"Do we need to apply this principle, Lord, or have we checked that faith box already?" - Sunday's reading reflection

"putting into effect with one accord the divine institution."

Peter asks Jesus a question in the Gospel. “Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone?” It is a very revealing question that was not unique to Peter. It is a question disciples of Jesus have asked through the millennia.  The question reveals a level of confusion and ignorance.  One cannot be held culpable for those realities.  But it also reveals an attitude that is based upon comparison.  In Peter's mind, there was a "they" and "us".  This is where disciples of Christ, Jews, Muslims, even atheists get into trouble.  They assume there is a "they" and "us".  And when we assume there is a difference, there is soon to follow comparison.  And with comparison, usually a "we are better" is born from faith and belief in the religion in which one is raised or converted.  "They" compared to "us".  “Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone?”

Jesus' response to Peter, interpreted by early Church in the Gospel, who basically a one word answer- everyone.  

Yet we're so quick to compare our faith against the faith, or lack of faith, of others.  Peter's questions seem to say, "Do we need to apply this principle, Lord, or have we checked that faith box already?"  There is a poverty in his faith at this point.  And there is certainly a famine of truth faith in our culture. Rather, it is a feast of fast-food faith focused on the externals.  

But our second reading tells us "Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen." True faith isn't about externals and things and actions that can be seen.  It's the exact opposite -"evidence of things not seen."  Jesus makes that clear at the beginning of the Gospel when he says, "Sell your belongings and give alms. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven." You can't see the treasure in heaven but you can have hope in it.  That is faith.  It doesn't have anything to do with "they" or "us".  It has to do with "me".  

Today when I hear the Gospel, I hear what Jesus says to "me".  “Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom."  Since he has given me the kingdom today, and today is all I have for sure, and my faith is in what is not seen, then as his child, how am "I" going to "be" in his kingdom today.  Anything else I do with that is external.  It is to be seen.  And Jesus has stern words for the Pharisees, Sadducees and scribes who did things to be seen. 

In "me" there is no need for "they" compared to "us".  Though there is one Way to heaven through Jesus Christ, there are many roads that lead along that way.  But don't worry about all those roads that other people are on.  If you're going to worry, worry about yourself.  Anyone who can read between the lines can see that that is exactly what Jesus was telling Peter in answer to his question.  "Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward whom the master will put in charge of his servants to distribute the food allowance at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing so. Truly, I say to you, the master will put the servant in charge of all his property."  

As he says more expressly after the Resurrection, "If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? [You] Follow me!" so he says now to Peter and to each of us.  We are not to worry about "they" or "us".  If we are to live life as God designed, "putting into effect with one accord the divine institution" as our first reading said, and "all who believed were of one accord and had all things in common; and they sold their possessions and goods and distributed them to all, as any had need," as the Acts of the Apostles says, then we are to be one in faith, hope and love with everyone.  

If each of us worries about himself, and we all do so in one accord, just imagine how easy it would be to live in the kingdom that the Father has already given us.

Pope's surprise visit to Vatican power plant moves workers

According to Zenit, Pope Francis arrived unannounced to the Vatican power plant where he greeted workers.  The surprise was something that deeply moved the workers.  One remarked that in then years of working there, never once had he seen this happen.  Read more by clicking here.

Carry your present cross - Tomorrow's reading reflection

"Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me."

A man must take up his own cross.  Not another's cross.  Not the cross he thinks is his.  Not the cross he wants to be his.  Not the cross that he carried in the past.  Not the cross he thinks he may have to carry in the future.  The only true cross to carry is the cross before him, right now.  The present moment is all we have.  Therefore the cross with which I am faced in this present moment is my cross to leave, to drag or to pick up and carry.  And once I'm carrying my cross of the present moment, I am to follow Jesus, not go off in my own direction, self-righteously, just because I chose to carry it. Taking it up is one thing.  Carrying it is another.  And carrying it in the footsteps of Jesus is the final thing.

When it rains, it pours - Tomorrow's reading reflection

Do you get to that place ever so often when you think to yourself, "Can anything else go wrong?"  It may have crossed Moses and Aaron's minds. Their beloved sister, Miriam, dies.  And in the desert of Zin, not in the promised land, they bury her.  Many know the sadness and grief at the loss of a loved one.  To have to bury that loved one away from home, in a place hard to visit, brings yet another layer of grief.  Undocumented immigrants know it well.

Imagine, then, how terrible it would feel, as a leader, to be grieving the death of your sister and have to then deal with this:

As the community had no water,

they held a council against Moses and Aaron. 

The people contended with Moses, exclaiming,

“Would that we too had perished with our kinsmen in the LORD’s presence!

