daily reflections

Thursday, Second Week of Ordinary Time

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Scripture Readings, January 23, 2025

Hebrews 7:25-8:6, Psalm 40:7-9,10,17, Matthew 3:7-12

I always wondered about the demons and evil spirits in the Gospels recognizing Jesus as the Son of God. Seems out of place. Shouldn’t his disciples recognize and name who he is. But in today’s Gospel, Mark again tells us that unclean spirits “shout, ‘You are the Son of God’” and Jesus warns them not to make him known. This phenomenon in Mark’s Gospel is called the Messianic Secret.

It’s suggested that Jesus didn’t want his Messiahship to be misinterpreted by people who were looking for a “savior” to overthrow the Romans and restore the Jewish kingdom. People wouldn’t be able to understand the kind of Messiah Jesus was until after he was crucified and died. It’s also possible that Mark is the one who is trying to make this point about Jesus. Perhaps he is writing to people who are having a hard time with death on the cross as a sign of the expected Messiah, so no one in Mark’s Gospel recognizes who Jesus is until after he’s died.

Then again maybe that’s exactly what took place. Jesus did all this wonderful stuff. He cures people and people flock to see him and are cured. Just like Mark is saying in these verses. However, maybe even at the time nobody got it. Mark himself points out repeatedly how the Apostles themselves don’t understand or misunderstand what Jesus is trying to tell them or is doing.

“He said to them, ‘Do you not understand this parable?’” (Mk 4:13)

“They were utterly and completely dumbfounded, because they had not seen what the miracle of the loaves meant; their minds were closed.” (Mk 6:52)

“But they did not understand what he said and were afraid to ask him” (Mk 9:32

Maybe it’s really hard to recognize God’s presence even if he’s changing people’s lives right in front of you? How often do people in twelve step programs emerge changed because they talked to others just like themselves and it opened up a new possibility? How often do doctor’s save people’s lives in surgery? How often do vaccine’s prevent death and disability around the globe? How often do people donate organs to save another? How often do hundreds, even thousands, of people walk/run/bike for a charity? How often do neighbors simply help a neighbor?  How often do people learn to forgive themselves? What do we have to see before it becomes apparent that God lives in this world with us?

Christmas Weekday

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Scripture Readings for January 3, 2024

1 John 2:29-3:6, Psalm 98:1, 3-6, John 1:29-34

Twice in today’s Gospel, John the Baptist says he didn’t know Jesus but he recognizes him as Son of God because he did see the Spirit come and stay with him. Well, to me that sounds a lot like our circumstances. We don’t really know Jesus either. By which I mean the presence of God right here in this world. As I have often suggested, we too easily think of God as distant, a divine entity off in heaven somewhere to whom we prayer when our life situation turns in the wrong direction. We haven’t been effectively taught that the God of Jesus, his Abba, is present to us here and now. Yet that is exactly what the Christmas story is all about. The divine born as a child, helpless, dependent on the people around him for his every need. God sanctifying human life by being present in it.

Can we, like John the Baptist, recognize the Spirit in the people we meet? That’s really what the author of 1 John is trying to help us do. He’s exhorting his community to stay true to their belief in Jesus as Son of God. He makes the case that once a person has come to know Jesus and what Christian life is all about that person wouldn’t go back to his or her former way of life. I think our challenge isn’t that much different. We need to recognize the Spirit’s presence in ourselves and others. We know people aren’t perfect but surely we recognize that all of us are trying to do the right thing, care for others, love our children and live a good life. That’s what the Church means when it says we are the Body of Christ in the world today. It isn’t just a nice platitude but rather the way of seeing the world as a place of God’s presence and activity. Aren’t we all trying to make the world and our lives better? Isn’t everyone regardless of religion or background, hoping for a better future. Don’t we feel a desire for life that is good and could be even better. That’s the Spirit John the Baptist could see in Jesus, a divine presence, that signaled a real change from the norm of his time.

