Feast of the Holy Family

As we celebrate the Feast of The Holy Family there is much to reflect upon.

It is not that we have not heard it before, because we have. Like Father Butler will often remind us, we need to hear the Scripture over and over and over again. I am reminded of how we often need to be told or to tell someone how much we love them, over and over again. We may know it, but it is important to have the continuity and repetition.

As humans, we have “prettified” up the Nativity story really well. Father Lanese was speaking of this just the other day. When I look at so many pieces of art, which are beautiful and prayerful, without a doubt. (As you can see I use them to illustrate this blog very often!)

However, the reality of Bethlehem was probably different. A smiling, gurgling and wiggly baby in the straw, a beatific Mary and a beaming Joseph, several awestruck (but remarkably clean!) shepherds and a few very well behaved animals who focus on the babe. It sure looks good, but…

No it was likely a dark, dank and filthy space. While I have never had a child myself, I know many other women who did in the comfort and safety of a hospital and while happy, they might not have looked their glowy best so soon after the birth as Mary is presented to us. The shepherds, however adoring they might be were probably rank and disheveled from not only their work but from having left the fields to come find the baby. Joseph – I am thinking that despite his many dreams and reassurances that he might have felt a bit freaked out at the scene that lay out before him. And the animals. Now I am a city girl, so what do I know of them, but it is hard to imagine that they would just be standing there, still and with a steady gaze.

It is not a bad thing that we have the beautiful images of the Holy Family. It just might be important however, to consider the reality of it, as we ponder what happened.

Poor, downtrodden, awestruck, overwhelmed. It is almost impossible to think of. Yet we must. It is in that poor, downtrodden, awestruck and overwhelmed place that God appears.

And God appears, comes to us in the form of this tiny, vulnerable baby. This God who becomes incarnational, who becomes flesh - like us. Now God being God could have chosen to come in as a baby or as anything! What did God choose? A baby! The smallest, the most vulnerable and the most needy. Think of this… God could have chosen to come in as the baby of the Romans. Or God could have chosen to come as the baby of the Pharisees.

However, God chooses the poor, the disenfranchised, those from the lower rungs. This is remarkable and it makes perfect sense. Would the Romans have accepted such a thing? Even if they did, they would manipulate it for their own purposes. Same with the Pharisees. Only those open and with nothing and as a result, with nothing to lose, say yes to this God as infant.

Mary in her fiat creates possibility that might not otherwise have happened. In her state of being she was not only able to say “yes”, but to be so open as to let this be about the glory of God. We hear that in the Magnificat very clearly. (As an aside, the dictators that ran Guatemala in the 80′s outlawed the public reading of the Magnificat because they believed it was too revolutionary in tone!)

So as we pray about and ponder the Holy Family today, may we remind ourselves of how God enters in through the smallest, the poorest, those on the fringes and not as those in power. May we find our own graces through our own poor, small and disenfranchised not only in our society, but more importantly – deeply within our own souls.

And that is why I will close with this image, from the present. It is the entry way to the Church of the Nativity, in Bethlehem. You will notice that the door is very, very small. It is that way on purpose and it is the only way in, you must bend down to go through and enter.

It is called the Door of Humility for a reason.

What Are You Here to Give? What Are You Here To Get?

Today I went to daily mass, I as generally do. Father Lanese and Father Butler give such compelling daily homilies. Honestly, in all due respect, it was hard to get a compelling homily on a Sunday in some of my past parishes, let alone a weekday! So I really look forward to what we might hear on any given day.

Today Father Butler delivered what I found to be a challenging homily, but he delivered it infused- in my opinion anyway, with great love.

Father began by discussing that in the past however many years, there has been study after study looking a the how the church is either growing or shrinking at various places in the world. (Please note: When I speak of the church or our church here, I am referring to the entire Roman Catholic church, not just St. Edward the Confessor.)

In the U.S. we know the church is shrinking and Father brought this up right away. He pointed out that a big part of that is the large number of church people that are aging. In 20 years or so, who will be here to take our place? That alone is a challenging thought - “will I be here?” is a hard question to face.

