Sunday, January 26, 2014

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

We love division. God creates us as a single family. We split up into tribes. Jesus comes to reunite us. We split up into more tribes. Is this just about jockeying for power and control? Or do our rivalries stem from deeper longings? Our plethora of tribes do have a sort of "look at me" quality about them, don't they? Well, guess what, it is time for us to get over our fear of being lost in the crowd. God is tired of our divisions. They do not want more churches or sects. No, they want their children to start acting like the family that they are. For that family is our light and our salvation.

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

I too have "waited, waited for the LORD." I wonder how John felt, day after day, waiting for the one he did not know. Or Paul, waiting for word that his letters had found "ears open to obedience". Did Isaiah know that God would wait generations before fulfilling the song they had placed in his mouth? Did he care? The servant works on the master's timeline, not her own. So we wait. Because that is our delight, however frustrating it may be. "Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will."

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Feast of the Baptism of the Lord

Why would Jesus need to be baptized? Because our Parent comes to us on our terms, speaking our language and fulfilling our rituals. But why? Could it be that our Brother is not the only one whom they desire to grasp by the hand? Open your eyes! Stop living in darkness! God has something to say to the whole world and it is all about you: "This is my beloved Child, with whom I am well pleased."

Sunday, January 5, 2014

Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord

To whom do you go and pay homage? And before whom do you prostrate yourself? Who would ever choose the anonymous child of a nobody over someone from the multitude of wealthy and powerful persons clamoring for our obeisance? And so in our cluelessness about grace, we will castigate the Herod of history, while gleefully adoring the Herods of today. Is it really a big surprise then that we continue to live in Herod's kingdom rather than the one belonging to that newborn?