1 John makes that point by saying, “Beloved, we are God’s children now.” This is the time to live out that reality as the Psalm says by not being “lawless” but, “sing to the Lord a new song” recognizing that Jesus has taken away our sins and the guilt that weighs us down. We are beloved children of God and can forge new paths. We just have to recognize the Spirit that stays with us, as it did with Jesus. The Spirit John the Baptist saw in Jesus we can see too, in ourselves, in others and accept that Spirit as the life God gives us each day. As children of God we too can baptize with the Holy Spirit, by bringing new life to ourselves and others in how we approach and conduct daily life. As the first letter of John says, “what we shall be has not been revealed,” but “we are God’s children now.” We are the people who can make God’s Spirit active in this world. Let’s do it.

Seventh Day, Octave of Christmas

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Scripture Readings, December 31, 2024

1 John 2:18-21, Psalm 96:1-2, 11-13, John 1:1-18

The first thing that strikes me about John’s prologue is the cosmic feel to it. It’s big. Unlike Matthew and Luke, John is not talking about the highly specific historical Jewish connections to Jesus. It is an introduction that stresses the universal nature and divine origin of Jesus. The Word which becomes flesh is the source of creation, the light that is the life of all human beings and which stands undefeated against the darkness.

It seems significant to me that in describing the eternal origins of Jesus of Nazareth John feels it necessary to include a darkness that stands over against the light. Importantly the darkness does not overpower the light. But it is there. We see this opposing force in our first reading from the 2nd letter of John. There he is talking about anti-Christs who have left the Christian community. He believes their appearance heralds the end of time and is encouraging the community to recognize that those who left were never really part of them. He wants the community to appreciate that they know the true Christ, Jesus of Nazareth. This truth never deceives us into going down a wrong path. The darkness doesn’t win here either.

This ultimate win over darkness doesn’t mean the road is clear cut. John’s prologue points out two awful ironies.

“The world came to be through him, but the world did not know him.
He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him.”

We know for all the wonderful things Jesus did during his life and the great parties he went to along the way it ended badly. He was tortured and hung on a cross to die. Clearly there is a challenge to being part of the world, even if you are the Son of God.

The upside to this story is that light and truth win. So for us it’s a question of sticking with the good people who like John’s community of believers are willing to stick together and recognize the truth of God’s love and presence. We know not everyone will see it this way. However, as John says, “to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God.” Becoming children of God is a real gift. According to the Gospel, children of God are “not born of human stock, or human desire or human will but from God himself.” I think the way to understand this is that believing in Jesus is not automatic. We aren’t Christian like we’re Asian, or African American or White. We’re not Christian in the way we’re tall or introverted or a great singer. Coming to believe in Jesus as Son of God is a process that often begins when we’re children and we hear the Christmas story or accompany parents to Mass. We become believers because of other believers. Even Jesus needed the support of other people. In the beginning it’s John the Baptist who tells others about Jesus. So as adults we either see the idea of God present in our lives as something that offers meaning to life or we reject it. Nobody forces this on any of us. It’s our choice. It’s a gift from God himself because what comes from God is our human freedom. To be children of God is to have the freedom to take full advantage of our talents and gifts, to create a world of peace and justice. The creation that began before time with God’s Word and light isn’t finished. As children of God, it’s just our turn.

Sixth Day, Octave of Christmas

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Scripture Readings, December 30, 2024

1 John 2:12-17, Psalm 96:7-10, Luke 2:36-40

Today’s Gospel continues the story of Mary and Joseph bringing Jesus to the Temple to be consecrated to the Lord. Simeon, an upright and devout man, has just recognized Jesus as the promised savior. Now Anna, a prophetess, arrives and talks about Jesus to those waiting for redemption. Both are devout Jews, both, a man and a woman, were able to recognize Jesus as the redeemer. Then Mary, Joseph and Jesus go back to Nazareth where Jesus grows up.