And it is human nature to want to conserve or retain things as they are. The problem with this is that is is just not possible. Period. Heraclitus said “You can not step into the same river twice.” Everything alive is organic and in constant change and flux.

What is often harder to take in is that everything is changing and we subtly change with it. It is often when we are called to change that the problems begin.

He also spoke of how many young people are not attracted to our church and are indeed are often attracted to more evangelical type churches. Why? One seems more joyful and welcoming… and sadly it is not the Catholic church in general. And this actually extends beyond young people, but is particularly clear with that age-group.

Why is this? Father went on to speak of a few things at this point. The first was that if we look at the Scripture we see that Jesus came to teach the adults not the children. I have heard both Father Butler and Father Lanese say this before- Jesus blessed the children and taught the adults. Hmmm… we tend to do the opposite and think the opposite is true.

We as Roman Catholics have reversed that equation. And perhaps that is part of the problem. Father also went into the fact that the way that most of us, those of a certain age, were taught one thing, with good intentions, but that it was not necessarily right.

So as a result we come to church to get something. However, do we come to church to give something? We are not speaking of money here- we are speaking of something much more valuable; ourselves. And to give of ourselves very deeply and intimately.

Are we willing to do this? That is a rhetorical question that only each one of us can answer in our hearts. What are we here to give? What are we here to get?

Before he was finished he did come back to something that I think is really important; a time of shrinking is also a time of opportunity. It is hard to think about that when we are pondering loss, shrinkage or depletion. However, that is exactly what faith is, isn’t it? To trust the the cycle will be completed and will turn again and again.

I am certified as a personal and executive coach. A big part of my training had to do with helping shepherd whatever might be “being born” in people’s lives and people’s work. Based on both my work and my personality, I am always inclined to look at times of decline that way. The first question I might ask is “What is being born here?”

When I had that thought during Father Butler’s homily, it really struck me that this indeed is an Advent theme too.

So as we work towards reflecting on what it is we want to give and what we might or might not want to get, maybe we can do that in the lens of expectation about what will be birthed in our lives and in our church.

What Father Butler asked of us at the end of mass was this- how can we look at the readings for today, and for this time of Advent and Christmas and reflect. That we might reflect on the need for healing, and that the need for healing is great. Beyond that – that as older people we have been wounded and healed; can we live that clearly? Openly? Generously?

By acknowledging our wounds and living our healing, we now can come to church to give, not just to get! And by living the wisdom that only those kinds of wounds and that kind of healing can give, we are then attractive to the young. The young seek that healing and the wisdom that springs forth from it. Thus by living that out fully and generously, we can birth what is waiting to be born.

Living With Pain Living In Joy

Living as we do in a world that suffers so much, two opposing possibilities can easily tempt us: either to turn our backs and live oblivious to the pain or to allow the pain to overwhelm us and despair to take up residence in our hearts. The truly faithful option is to face the pain and live joyfully in the midst of it. Those who suffer most remind us of how tragic and arrogant it would be for us to lose hope on behalf of people who have not lost theirs. They are teachers of joy.

- Joyce Hollyday
Then Your Light Shall Rise

I read these words today and they really clicked for me. This happened in many ways… First of all, for whatever reason, in one corner of my life I seem to have contact with many atheists and agnostics. A number of these folks are fallen away Catholics and have a pretty deep well of anger to plumb. Plus, I am no stranger to living in such pain. I am guessing that you might know a bit about this too!

These friends of mine all feel similarly – the pain is overwhelming, turn your back on it and know that no God is going to come save you. It is fairly straight-forward and cynical in many cases. Well clearly- and these folks know this, I do believe otherwise. God has already saved me; that happened a long time ago. Now how I choose to live with that and how to appropriate it, is my mission. This is a topic that both Father Butler and Father Lanese preach about constantly.

There is another element of how some people have let the pain take up residence in their hearts, as the Joyce Hollyday points out. I get this, because that would have been me for large portions of my life. It could be me again tomorrow for all I know.

It is pretty easy to live in despair and just not care. Or maybe to feel like you deserve it or that it is some “test” from God, or whatever… It just is when you are overwhelmed by it all and the pain is just that- pain.

