:7-8
  • 8/25 – John 3:16-17
  • 8/26 – Titus 3:5
  • 8/27 – 2 Timothy 4:5
  • 8/28 – Romans 13:4
  • 8/29 – Romans 8:1
  • 8/30 – Acts 5:29
  • 8/31 – Matthew 16:1-4

Pray the week: Lord, Grant that I may not seek cheap entry to Your kingdom, but rather that I live and offer Your priceless way of life no matter the cost.

Reflection for the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time 2019

Discount
entry fee?

I come to gather nations of every language; they shall come and see my glory. I will set a sign among them

Our first reading starts out and ends so hopeful. God is going to gather together many nations and peoples. There is to be no exclusivity in His kingdom. God’s glory will be proclaimed by these many peoples, and they shall gather others into the family of God. From among all these people, God will raise up priests and Levites from all people, not from some families.

Indeed, this hopeful message is what has been proclaimed by our Holy Church from its first days on Pentecost, when people of many nations and languages came to faith in Jesus Christ. This hope filled message was music to the ears of the downcast, the poor, widows, orphans, slaves, anyone in any sort of bondage, particularly sin bondage. The Church thrived amidst persecution, with people entering each week, to learn about the message of Jesus (and study over 3 years before being allowed full participation).

People heard the hopeful message of Jesus in the streets, in homes, from the mouths of His followers. Jesus’ followers could not help but speak of Him and what He offered. By their work and words, people came to be saved.

What does Jesus offer? He offers inclusivity for those who come to Him in faith, who believe on Him with their entire being. He includes those who seek freedom by confession. He offers eternal promise and inheritance. The things and ways of the world are broken and without value. God came Himself, for them, to set them free. They were worthwhile children and coheirs.

We have to ask ourselves: In the midst of torture, prosecution, potential loss of life (and long study), in the midst of an everything and anything goes pagan culture, where I can have whatever I desire, why did the hope of Jesus, the Messiah, resonate so deeply. Why were people willing to sacrifice all to have Jesus? This was the way it was for nearly 500 years! And more came to Jesus every week. More and more sought His community – the Church.

Today, we live in a neo-pagan culture. The old ways are back. What we forgot for 1500 years is real again. We are called to reassess, to see there is no cheap entry fee. We will not just get by. We are the sign among them– the world. We are therefore called to live faithfully, speak boldly, and offer what is priceless to all.

Bible Study for the 20th Week in Ordinary Time 2019

This week’s memory verse: But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.

1 Peter 4:13
  • SUNDAY: 2 Corinthians 12:10
  • MONDAY: Romans 12:12
  • TUESDAY: Romans 5:3
  • WEDNESDAY: James 1:2-4
  • THURSDAY: John 14:27
  • FRIDAY: Romans 8:18-21
  • SATURDAY: Habakkuk 3:17-19

Pray the week: Lord, Grant me faithful courage to face all things so to attain the joy awaiting me.

Reflection for the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2019

For what
reason?

For the sake of the joy that lay before Him He endured the cross, despising its shame, and has taken His seat at the right of the throne of God. Consider how He endured such opposition from sinners, in order that you may not grow weary and lose heart.

In this week’s Gospel we hear Jesus putting it all out there, laying it on the line. He will not offer us a placid earth, but rather one that has a cost if we hold to His truth and way. For what reason would we accept this cost?

When Jesus preaches all the truth, we get afraid. We really do not want to admit that the hard stuff is necessary. We prefer the soft Jesus of Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. We like the Jesus of peace, love, mercy, and forgiveness. He is certainly that, but that has a cost. The cost of access to Him is living faith. The fruit of faith is a new life cleansed of binds that restrict and limit us; that keep us away from real joy, even if that is others. The life of faith gives us new and perfect reason to face every challenge, disappointment, conflict, and division. Will we accept that cost?

Today we encounter the warrior Jesus. The “fire” He brings is the cleansing fire that washes us of constraints, the things that keep us back from living a life of complete faith. His fire refines us and makes us ready to witness. Paul tells us that Jesus gave His all for the sake of the joy that lay before Him. We have the promise of that joy, not something less. Is that joy sufficient reason to face challenge, disappointment, conflict, and division?

If we reason it out, the choices we have to make every day, spreading the gospel, issuing the invitation, stating the truth of the gospel, admitting that there are limits, boundaries, thoughts, words, actions, and philosophies not in accordance with God’s way is both a path to conflict and to joy. To say Jesus is the way, truth, and life will surely turn some off, yet brings us joy. 

Being all-in with Jesus, living His way, proclaiming his word – the right way – has the assurance of everlasting joy. It is the joy of heavenly peace, God’s assurance, life in the Body of Christ, and the joy of being coheirs to victory.

Jesus won His and our joy on the cross. For what reason would we do, speak, and act. For what reason must we endure, abide, and face all things? For genuine joy!