24th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C - September 11, 2022

 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time – C 

September 11, 2022, 11am   

  Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton     

 

Seeking What Is Lost

 

Several years ago, I lost a credit card.

 

I was at a gas station. When I opened my wallet to get a credit card to pay, I immediately saw that I had only one card there.

 

I have two credit cards, and the other one was missing. Well, I pumped the gas and then immediately started looking for the missing credit card.  

 

I took everything out of my wallet, and it wasn’t there. I looked in the glove compartment and under the seats of the car, and it was nowhere in sight.

 

I went back to the rectory at Saint Margaret’s where I was the pastor. I looked all through my study and my bedroom – no credit card!

 

And then, I tried to get a grip on my anxiety and panic. I asked myself: when did I last use the credit card?

 

Almost right away I realized I had used it the night before when I bought some Chinese carry-out food. So, I immediately called that restaurant and thank God, I had left the card on the counter, and they were holding it for me. 

 

Seeking Who Is Lost

 

Well, my intense focus on finding my credit card helps us to appreciate today’s gospel.

 

Jesus tells two stories: the one about a shepherd looking for one lost sheep and the other about a woman looking for one lost coin. With these two images of the shepherd and the woman, Jesus is showing us how intense God is in looking for us when we are lost.

 

God is even more intense than I was looking for my credit card! And then, with the images of the lost sheep and lost coin, Jesus shows us that we can be lost in two different ways.

 

Lost: Our Fault 

 

First, we can be lost like the one sheep.

 

We can wander off, and our being lost is our own fault. So, we can get lost when we stop coming to Mass and lose our centeredness in God.

 

We can get lost when we drift into being unfaithful to our major life commitment or vocation. This can happen in marriage or in the priesthood or in the lifework that we feel God has gifted us to do. 

 

But even though we get lost in these ways, Jesus is saying that God is still there, still loving us, and still looking for us. God is like the shepherd looking for that one lost sheep. 

 

In fact, when we are like that one lost sheep, hopefully our conscience will bother us, and we will feel guilty. These guilt feelings may be a signal that God is intensely looking for us and trying to bring us back. 

 

Also, notice in Jesus’ image that the shepherd does not scold or punish the lost sheep. Instead, he joyfully carries it back to the flock – what a good example this is for how we as persons and we as a Church are to relate to a lost sheep!

 

Lost: No Fault

 

And then we can be lost like the lost coin.

 

This means that we are lost through no fault of our own. For example, we can feel lost when we are grieving the death of a husband or wife.

 

Or we can feel lost when we are dealing with depression. When we are lost in ways like these, God is still there, loving us and wanting to be close to us, even though we may not feel it. 

 

God is like the woman looking for the one lost coin. Some of our great spiritual teachers have called these experiences dark nights of the soul.  

 

In these times, we may need to push ourselves even to pray, to pray in some small way each day. We may need to push ourselves to do the basic responsibilities of life. 

 

And we may need to push ourselves to respond to the companionship of family and friends. But, if we hang in there and give God a chance in these ways, we can be found, and we can find ourselves once again.    

    

Conclusion

 

So, a powerful lesson today: 1) about God, searching for us when we are lost, and 2) about ourselves, the ways we can be lost and how we might respond when that happens!

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C - September 4, 2022

 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time – C 

September 4, 2022, 5pm and 8:30am

Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton 

 

Is Jesus the Priority?

 

When I am about to respond to someone who has been offensive, do I first think about: what would Jesus say and how would he say it? 

 

When I become aware that I am holding a grudge and maybe not even talking to someone, do I think about: what does Jesus teach about this? When I feel drawn into a conversation that is bashing somebody, do I step back and think about: how would Jesus act here?

 

The point behind these questions is probably clear: is Jesus not just a focus in my life, but the focus? Is Jesus not just a priority, but the priority?

 

Discipleship 

 

This is the point that Jesus is hammering across in today’s gospel.

 

He is talking about discipleship – about what it means to really follow him. He is not talking about just being a Sunday Catholic or being a Christian in name only.