The real rub of our faith is the tension of living in-between the polarities. To walk in the pain with some kind of joy means something. It may not be the joy of a party or something festive, but it is the joy of knowing the great promise that we live.

This has been so clear in the readings this week, as we wind down to the very last days of the liturgical year. How do we live our faith, acknowledge our pain, not despair and allow ourselves to be transformed by it?

Well, that is our daily journey. And our daily journey is about to become one of watching and waiting for the light.

How Long is Too Long?

Please allow me to begin this post by making a confession of sorts… I do not always go to church on Sunday. Well, I am actually more of a Saturday vigil person, but you know what I mean. Typically, I do go, but some weekends come and for whatever reason or not, I just don’t make it. When I was a kid this never, ever happened. That would have been a “big sin” in 1965.

There is more, sometimes I am in church and I am impatient for the service to end. A couple of weeks ago, I was ready to run down that aisle as the recessional hymn seemed to drone on. OK, so I had to go somewhere, but that was just poor planning on my part. Then there is the exit traffic pattern. If you are in this community, you know exactly what I am talking about.

OK, so I hope you don’t think too ill of me. It is just true and before I wrote this post, it had to be said.

Now I am pretty new here and I don’t know that many people, but I have heard a lot of talk, really a lot of talk, about mass being “too long” lately. In fact I was in a conversation about this with someone recently and I said I wanted to write about it, but wasn’t sure where or how to begin. This person and I did have a lively interchange about the topic and I was grateful, as I think we both walked away a little illuminated about the other’s position.

One of the things that was brought up was how busy people are. Well, I think that is true, I know it is in my life, but it is not like we are in church for hours. We are talking about the difference between a 45 minute liturgy and a 65 minute liturgy. Oh I feel like I am already sounding too high handed.

Please note – I do not want to sound too high-handed or too preachy. I really don’t ok? So if I do – well then I hope someone tells me. That is why I made my admission at the start. Hey, I bet there are days when Father Lanese and/or Father Butler might want it to move a little faster too. At least I think they must have that feeling from time to time.

This weekend, I did attend the Saturday vigil last night. No, I could not even tell you if it seemed “long” or not. Most of the time I don’t really notice and most of the time I really want to be at and get so much out of liturgy. Having come from some really, really dry parishes in the past few years, you have no idea how refreshing it is to have both Father Butler and Father Lanese, plus our great Deacons – Gene Kelenski, Jerry Grigaitis, Walter MacKinnon and Chuck Taylor, here at Saint Edward’s.

Father Butler and Father Lanese, (apologies gentlemen!) can both be long-winded I suppose. However, so can I. In general though, I am really interested in how they use such wise words to share with us, to inform us and guide us.

In fact, last night, Deacon Taylor preached and it was a great message too, so I did not notice if it seemed long or short.

So what then is my long-winded point?

This morning I went to the Clifton Park ToysRUs to buy my step-daughter a Nintendo Wii. I have decidedly mixed feelings about this purchase, but my husband really wanted to get it for her and I am the early riser in the house. So off I went at 7.15am, where I was about the 54th person in line. Yes I did say 7:15am and I did say 54 people in line.

From what I learned, the first folks arrived at 4:45am and they started selling at 7am. There were thermoses and bags of food, lawn chairs and blankets outside as evidence of the earliest arrivals.

I don’t know what time they started selling to people, but I guess it was about 6:30am. They would bring 5-10 people in at a time (they did let us wait inside) to make their purchases. So for over two hours, I waited. And watched. There were entire strategies about not just the Wii itself, but what games and accessories to buy. There were cell phone calls being made to home base, long conversations and plans for backup in case the game they wanted was not in stock.

Then it was finally my turn… It is simply too embarrassing to tell you how much I spent when I got rung up with this overpriced game. It was way more than my husband told me to expect, as you can never just buy one thing when making a purchase like this.

This topic gives one much to ponder about our society, but I won’t go too far down that road. That said, it got me to wonder… How can church be “too long” when folks are willing to rise before dawn and wait hours in line to plunk down in excess of $250 (yes in excess of, far in excess of) to buy a game for, dare I say it, Christmas?