I’m glad Luke sees these two believers as important to telling the story of Jesus. I also like that the family goes back home where Jesus “grew and became strong,” a person that God “favors.” This has an everyday feel to it. I think that’s important for us because too often religion and the belief in God are assigned to the professionals. Priests, nuns, preachers and monks are supposed to be religious. The rest of us operate in the real world and drop-in on religious events like sacraments, Mass or prayer services. It’s as if we have to take time out for religious or spiritual activities. That’s not a helpful way to see faith or things we label spiritual because it suggests the spiritual and spiritual things are separate from regular stuff.

The problem with separating the spiritual from the everyday is that we can begin to identify the spiritual as holy and the everyday stuff as something less. All this other stuff then looks like it is keeping us from being holy because we’re all tied up with kids, work, vacations, spouses and well, life. If, however, you are Christian and believe in the Incarnation, that faith tells us all this stuff is what’s holy and blessed and part of being spiritual. It’s not separate at all.

So we have to begin to rewire our thinking to understand that belief in God and religion is a language for talking about our life values and how what we do means something. I know for many people spirituality has gotten so institutionalized, so dependent on a special language that we don’t recognize ourselves or God in it anymore. I actually think the best thing to do is to talk to other people about that problem. If we talk to others, regular other believers, about what they believe and why, it helps sort out what makes sense for us. We have good evidence that this works from today’s first reading. John is praising different groups of regular Christians, people he labels as children, fathers and young men, because they “know the Father” and “are strong” noting, “the word remains in you.” This letter from John is dealing with the problem that some people had left the community and those who remained were worried that something had gone wrong. He is reassuring them that they can know what is right and act accordingly.

So can we. All of us, just as Simeon and Anna, can recognize God in our lives. The whole point of Jesus being born is to say that God is here with us every day right with the kids, work, vacations, spouses and everything else. We just have to look for God’s presence in everyday situations, perhaps talk with a few others about how they see it and accept that we too can know “him who is from the beginning.”

Memorial, St. Benedict

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Scripture Readings for July 11, 2018

Hosea 10:1-3, 7-8 12, Psalm 105:2-7, Matthew 10:1-7

Today’s readings are about being chosen, and I would say, the challenge of being chosen.

Hosea speaks of the heartbreak going from being faithful to God and then being defiant. Matthew’s gospel tells of those men chosen to be the Apostles and given a big job to do as a result. Even here with Jesus doing the choosing there is literally a Judas in the group. Choosing and being chosen doesn’t always yield the expected results.

My observation is simply that today these readings are about each of us. As Christians we believe we are all individually chosen by God. We are all asked to accept that we are loved and cared for. We know that like the Apostles, we don’t always live up to the gifts God has given us. However, that should not dissuade us from following the advice of today’s Psalm:

“Look to the LORD in his strength, seek to serve him constantly.
Recall the wondrous deeds that he has wrought, his portents, and the judgments he has uttered.”

Perhaps by remembering the message Jesus gave to his Apostles, “The Kingdom of heaven is at hand” we can more easily live into that heavenly reality of being chosen, a beloved one of God.

Tuesday, Second Week of Lent

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Scripture Readings for February 27, 2018

Isaiah 1:10, 16-20, Psalm 50:8-9, 16-17, 21, 23, Matthew 23:1-12

When I first read today’s readings my reaction was, boy this is really heavy Lenten stuff. The readings present a clear challenge of turning our lives around. Turning from bad behavior to good behavior. But then I got defensive about it, I don’t know that my behavior is all “that bad”. I don’t think I have lots of really crimson sins or scarlet letters that need wiping away. Getting defensive kind of stopped me. Then after a little bit of time I read it again.

This time I noticed the very first words of Isaiah, “Hear the word of the Lord” and I noticed that what the Lord was saying was, “Come now, let’s set things right.” I realized that the readings weren’t so much about us and what we may or may not have done in the past. These readings are about moving forward and how God views our lives. When Isaiah talks about crimson red becoming white as snow or scarlet becoming white as wool it seems to me he is talking about the change itself. The subject is who we are now and not what we have done in the past. It suggests that what is important is our responding to God in this moment regardless of past behavior. That’s why even the worst of sins, those crimson and scarlet things, can become white as snow, because God wants us to be part of God’s plan, part of God’s life right now and going forward.