 

Instead, Jesus is talking about our fully embracing his way, and he calls this discipleship. In this passage, he sees this as relating to three dimensions of life: myself, family and friends, and possessions.    

 

Regarding Myself 

 

So, Jesus says, “Whoever does not carry their own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”

 

Here Jesus is not saying that our whole life needs to be a cross – doing stuff that we don’t like. And he is not saying that self-care – taking care of ourselves by getting enough rest and some exercise and good nutrition – he is not against this.

 

Instead, Jesus is saying that if we want to be his disciple, we need to be willing at times to let go of our preferences and comforts. For example, we let go of having an easy evening at home and instead take our neighbor to Urgent Care.

 

Or we hold off on buying something for ourselves so that we can provide back-to-school necessities for our children. We need, at times, to carry our cross in ways like these to be Jesus’ disciples. 

 

Regarding Family (and Friends) 

 

And then, Jesus says: “If anyone comes to me without hating their father and mother, wife and children, brother and sister, they cannot be my disciple.”

 

This is a tough one. It sounds crazy – even inconsistent with other teachings of Jesus.

 

So, we’ve got to be careful and understand this correctly. This saying about “hating” was a Jewish idiom. 

 

It is hyperbole – an exaggeration to make a point. So here, Jesus doesn’t want us literally to hate family and friends or even turn our back on them. 

 

He’s just making a point that even with those closest to us, we are to make him the priority – to make him first. Here’s a real-life application of this that I, as a priest, have advised on. 

 

Imagine that you are a Catholic and your son or daughter or someone close to you is going to get married. They are also Catholic but are not going to get married in a Catholic ceremony.

 

Considering Jesus’ words – or a correct understanding of his words – what do you do? My guidance has usually been in the direction of having a conversation with the person – and I mean a conversation and not a monologue.

 

Respectfully, share your point of view and your hope that they would be married in a Catholic ceremony. And then listen – listen respectfully to them.

 

They may end up not changing their minds, but then just be with them, keep the relationship intact, and make sure they know of your love. This is a good response to Jesus’ entire teaching – keeping him first and yet still loving family.     

 

Regarding Possessions

 

Finally, Jesus says, “Anyone of you who does not renounce all your possessions cannot be my disciple.”

 

Well, once again, there is hyperbole, some exaggeration here to make a point. And Jesus’ point is not to give away our home and car and clothing and bank account. 

 

Instead, he wants us to realize that possessions and money are not what will bring us true happiness. He wants us to know that sharing some of what we have with others, especially with those in need, is important. 

 

This will enrich us. The freedom and willingness to share what we have will make us disciples.

 

Conclusion

 

So, 1) myself, 2) family, and 3) possessions – in all three dimensions of life, we are to make Jesus the priority if we want to be his disciple. 

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C - August 28, 2022

 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time – C 

August 28, 2022, 8:30 and 11am

Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton 

 

The Fine Art of Small Talk 

 

A woman named Debra Fine has written a book titled The Fine Art of Small Talk – The Fine Art of Small Talk.

 

She also leads seminars on this same topic. These seminars have attracted many people and often they are persons who cringe at the thought of making small talk at social gatherings.

 

One of Debra Fine’s interesting insights is this. She says that to be a good conversationalist, we need to focus our attention first on others and not on ourselves.

 

She says that a good conversationalist always lets others know that they have our undivided attention. That begins the process of a relationship.

 

Then, after others feel that we are interested in what’s going on in their lives, they will usually turn the spotlight back to us. Then we will have a chance to share something about ourselves.

 

Humility  

 

Well, without intending it, that book or seminar – The Fine Art of Small Talk – contains a significant insight into humility.

 

In today’s gospel, Jesus says: “Those who exalt themselves shall be humbled and those who humble themselves shall be exalted.” So, Jesus lifts up the virtue of humility, but the question is: what is humility?

 

Maybe the first thing is to say what humility is not. It is not pretending that we are less skilled or less intelligent than we really are.  

 

Humility does not mean that we put ourselves down and feel that we are less than others. It is not diminishing ourselves. 

 

What Humility Is 

 

So, what is humility? Humility has more to do with our center of attention.

