How did she get in?!? - Sunday's reading reflection

A Pharisee invited Jesus to dine with him,

and he entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at table.

Now there was a sinful woman in the city

who learned that he was at table in the house of the Pharisee.

Bringing an alabaster flask of ointment,

she stood behind him at his feet weeping

and began to bathe his feet with her tears.

Let's get Ignatian for a moment.  Pick a person and put yourself in the place.  Jesus goes to Simon's house and reclines at table.  A sinful woman comes to visit him.  She stands behind him weeping at his feet.  There must be a translation issue there.  Standing, behind him, at his feet?  Maybe he was on a raised platform?  Possibly.  And so the Gospel story continues.  

One question.  How does this sinful woman gain access to Simon's house while Jesus is there?  And what a scene it must have been!  Try having a quiet dinner at your home with your priest and at the same time watch as a sinful woman makes her way into your house and your dining room, sobs behind him and then moves around front and begins to wash his feet with her tears.  What is going on?!?

Mercy.  Forgiveness.  Love.

It's not exactly the same in the first reading, but close.  King David, the anointed one, commits the following sins:

sloth-check

pride-check

lust-check

fornication-check

adultery-check

deceit-check

anger-check

covetousness-check

murder-check

stealing (wife)-check

He repents.  

"I have sinned against the LORD.”
Nathan answered David:

“The LORD on his part has forgiven your sin:

you shall not die."

Mercy.  Forgiveness.  Love.

Priests and parishioners alike, we get busy about doing the works of the law just like Simon the Pharisee.  And because we earthen vessels are busy bees in our bubble doing the works of the law, eventually we begin to judge, withhold mercy, withhold forgiveness, and fail to love.  

What does St. Paul say though?  "We who know that a person is not justified by works of the law..."  The sinful woman wasn't justified because she was doing works of the law.  In fact, it was the opposite.  She wasn't doing works of the law.  But, she was justified for her faith in Christ and the love and service she offered him purely out of gratitude and repentance.  

Not a bad thing to remember this Father's Day, Fathers & fathers.

I acknowledged my sin to you,

my guilt I covered not.

I said, “I confess my faults to the LORD,”

and you took away the guilt of my sin.

Thank you, Heavenly Father, for your unending mercy, forgiveness and love.

*****************

Happy Father's Day to all our Fathers & fathers! - Tekton Ministries

Papa Chatterbox, i.e.Pope Francis

I'm not the only one, obviously, who realizes Pope Francis likes to talk... a lot. This, from Whispers in the Loggia:  

Three months ago today, Jorge Bergoglio was elected to Peter's chair... and while the first American Pope took the name Francis, as they tend to do, the natives have come to add their own moniker: Papa Chicacchierone – that is, "Pope Chatterbox."

I love it.  God bless our Holy Chatterbox.  We're all ears.

Tribute to priests - Tomorrow's reading reflection

To you will I offer sacrifice of thanksgiving,

and I will call upon the name of the LORD.

My vows to the LORD I will pay

in the presence of all his people. 

What a beautiful verse from the Psalms today when we think of all of our priests at this special time of year. We have priests who are newly ordained and still showering upon the faithful their first priestly blessings.  We have priests celebrating anniversaries, having long since imparted their first blessings after giving tens of thousands of blessings.  Truly, as St. Paul says in the first reading, "Everything indeed is for you, so that the grace bestowed in abundance on more and more people may cause the thanksgiving to overflow for the glory of God."  And that grace is bestowed sacramentally upon us by our priests.

There is in the first reading, however, a humble reminder from St. Paul that all of us "hold this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us."  This is especially true for our priests.  Though ministers of grace, they are earthen vessels.  Earthen vessels are prone to crack, shatter, stain, grow moldy and may or may not last long depending on how much they are used and how they are treated by those who handle them.

As we celebrate our priests, new, old and in-between, let us pray hard for them; let us remember they are not perfect, nor should we expect them to be by making idols of them and asking them to do the impossible.  Let us realize that sooner or later an earthen vessel will chip, crack or otherwise show signs of use.  And when they do, let us be gentle with them and make possible the opportunity for them to be restored, reinforced and strengthened.