I think the message here is God doesn’t carry a grudge but makes all things new in this moment. We simply have to listen to God’s instruction today and respond. To do otherwise is to give past behavior power over our present. Worry and guilt about what we’ve done or should have done creates a burden God doesn’t see. It’s why Jesus in the Gospel is so hard on Pharisees and Scribes because they had gotten all caught up in what is required, rules that meant listening more to other people instead of God. As leaders they worried about what other leaders would say, they looked for approval from others and therefore became more concerned about how things looked than for the real needs of other people. They were being hypocrites, betraying their tradition by letting the past tradition supplant what God was doing in the current moment, what people needed right now.

So Jesus’ advice is that we simply work together as servants of each other to help where needed, since none of us has the final answer or the ultimate truth. Our challenge is to “hear the word of the Lord”. That word can come to us in lots of ways: a reading from Scripture, a surprising family situation, a person in need, a friend offering to help. Life itself presents God’s word to us and we have to be ready to grasp it and respond. We have to do what the Psalm says, “Go the right way” and I would add, do it right now. Go the right way, right now. In the present moment respond to what God is asking of us and don’t worry about what came before. When we do that it will be like we wash ourselves clean and as our Psalm says, encounter “the salvation of God.”

 

Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Scripture Readings for November 21, 2017

2 Maccabees 6: 18-31, Psalm 3:2-7 Luke 19: 1-10

Today’s Gospel is about how Zacchaeus, a very rich man, forgets about his wealthy trappings and climbs a tree just to get a look at Jesus and then is changed when Jesus comes to his house. It is a story that says if Jesus comes to stay with us anything is possible. Even rich people will become generous. It says salvation is the work of God.

So maybe we should look at the first reading to see what it might tell us and perhaps it will add something to the Gospel story. The reading from Maccabees is very focused and detailed. It tells us about one incident in the life of one man. Eleazar, an old man and a scribe, is asked to eat the pork of a pagan sacrificial offering. He is respected and a friend of the king’s officials and they give him a way to get around the king’s rules. They offer him a way out … bring some of your own meat and pretend it is from the sacrifice. Eleazar however understands how pretending to comply compromises everything he stands for. To pretend to eat the forbidden meat although not actually doing it is to say that the king’s rules are more important than what God asks.  It sounds like a clever legal maneuver. Look like you’re complying but don’t actually do what is being asked and therefore satisfy your conscience while giving the larger society what it demands, the appearance of compliance.

His friends are trying to help but they don’t understand the deeper issue. For Eleazar’s friends it’s only appearance that counts. So if you look like you’re doing the things others expect then even if you’re actually doing something else, who cares?  I think we see a lot of this today. Public figures in sports, politics, and entertainment seem to only be concerned with appearances. What records they can break, whether they are elect-able, what the press says about them, that is what counts not their actual behavior or positions or values. Each situation seems to be guided solely by how much a person can get away with. Clever words and phrases seem to do a slight of hand. They spin the facts. Public behavior like that suggests we would be foolish not to act the same way.

It is here that I think we can connect with our friend Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus the rich man was changed by having Jesus come to his house but Zacchaeus showed who he was long before Jesus actually came to his house. Zacchaeus, the rich tax collector, certainly didn’t worry about what people would think when he started running ahead of the crowd and enthusiastically climbed a tree. Zacchaeus acted on something that called him to discover what was new with this Jesus. Zacchaeus, like Eleazar, wasn’t constrained by what his friends in high places would say. He wasn’t guided by appearances. He didn’t have to give up his life like Eleazar but he was abandoning any pretense of reserve or wealthy position or even ordinary decorum Zacchaeus went with his heart, his excitement. His unabashed eagerness took him to a new life. In much the same way, Eleazar’s enthusiasm for God took him to a new life.

We may never be asked to give up our life as a sacrifice to be Christian but we may have to reveal and act openly on the commitments we have and the values we hold. Let’s pray we can break from the crowd and climb whatever it takes so we will be able to see what life is asking of us.

