Ash Wednesday

Joel 2:12-18

I am going to be taking a break from blogging this Lent. I have posted a bit more detail about this at the "Family of the One" blog, but suffice it to say that this choice is my way of returning to God with my whole heart. I will resume writing on Easter Sunday. Have a most delightful Lent!

Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Psalms 62:2-9; Matthew 6:24-34

Today brings more truth that we do not want to hear. Last week, Jesus told us to love our enemies. Now, he says we must choose between God and wealth. And he wants us to be more like birds and wildflowers. Go ahead, let yourself sputter about such notions being impractical and imprudent. Get it out of your system. And then ask yourself, has trusting in mammon brought rest to my soul?

Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

Leviticus 19:1-2,17-18; Psalms 103:1-13; 1 Corinthians 3:16-23; Matthew 5:38-48

"For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the eyes of God." And what is that wisdom? The only good enemy is a dead enemy? Violence solves problems? Might makes right? How many of us will listen to today's Gospel and then declare, if only in our hearts, that it is Jesus who is the foolish one? Love our enemies? Show them kindness and mercy? We scoff at such notions on a daily basis. But what if Jesus is not alone in challenging our conventional wisdom? Just this month, former California congressman Pete McCloskey, a war hero if ever there was one, finally fulfilled a fifty year old desire to "salute, shake hands and embrace one of those kids" whom he fought against during the Korean War. And the result of this encounter? "We ended up friends." Foolishness indeed.

Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sirach 15:15-20; Psalms 119:1-34; 1 Corinthians 2:6-10; Matthew 5:17-37

God knows the depths of our hearts and souls. They see the games we play, especially our quests to find loopholes that will enable us to fulfill our whims without the hangover of a guilty conscience. So they sent our Brother to call BS on our foolishness. He tells us to open our eyes and be honest with ourselves. We know when we do our family wrong. And we know that our lawyerly minimizations cannot remove the sting. So let us stop acting like spoiled brats. God is not trying to harsh our fun. They simply want us to treat our family like family. Or is that a wisdom beyond our age?

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Isaiah 58:7-10; Psalms 112:4-9; 1 Corinthians 2:1-5; Matthew 5:13-16

We are called to be salt and light, and to do good deeds. But too many of us approach these tasks as if they were a mandate to fix the world. Those efforts always fail, however, because it is not our ingenuity that is being tested. No, we are invited to be and do these things so that we might awaken ourselves and our siblings to the glorious Presence swirling in our midst. And if we trust in the grace they shower upon us, the darkness and gloom in which we dwell shall be lifted. Alleluia!

Feast of the Presentation of the Lord

Malachi 3:1-4; Psalms 24:7-10; Luke 2:22-40

What if God stood before you today? How would you respond? Could you respond? It is no wonder that so many of us believe in an impersonal divinity. All cosmic forces and metaphors and such. God is easy in the abstract. Something comforting and affirming, but nothing that would ever stand in our way. Or so our wishful thinking goes. But all fantasies must come to end. At some point in our lives, each of us will suddenly come face to face with our maker. And we will know that we come from a whom, not a what. In that moment, we will know the refining and purifying love of our Parent. And we will weep with joy, and sing: Who is this king of glory before me? It is my Lord!

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Isaiah 8:23-9:3; Psalms 27:1-14; 1 Corinthians 1:10-17; Matthew 4:12-23

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.

Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Isaiah 49:3-6; Psalms 40:2-10; 1 Corinthians 1:1-3; John 1:29-34

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."

Feast of the Baptism of the Lord

Isaiah 42:1-7; Matthew 3:13-17

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."

Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord

Isaiah 60:1-6; Psalms 72:1-13; Matthew 2:1-12

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?