Why have you brought the LORD’s assembly into this desert

where we and our livestock are dying?

Why did you lead us out of Egypt,

only to bring us to this wretched place

which has neither grain nor figs nor vines nor pomegranates?

Here there is not even water to drink!”

It seems there was little compassion for the holy brothers.  Many of us at times feel like in our grief, no one understands us or has any compassion for us.  And so what do we do in moments like these?  Exactly what Moses and Aaron did.  

"But Moses and Aaron went away from the assembly to the entrance of the meeting tent, where they fell prostrate."  In the meeting tent was the presence of the Lord, and it was to him they went.  We do well to do the same.  There may be no quick answers.  The answers may not be the ones we want to hear.  But when all seems lost and people seem downright disrespectful and mean, there is only One to whom we should go. 

He said to them, 

“But who do you say that I am?”

Simon Peter said in reply,

“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you..."

Tekton Ministries launches WYD 2016 Pinterest Board

Tekton Ministries, anticipating huge crowds to World Youth Day 2016 in Kraków, Poland, launched a new Pinterest board dedicated to photos and videos of the first WYD to be held in Poland since the death of Blessed John Paul II.  Check it out by click here! 

(http://pinterest.com/tekton1/world-youth-day-2016-krak%C3%B2w-poland/)

Here's to you, Mr. Gower - Tomorrow's reading reflection

“It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.”  She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.”

Do you remember Mr. Gower, the druggist from the famous movie, "It's a Wonderful Life"?  During the time when George Bailey is seeing what life would have been like without him, there is a scene when Mr. Gower, suffering from alcoholism, stumbles into Martini's Bar (no longer Martini's) looking for handouts.  At George's shock and amazement, Mr. Gower, homeless and in rags, takes abusive treatment from the bartender and others present.  After being sprayed multiple times in the face with carbonated water, he laughs pathetically and continues to take abuse, hoping to finally receive the handout.

That is the image that comes to mind as I read the Gospel for today.  Call it what you will, a test, a trial of the woman's faith.  Either way, however, Jesus' words are insulting, objectively speaking.  He calls her a dog and refers to her people, non-Jews, as dogs.  "It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs."  The word was an insult the Jews used to describe the Gentile, non-believers who they believed were dishonorable pagans.

Jesus knew what he was doing but nobody else did.  Imagine hearing these words from a man who had seemed so caring toward others.  What must they have thought?!?  (Jesus, of course, then compliments the woman on her faith and performs the miracle, thanks to her intercession.)  But here's the  point...

How desperate must that woman have been? 

Mr. Gower, having accidentally killed someone, had been imprisoned and after being released, had dropped to such a bottom that he, who was a known and respected druggist was left homeless and destitute, spending the rest of his life willingly be mistreated and abused just for a handout.  So ,too, the woman.  She was so desperate due to the condition of her daughter that she was willing, not only to be verbally and emotionally abused, but was also to agree with and cooperate with the abuse- if it meant she could convince Jesus to heal her daughter.  

This is NOT to say women, nor anyone, should put up with abuse of any kind. Hear me.  But it is to try to identify with how desperate this woman was. Only when we are that desperate do we sacrifice our reputation and the image others have of us to simply try to survive.  

That is a place of true pain.  And as Jesus and the woman show us, it is a place of true and real redemption.

Here's to you, Mr. Gower.

WYD '16, Kraków

Transfiguration teaches us to shut up - Tomorrow's reading reflection

Church of the Transfiguration,
Mt. Tabor

"But he did not know what he was saying."  

The Transfiguration of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is an invitation to realize many things, but as the Gospel tells us directly, it is an invitation to one thing in particular.  The Transfiguration is an invitation to: Shut.up.  

In typical Petrine fashion, Peter had something to say.  He was both blessed and cursed with boldness.  The Gospel tells us that though he spoke during this miraculous event, "he did not know what he was saying." Often times, we bold Catholics can make the same mistake.  We think we have to say something.  And so we do.  But in reality, before the Mystery who is God, we and others soon realize that we do not know what we are saying.

Our goal, then, is not to follow the Peter who spoke without knowing what he was saying.  It is to follow the Peter who shut up.  We read that after hearing the voice from heaven, "They fell silent."  We bold Catholics, at the right times, would do well to follow their examples.  When God is speaking and acting, revealing his glorious self... Shut. Up.

Mt. Tabor

WYD 2016 Krakow launches website

It's never too early to start planning. And with the speed of information these days, it's never too early to start a webpage for an upcoming event, especially when you invite the youth, oh, of the whole world to attend.  That's just what the Catholic Church in Krakow has done.  Here is a link to the 2016 World Youth Day event page. Click here.