Memorial, St. Elizabeth of Hungary

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Scripture Readings for November 17, 2017

Wisdom 13:1-9, Psalm 19: 2-5, Luke 17:26-37

It took me awhile but after working through today’s readings a couple times I came to the conclusion that they are mostly about our missing the point. The readings from Wisdom and Luke’s Gospel seem to come together around how even lovely and pleasant everyday things can distract us from our ultimate objective. Do we notice God behind the scenes or are we simply caught up in the beauty and utility of life around us?

The reading from Wisdom is quite elegant in describing how fire, wind and the luminaries of the sky were thought to be gods in and of themselves. The author names the issue explicitly, “they are distracted by what they see.” The beautiful and powerful forces of nature can be appreciated for themselves but we shouldn’t stop at a superficial analysis. We should acknowledge the even more powerful and inspiring God that created them.

The same is of course true when Jesus is talking about how we live our lives. It is easy to be so caught up with buying, selling, eating, drinking, getting married, caught up in all the good things, that we miss the point of the exercise. Doing what God put us here to do. What’s more we can’t be clever about picking and choosing our time for compliance. There’s no radar detector that will tell us when the state trooper is waiting to catch us speeding. We have to adopt an ongoing attitude of care for others, which is the way God operates, or we are likely to get caught at the most ordinary of moments with the call to eternal life.

I don’t think we should interpret this as God’s effort to catch us when we least expect it. No, Jesus is trying to restate and make it clear for human relationships what Wisdom has already said, that beneath the surface of all that happens, God is part of the picture. I think today the question could be: Are we noticing God and God’s desire for us as we go about each day’s activities, each day’s decisions. If we think we can wait until later or another time to bring God into the picture, there’s no way to go back and rescue what we have neglected. All we can ever do is deal with what is presented to us today. Are we acting now, the way we know God asks us to act? Are we paying attention to the needs to which love and justice expect us to respond? Who crosses our path that we could help? What happens in our part of the world that we could change? God may not expect us to change the whole world. However, God does expect us to live in our part of it as one who cares and sacrifices to make it better.

Let’s not miss the point of our life, let’s go below the surface and recognize all that God provides and all that God asks us to do as well.

Thursday, Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Today’s Scripture Readings

Ephesians 1:1-10, Psalm 98:1-6, Luke 11:47-54

All this week in the Gospel readings Jesus has been criticizing the Pharisees for being insincere and taking advantage of their positions. Not surprisingly at the end of today’s Gospel Luke makes the point, “the Pharisees began to act with hostility toward him … they were plotting to catch him in something he might say.” No big surprise, given Jesus’ treatment of them.

Also remember that Pharisees, Scribes and Lawyers were the privileged, the religious elite of their day. They made the rules. So we know Jesus wasn’t afraid to be blunt about things he thought powerful people were doing wrong. But the question is, what does this Gospel have to say to us today?

Of course, nobody today is oppressing others by creating unrealistic demands on them. Nobody puts down people they have power over … wouldn’t that be nice? We are certainly aware of prejudices in society at large, but do we recognize that behavior in ourselves?

Let’s consider, for a moment, Galatians and the Psalm for today. Paul’s letter to the Galatians tells about how God has chosen us and saved us through the action of Jesus. We have come to believe that we are forgiven for things we do wrong and Jesus’ life was an announcement of God’s intention for us to be free, and happy together. If we want to know what is important in this life we simply need to look at Jesus, he sums it up in the way he lived and what he said.

The Psalm is essentially a celebration of the same thing. God saves us from guilt and fear and we should be really happy about it. We have reason to be pleased about our faith, to feel that God has blessed us. That can be a good thing.

I think the question that Jesus is pointing to in the Gospel is this: the Pharisees, Scribes and lawyers all knew the details of their faith, they too knew the history. The prophets were their own people. In fact, they were building monuments to them all the time. But these same Pharisees weren’t paying attention to what that history and what those prophets had to say. They were burying them all over again. They liked the privileges, the power and the prestige that comes with office, they liked knowing they have been saved by their religious practice, by their faith. Or so they thought.