I would love to know what others think about this – this meaning both church too long as well as what we do with our time. It certainly is food for thought and I am not sure what the answers are, or if there even are any.

Draw Near, To Listen to Jesus…

As it is Thursday, there is no daily liturgy at St. Edward’s today. However, I like to check out the daily readings and reflect upon the.

The first reading carries on our cycle from Romans. These words really stood out to me as I read them;

Why then do you judge your brother or sister?
Or you, why do you look down on your brother or sister?
For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God;
for it is written

It is easy to imagine what Father Butler or Father Lanese might be saying to us if we did have mass today. Why is that that we – themselves included – continue to judge, even when we are admonished not to, by God?

If I knew the answer to that, my life would probably be a whole lot better! Oh, how we are all like little children that need to be taught and retaught every single day. And thank God we have all these opportunities to do so!

Such is the human condition though, isn’t it? We are so hard pressed to accept a God that asks so little of us, if you really think about it and yet gives so much. As humans, we love to get tangled up in a lot of rules that, while important, are not the foundation. Love God, love neighbor as self. Lather, rinse, repeat. Over and over and over again.

Once we do that, the rest should come a little easier. This is something I know more via faith than experience. I often don’t even get to lather, yet rinse or repeat.

Then, as always, the Gospel reveals it all;

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

How great is that- “tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near”, how great is that thought? We are constantly reminded of who Jesus associated with, but it is very hard for us to put ourselves in those places.

We are the sinners, the tax collectors, the adulterers, the lepers, the Samaritans. However, we seem to have a unique ability to act like the Pharisees. Yes, the seductive allure of rules, piety and exclusion calls to us. Yet, the real invitation comes from Jesus who is not really about those things.

In closing, I am reminded of something that Richard Rohr, OFM wrote. He says that Jesus was always saying this to the Pharisees; “Come down. Give up your power, your righteousness, your explanations.”

To the forgotten ones, the disenfranchised, Rohr reminds us that basically saying this; “Come on up. You’ve got faith! Go show yourselves to the priests. You’ve got the power.”

Which, like almost everything else that Jesus tells us, is quite the opposite of the ways of the world and the ways in which we seem to prefer to live. However, each moment, the invitation says this – “Draw near, to listen to Jesus…”

Justice, Mercy and Dinner

Today’s readings were most provocative indeed! As was Father Lanese’s homily. I am going to jump right into these topics, which I have titled Justice, Mercy and Dinner.

First stop- first reading from the First Letter of St. Paul to the Romans, 11:29-36. This reading starts out very strong with this, Brothers and sisters:

The gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.

This means that they can not be altered or changed. That is pretty powerful. Then Paul tells us basically that despite our disobedience, we have the gift of God’s mercy and that mercy must be extended forward.

Then listen to this:

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways!

That is pretty clear- basically, how can we ever claim to know the mind of God? Um, we can not. It is probably not the most fruitful use of time to ponder God’s mind too deeply other than to listen and obey.

The Responsorial Psalm, which is Psalm 69:30-36, shows the promise of God’s mercy in any circumstance. As the psalmist cries out asking for God’s love and reply, we are reminded that it is already there.

Then the Gospel, which is short and from Luke 14:12-14. I put it here in its entireity.

On a sabbath Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees. He said to the host who invited him, “When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or sisters or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

Father Lanese gives us a brief lesson in the Sabbath meal. This reminded me of friends and family, as I have many connections to observant Jews, both in my family and also friends of mine. This is an important meal. The sun has set, prayers are offered, bread and wine are blessed and offered. Now the time has come to stop all things other than attention to God for the next 24 hours.

Jesus being invited to the home of a Pharisee is a big deal really. He was more of an outsider, yet one of the main insiders invites him to dine. This always makes me curious – who was this Pharisee and why did he invite Jesus? We will never know.

Jesus then goes on to say that if you have a banquet that it is best not to invite friends and family, lest you run the risk of some repayment. He says instead to invite- and this is specific, the poor, the lame, the crippled and the blind.