Congratulations and God's blessings to all of our priests, Tekton Ministries.

St. Anthony of Padua Memorial - Tomorrow's reading reflection

Before St. Anthony, first the Gospel.  It is as it should be for St. Anthony himself was a preacher who lived the Gospel so faithfully that he was made a saint within a year of having died.

Jesus addresses anger in his famous teaching which includes name-calling, reconciliation, forgiveness, sacrifice and punishment.  For example, he says, "You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.  But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment."  

Now to St. Anthony.  Yeah, he's the one famous for helping people find lost objects- especially when you offer your prayer for lost souls and the souls in purgatory.  That comes to us from  Friar Julian of Spires who said, "Si quaeris miracula . . . resque perditas." (If you want a miracle...[pray for] the welfare of lost souls.)  But not only is he famous for helping us find our keys and wallets, but he's even more famous for his preaching abilities.  St. Bonaventure, upon opening his tomb, found his entire body has turned to ashes except for his tongue, which was perfectly incorrupt.  (All of this information comes from newadvent.com)

More importantly for today's Gospel, however, and the life of St. Anthony, is what he preached during his last Lent before death.  Here I will relay New Advent once again:

"The last Lent he preached was that of 1231; the crowd of people which came from all parts to hear him, frequently numbered 30,000 and more. His last sermons were principally directed against hatred and enmity, and his efforts were crowned with wonderful success. Permanent reconciliations were effected, peace and concord re-established, liberty given to debtors and other prisoners, restitutions made, and enormous scandals repaired; in fact, the priests of Padua were no longer sufficient for the number of penitents...."

Let's pray that St. Anthony helps us to lose our anger toward others and find reconciliation with everyone. 

Both/And - Tomorrow's reading reflection

There are those who follow the letter of the law but fail to live the spirit of the law.  There are those who proclaim that they live the spirit of the law but can't be bothered with the letter of the law.  Then there are those who are just trying the best they can to follow both the letter and the spirit of the law.  I want to be their friends.

In the Gospel for today Jesus says, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.
I have come not to abolish but to fulfill."  In the first reading St. Paul says that they have become ministers, "not of letter but of spirit; for the letter brings death, but the Spirit gives life."  

A black and white way of thinking will leave one saying, either the law or the spirit.  But Jesus and St. Paul are not in a black and white way of thinking.  In wisdom they see in color realizing the "both/and" reality.  We are to live according to the law as best we can, for we are not perfect at the agape thing called love; and we are to live according to the spirit because, as earthen vessels, only following the law begins to lead us to look constantly inward and judge ourselves according to the law rather than looking outward and living the law in love and service to those Christ places before us.

Will you try to do both/and today?  Will you try to live both the law and the spirit?

St. Barnabas and Pope Francis - Tomorrow's reading reflection

Tomorrow the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Barnabas, Apostle.  St. Luke writes of him in Acts, "for he was a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and faith."  In the Gospel, Jesus says to his disciples, "You are the salt of the earth." From this we get the modern saying, "He/she is the salt of the earth," meaning they're a good person, filled with faith and God's presence."  

When I think of a major public figure that fits this description, who happens to be an Apostle as well, I think of Pope Francis.  Few could argue he is a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and faith. Not only that but like the Gospel, Pope Francis, in some very unconventional ways, is letting his light "shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father."  

Back to salt.  It's a preservative right?  When meat is not preserved, what happens to it?  It becomes rank, polluted, corrupted.  Pope Francis has spoken frequently since being elected about the corruption of "spiritual worldliness"- about when disciples and apostles alike lose their taste and are "no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot."  In other words, when we become less like St. Barnabas and more like Judas (both Apostles mind you) we not only become rank and polluted but we risk corrupting others who may "eat of us" through their interactions with us.  

None of us is Jesus.  Nor do we have to be Judas.  Via media- Let's try to be like Pope Francis and St. Barnabas.

Thank you, Pope Francis, for being like St. Barnabas- "salt of the earth" and "light of the world."