We may not be people who wield political or religious power but we may have to be careful we don’t get too smug about what is ours, whether it’s what we believe, what we think we have or what we have accomplished. We need to remember that Jesus was always fighting for people who were at the edge of society. The people who were outcasts, people who were looked down upon because of how they lived, who they were related to or what they didn’t know. We have to take that seriously. We too, probably have groups of people with whom we are uneasy. People we might refer to as “those people” when we’re with friends. That’s not good. That’s what the Pharisees did. The Pharisees excluded people because “they” didn’t measure up. That’s what we have to think about. I think we have to be very careful about the status quo and what we think is appropriate and proper and required of others before we would accept them. Like asking them to dinner. You may have heard about the 1967 movie, “Guess who’s coming to dinner?” It was about a young white woman who is engaged to a black man and has to bring him home to meet mom and dad who don’t know he’s black. That might be a good way for us to picture the situation. Who would make us uncomfortable if they were seated around our dinner table? And when we consider who might be in that group, let’s just remember that for the Pharisees, at least one of “those” people was Jesus! That’s the mess we get ourselves into when we become privileged.

Thursday, Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Today’s Scripture Readings

Galatians 3:1-5, Luke 1:69-75, Luke 11:5-13

These are amazingly strong readings about the Holy Spirit. So much so that for the Psalm we have the words of Zachariah, filled with the Holy Spirit after he gets his voice back when he names his son John. It is a classic example of being given the Spirit and a change of heart. The other readings are just as pointed. Paul adamantly questions what’s wrong with the Galatians, why aren’t they being faithful to how they received the Spirit in the first place. Jesus says praying is about stepping up and doing it with persistence. The result is receiving the Spirit.

I believe the Spirit is especially important today because the Spirit is God’s presence among us. Seeing that presence as part of our experience is key to living a life of faith, which often takes strength, courage and compassion. That is what Paul is yelling at the Galatians about. They have gone back to some practices dictated by Jewish law as if that is necessary for maintaining their connection with God. Paul is reminding them that their experience of the Spirit and “the mighty deeds” the Spirit worked among them didn’t come from following the law but believing in Jesus Christ.

The issue that is relevant for us today is thinking about the Spirit too narrowly. As if the Spirit only comes to really holy people like saints or in dramatic biblical events. I would like to take the Spirit out of the interventionist highly demonstrative category and place Spirit into the everyday operating category. Let’s consider God’s Spirit as a presence that empowers and emboldens us to live and do things we might otherwise fear or dismiss as beyond our abilities. Also think about Spirit as a calming, reassuring presence that can bring peace and joy into the midst of everyday activities.

The Psalm is thanking God because God “has come to his people” to make us “holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life.” Wouldn’t that be an amazing gift if we accepted that we’re OK? If we accepted our own value before God as good? Wouldn’t that be a “mighty savior” who enabled us to worship God and live “without fear?” Jesus lived that way but it’s only the Spirit that can transmit that gift to us today.

Which brings us to Luke’s Gospel and Jesus telling his disciples and us to persevere in prayer. Not so God will improve our situation or even heal someone who is sick but rather send the Spirit to give us the best gifts of all. Aren’t what we really want “things” like confidence, peace, courage, insight, happiness, patience, appreciation, etc. That’s what Spirit is about. The challenge is, will we ask for this kind of help? Will we acknowledge the kinds of “things” we’re missing so we even see the need to ask? The man in the Gospel knows he needs three loaves of bread because he has a visitor at home who he can’t feed. He knows what he needs and why. It’s night time so finding the bread isn’t going to be easy or convenient yet the man is out there knocking on doors, probably being embarrassed. However, if he wants that bread he has to do it. That’s the persistence Jesus is talking about. Not “I wish, I wish” but taking the steps to find the help we need. If we do that, the Spirit of God will already be there giving us what we need.