Father Lanese asked us then what we would do, how we might think or feel if Jesus was at our table and said that? A provocative question indeed. He went on to ask us to ponder – would we be upset? Hurt? Annoyed?

What do you think you would say or do if Jesus were at your table and said that around your family and friends?

I for one, would have to hang my head down low, because I know I would be there with my own family, friends and so forth. It is hard to think of having a big dinner party and inviting the unwanted. And yes, I am well aware that the lame, crippled, infirm, unwanted outsider is actually me.

Yet it is clear, that each day in His great mercy and forgiveness, God invites us over and over and over to His meal. The only real barrier that prevents us from eating at His table, is the one that we erect in our own hearts. That is the only thing that stops us; it certainly is not God.

Yes, this is what happens at Mass every day… all the lame, infirm and otherwise unwanted- yes I mean all of us, gather and are fed. As we gather, we are fed and each day we are healed. It is amazing and a gift beyond imagining.

This reminded me of reading a story in the news, maybe about 10 years ago or more. A young woman had a huge wedding planned, a large scale, lavish meal at a fancy place. At the last minute, her fiance bailed out on her. She and her mother decided to have the wedding banquet and they invited all kinds of homeless people, elderly and infirm- I don’t recall the details. Can you imagine? What an act of mercy! In the midst of her pain!

At the time such a gesture shocked and delighted me. It still does. Could I do the same thing? Would I?

That is the measure of God’s love- unending, abundant, generous, over-flowing and ever present. Mercy, forgiveness, justice, dinner and grace are available to us at every turn. And turn is the word, because all that we must do is turn towards God fully.

I will close with some possibly controversial thoughts of my own. If this post or these comments resonate with you, maybe you will write your own thoughts in the comments. If for some reason you just don’t feel up to that, you can also email me at stedwardsblog@stedwardsny.org.

Here is what I truly believe. I believe that we as humans, no matter how holy any one of us might be, have no real concept of the enormity and vastness of God’s love for us. As a result, it is very hard to fully accept and live in the great promise of justice, mercy, forgiveness.

A long time ago I either read or heard this- and I think it was attributed to Thomas Aquinas, but I am not certain. He- or someone like that said that hell existed but that it was not very well populated. That really struck me- I find it hard to believe that we can’t all turn to God, even in the last moment.

If that is true, then imagine our shock and surprise when we get to Heaven and see that it is populated with despots and dictators as well as saints and angels. I think it is challenging, but I like to remind myself that all the mercy that God has given me is freely available to someone that I might perceive as evil.

So while a heaven with Hitler, Hussein, Stalin or Mussolini is a challenge to every thought, feeling and sense, what if it is true? Symbolically that is the sick, the poor, the infirm, the unwanted being invited to the banquet, isn’t it? I know, it is a shocking image indeed- yet I continue to have it come up in my thoughts and prayers.

What does reading that bring up for you? That I am crazy or wrong? I don’t know, I hope you will tell me. How else are we to cooperate with each other and God if we don’t discuss, pray and commune in Jesus’ name?

Just another thing to ponder in my heart as I walk this path, enjoying the bounty of God’s grace in my own life.

Peace unto all.

Grace Happens

“We think we must climb to a certain height of goodness before we can reach God. But He says not ‘At the end of the way you may find me;’ He says ‘I am the way; I am the road under your feet, the road that begins just as low down as you happen to be.’ If we are in a hole the Way begins in the hole. The moment we set our face in the same direction as His, we are walking with God.”
~Helen Wodehouse (1880-1964)

As I was reading something today, I came across these words from Helen Wodehouse and I was completely stopped in my tracks. What a message. My thanks and prayers to JH for sharing this with me.

How we love to think we have to “work harder” to “earn” God’s love and forgiveness. And that is just not good Catholic theology and it is just not true.

How often have you said “there but for the grace of God…” The grace of God is the road under our feet. Grace meets us, pursues us, encounters us. The problem is – for me anyway – is that I just don’t always notice.

This reminds me of Father Butler’s relentless reminders that we are already forgiven. Father Lanese says the same thing, just using slightly different language. Lucky for us they seem to not tire of saying it over and over and over again.

