Friday, September 8, 2017

Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

(1 Micah 5:1-4a or Romans 8:28-30; Matthew 1:1-16.18-23)

Today’s celebration of the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary underscores an important principle of faith.  Each of us is born for a purpose.  We share with Mary the vocation to know, love, and serve God.  But also like Mary, each of us has a singular call in life.  Hers was to be the mother of the Savior.  Ours is something else.

We should think of our vocation as dynamic.  We are to discern God’s call through our imagination, experience, and abilities as well as prayer.  What is more, we will usually find that it is a complex calling.  We are likely to be a salesman–father or a teacher-mother.  In my case, I am a priest-teacher.   Again, we have to find our purpose by probing and seeing, questioning and listening, asking and thinking.  

It’s important as well that once we decide on our purpose, we stick to it.  If we discern a vocation to be a nurse, then we are to take the appropriate classes and do the necessary study.  Although there may be the possibility of a change of careers, some determinations we make are permanent.  Those who see themselves as married should realize that this vocation lasts until death.  So as always we need to make the best discernments possible.

Thursday, September 7, 2017

Thursday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

(I Corinthians 3:18-23; Luke 5:1-11)

A witness in the process of canonization of St. Dominic, the founder of the Order of Preachers, testified that the saint never became agitated or angry.  Even on arduous journeys, Paul of Venice said, Dominic “was always happy in tribulations and patient in adversities.”  This note regarding another saint may help us appreciate the holiness of Simon Peter in the gospel today.

Simon must feel tired and frustrated as he returns from a long night of fishing without catching anything.  We might think of the writer who spends hours before her computer before realizing that she has typed nothing worth saving.  Or Simon now may be compared to the farmer who comes home to find his garden completely ruined by raccoons.  Simon may want to swear and certainly needs to rest before considering his next outing.  When Jesus at that moment tells him to put out to sea and lower the nets again, he may want to explode saying, “What do you know about fishing?”  But instead Simon tells the Lord calmly what took place during the night and does as Jesus commands.  The result is a catch so stupendous that Simon does not think twice about changing his life’s course to follow Jesus.

Where Jesus is leading us is demonstrated in today’s first reading.  Paul or one of his disciples writes that followers of Christ exhibit endurance, patience, joy, and thanksgiving. With practice we can develop these virtues.  They will bring much fruit – not only peace to us but even more followers to Christ. 

Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Wednesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

(Colossians 1: 1-8; Luke 4:38-44)

People speak of the “power of prayer” as if it can tumble mountains.  But prayer has never seemed to be explosive energy as much as an integrative force.   It brings order and peace to the person by acknowledging God as Father whose love overcomes all evil.  Jesus seems aware of this benefit of prayer in today’s gospel.

In Mark’s gospel Jesus is pictured as praying by himself only twice – once on the side of a mountain and then in Gethsemane.  In Luke’s gospel, which we will read almost daily from now until December, Jesus is continually going off to pray.  In the passage read today he gets up early to pray alone in a quiet place.  It is as if he daily renews his relationship with the Father by prayer.

Praying in the early morning behooves all of us.  At five or six in the morning we will not likely be distracted or interrupted.  We can use this time to order our day by asking the Spirit to guide us in fulfilling our various responsibilities.  And no matter whatever happens to us that day we know that we already done what is crucial – showing our love for God.

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Tuesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

(I Thessalonians 5:1-6.9-11; Luke 4:31-37)

Every once in a while the work of Nostradamus, a sixteenth century French writer, is dusted off to make a prediction of the end of the world.  The supposed seer wrote a thousand verses of poetry that are interpreted, most always after the fact, to have accurately predicted the future. But little if any of his work can be read as precisely saying what or when future events will occur.  In the first reading today St. Paul tells his readers to dismiss foretelling such as Nostradamus’s of the imminent end of the world.

Paul echoes Jesus in saying that the end will come like a “thief at night.”  His readers are to stand ready at all times to greet the Lord when he arrives to claim his own.  Paul evidently believes that the end will come sooner rather than later, but this is not his point.  Rather, he wants the Thessalonians to not make special preparation for that end.  They are to stand for the end semper fi by living as “children of the light.”  This means that he wants the Thessalonians to be a showcase of charity and peace.

We do not know when the world will end.  There is a prediction now that a meteor is closing in on the earth and will cause its demise.  Scientists say that in a few hundred millions of years the sun will run out of fuel, expand, and engulf the earth in flames.  There are other, more tragic scenarios.  Humans have the capacity to end life on earth with nuclear weapons.  We are wise to stay prepared as Paul tells us.  There is no need to live in perpetual fear, but there is real reason to practice charity and peace.

Monday, September 4, 2017

Monday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time (Labor Day, U.S.A.)

(I Thessalonians 4:13-18; Luke 4:16-30)

There was a woman at the office where I worked that responded in a striking way when I asked her how she was.  She said that she was thankful to have a job.  She may have meant two things by this response: that she had strength to work and that she had employment.  Today, Labor Day in the United States, is more a day off, the last of the summer holidays. It is a time to give praise and thanks for the work that we are doing. Jesus underscores this point in today's gospel.

When Jesus proclaims "glad tidings to the poor," he does not mean the destitute or the unemployed so much as the majority of workers.  In his time and still today in many parts of the world laborers have difficulty meeting family needs. Jesus is telling them that they no longer have to worry.  Their salvation is at hand.  The reign of God has come to see after for their welfare.

Work, of course, produces much more than money to put food on the table. Just as important, it gives us an opportunity to participate in divine creation. This may be readily seen in the efforts of builders, scientists, and artists, but it is true of all who labor. By cooking, selling, cleaning, and preaching, we make the world a better place.  By these activities we assist others live full and gracious lives.