How then, do we appropriate what has been given so freely to us? That’s s the question. It is all easier said than done, we know that. However, the invitation to do so is always open. We just need to open our hearts to accept it as freely as it is given.

Amen to that.

Saturday Musings and Prayers

What a nice day it is today… Warm, but not too hot. Breezy. Sunny. It’s good and I am thankful.

That said, I am at odds and ends today. I, for one, will be glad to get to mass later today – I really feel like I need it. One of the reasons I love going to church (yes I do tend to feel that way) is because the idea of community is so important to me. That is also why I had asked Father Butler about starting this blog – community done another way.

It is so hard to admit this, but I must. I guess it is my “confession”. Right now I feel a bit sad and frustrated, but I know that is just part of the cycle. Knowing that does little to comfort me. There have been so many technical issues with this blog that I don’t know what to do. Despite my being here, I am no real techie… I am just a voice that wants to mingle with other voices. The technical issues dog me and I can’t quite ever get to the bottom of it. Recently I thought I had solved most of them, but I can tell that I have not. As a result, the “look” of the blog changes; even if I don’t want it to.

Warning- whiny and possibly self indulgent words ahead. Included with said words are a plea for the peace of God in my heart. And in yours as well, whoever you may be.

It is a message, a lesson that I can learn from… Don’t give up. Have faith. Live in hope. Isn’t that the point of our religion anyway? Another reason why I am here- faith and hope.

The other day I planted about 50 bulbs. Bulbs are a real symbol of following Jesus. They go down into the dark hole… ok, for the whole fall and winter, but that’s not the point. You plant, you go away and despite the cold, dark winter, spring comes and all these bright flowers appear. Bulbs are important to me for the same reason faith is.

Another thing on my mind is that the readership (hello- are you out there?) of this blog started slow, but that was ok. Then it started to build. It grew from about 5 readers a day to about 25 in recent weeks. Then the tech issues started… did we lose folks there? I don’t know. All I know is we are back down to around 5 a day.

Also I had really hoped to have some “conversation” here. I have done other blogging and it has been so easy to have online community in other areas – not physical areas, topical areas. There are so few comments and almost all of them anonymous. I respect your privacy but I wish to know you is all I can say. I always invite you in, whoever you are.

That’s when its time for me to remember that I am here to seek and build community and that sometimes comes slowly. I am not always patient. And it comes on God’s terms, not my own. I am not always so good at that part. Patience and a willing heart, are my prayer today and every day.

Another worry would be that what I am writing about just doesn’t spark. I started out doing more about the saints – but in the poll that was up, people reflected more interest in spirituality. So having done that, somehow there are less people.

While not a professional, I do a lot of writing. I don’t think I am the greatest, but I do think this is one of my gifts. As a gift- from God, I do it to glorify God. Father Butler and I spoke of that before as well. If 1 person reads this or if 100 do, it is for the glory of God. Most of the time I am totally good with that. Just not today. Since I am human and sadly more vain than I care to admit, I have that worry that I am missing the mark. Lord, heal my brokenness, please. Let me do your will in your ways.

If you listen to either Father Butler or Father Lanese (or countless others but I will note them as they are here) really they say the same thing over and over, just in different ways. Those things are hard to understand. Forgive. Love. Be loved. Be forgiven. Give. Receive. Give some more. Love some more. Forgive some more. Lather, rinse, repeat. It is like that.

Do they get frustrated I wonder? Maybe they do- I will have to ask them. Father Butler in particular preaches about forgiveness all the time at daily mass. And while we all shake our heads “yes” that we understand, even when I want to believe I do understand and live that forgiveness… I am not sure I do.

In a week I am going on a trip- my honeymoon actually. My husband and I got married at St Edwards on April 28 but we are just taking the trip now. We are going to Barcelona, Spain. When I return I am going to put out a call to more writers to contribute to this blog. That is another community builder for me.

So here I have rambled on in what is probably a most self serving way; but I have rambled on the whole time with a prayer in my heart. And mostly that prayer is to learn to surrender to do and be what God intends… Now there’s something for me to spend the rest of my days on!

We Are Children of the Light

In today’s readings we are told by St. Paul in his letter to the Thessalonians that we are children of light.

This is a great reading for many reasons, but one thing really struck me profoundly and that was this:

For God did not destine us for wrath, but to gain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live together with him. Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, as indeed you do.

For God did not destine us for wrath. How hopeful is that? How uplifting? Due to our own human condition along with what some of us may have been taught, we sometimes see God as a mean and angry authoritarian. This line proves that wrong and the subsequent verses inform us otherwise.

Jesus Christ came for us, for salvation so that we may live together with him. What a way to start the day! Then we are told:
Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, as indeed you do.

Encourage one another, build one another up! That can be tricky, but how we must stay focused on that path.

Father Lanese shared a very beautiful homily with us about his visit to his friends’ farm. The friends have a 7 year old daughter, Sarah, who seems like a true delight. Father Lanese pointed out that between her own inner light and that by living so freely in nature at the farm, this child is uniquely disposed to God.

Here another line from Thessalonians to remind us… For all of you are children of the light and children of the day.
We all are children of the light, children of the day. It may be more accessible to those who really are children. I think the message is that we must retain that childlike openness in our adult lives, in our spiritual viewpoint.

Now this kind of thinking flies in the face of what we are often called to do in contemporary society. We are told to be tough, be strong, take a stand, stand firm, stay the course. As always the message of Jesus Christ is to be open, to expand, to be vulnerable. Easy to say and hard to do.

Luckily for us we get to do it over and over and over. And with examples like the ones Father Lanese gave us of young Sarah, one’s heart opens more easily indeed!

May we all dedicate ourselves to be more open, more childlike. To have humility and wonder and awe instead of having all the answers. May we expand when we want to contract. May we know that Jesus is ever in our hearts and ever at our side.

The 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time

After attending Mass today and hearing Father Lanese preach so wisely on the words of (click here to see) this Sunday’s readings.

Father Lanese was speaking about about many things… One being how dire the readings are these weeks; they can be very challenging. He also spoke of everyone coming to the table of the Lord. And he talked about and asked what that might mean to us. It made me think of the words about Roman Catholicism, I think from James Joyce, “here comes everybody”.

It caused me to think about the challenge of the table where absolutely everyone is welcome. Essentially- the last will be first and the first may now be last… but everyone can come to the table. Yes. Everyone. Yes, a challenge indeed!

On the way home from church I was reminded of being a kid and going to a friend’s house for a Sunday dinner. I come from a smaller family. This kid had a huge family – and many generations of it. Every Sunday they would all eat at their grandmother’s house, probably about 40 people. It was crazy.

Now I had the good fortune to eat with this family a few times over the years. The older I got the more interesting it got. Crazy Aunt Enid and annoying Uncle Willard, the two older single ones. Cousin Mildred who started arguments with everyone over the smallest thing. Aunt Louise’s husband’s cousin, who used to join them more often than not. He drove everyone mad with his anti-war talk (think Vietnam era). My friend’s father – who was just actually a very testy man now that I look back at it.

Anyway, what was most interesting about this popping into my head today was that as I recall it, my friend’s grandmother seemed to treat each guest with the same amount of respect and love. Whether you were part of the wacky family or a visitor like me, we were all welcome and fed and loved at that table. It was a journey for the senses between the food, the talk, the arguments and discussions.

And if we are honest – aren’t all of our tables that way? Who is on our nerves, who do we like best and how that may fluctuate from week to week.

Well anyway, it occurred to me that this was a bit of a metaphor for today’s Gospel, and the table to which we are all invited to by Jesus. I mean look at the Apostles- they were all over the place too; often more concerned with being first than anything else!

Which then led to thoughts of how easy it is to judge who we will see in the Kingdom and at that great and holy table.

Somehow I have a feeling we will all be surprised. Possibly very surprised. And gratefully so, as God’s heart, love and vision are so much greater than our own. Now if only we could emulate that just a little bit better here. I know that is what I try – and often fail, to do. Given the daily journey, I simply keep at it. Maybe we should have a meal together…