 

It means that in our relationship with God, we recognize the greatness of the One who has created us. So, our focus first needs to be on God and not on ourselves.

 

And then, humility means that in our human relationships, we recognize that each of us is of equal value. And because the love of God calls us to take the first step in reaching out, again our focus first needs to be on the other person and not on ourselves.

 

The insight is that humility is really about the center of attention—similar to what the book and seminar say that I quoted. It means that our center of attention is first on God and others.

 

Not Easy to Do

 

Now, this is not always easy to do.

 

It is not easy for shy folks to engage with another person; 

or for chatterboxes to listen to the other person; 

or for those of us who are driven by their own personal goals to listen to the interests of another;

or for those of us who are stressed all day long to take in the stress of another.  

 

Placing our attention first on God and others takes real effort because so many factors in our human condition lead us to do just the opposite. So, let’s look at a few examples that may help us to do this.

 

Some Helpful Examples

 

Young children with their toys have a good training ground for humility.  

 

By our encouraging them to share their toys, children develop the ability to be friends. Our encouragement helps them to make others and not just themselves the center of attention.

 

A married couple or two adult friends also have opportunities for learning humility.

 

When we see one another after a hectic day, we might first be tempted to unload and dump. Instead, you might first invite your spouse or friend to share how their day has been.

 

Or even when we come here to Mass, we have an opportunity for humility.

 

We can make sure that we are first interested in what God wants to say to us rather than what we want to say to God. And we can make sure that our prayers include the needs of others. 

 

If we do things like these, if we first make God and others the center of our attention, then amazingly, we will almost always find ourselves well-tended. As paradoxical as it may seem, the words of Jesus will ring true: “Those who humble themselves will be exalted.”  

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C - August 7, 2022

 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time – C 

August 7, 2022     5pm 

Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton 

 

Trust Not Clarity 

 

Back in the early 1990s, a priest named John Kavanaugh went to Calcutta to work at Mother Teresa’s “house of the dying.”

 

Father Kavanaugh was looking for a clear answer about his future and whether to remain a priest. On his first morning at the “house of the dying,” he met Mother Teresa.

 

She asked, “What can I do for you?” He asked her to pray for him.

 

Mother Teresa then asked, “What do you want me to pray for?” Father Kavanaugh responded, “Pray that I have clarity.”

 

Mother Teresa answered, “No!” When Father Kavanaugh asked why, she said that clarity was the last thing he was holding on to, and he needed to let go of it.

 

Father Kavanaugh responded that she always seemed to have clarity. Mother Teresa laughed and said, “I have never had clarity.

 

“What I’ve always had is trust. So, I will pray that you trust.”  

 

Faith as Trust 

 

Mother Teresa’s insistence on trust is the core of faith and this is what we hear about in today’s second reading.

 

That long passage makes two points: 1) Faith is trust about what is not present but hoped for. And 2) faith is trust about what is present, but not seen.

 

1.    Trust: Not Present, but Hoped For 

 

So, first, faith is trust in what is not present, but hoped for.

 

The Letter to the Hebrews gives us Abraham as a model. Abraham and Sarah had lived in what is now Iraq, but at God’s calling, they set out for an unknown land.

 

They were also advanced in years, but they awaited the fulfillment of God’s promise of a child. So, they had trust in what was not present, but hoped for.

 

In our lives, we need this same kind of faith. At the very beginning, a child must leave the safety of the womb to be born into an unknown world.

 

At the very end, we are to let go of this life and move into a new life with God. And in between birth and death, we must leave home for the first day of school or college, or we must go from one job to another, or we must leave behind one habit or mindset and adopt another.

 

We are constantly called to have this kind of faith: this trust in what is not present, but hoped for.   

  

2.    Trust: Present, but Not Seen

 

And then, faith is trust about what is present, but not seen.

 

Faith is trust that there is a creator who is the very ground of our being; that this creator, God, is a Father who cares for us and that, in him, we always have a home to go to.

 

Faith is trust that God became human and that the distance between God and us has been bridged; that Jesus, the Son of God is with us in our joy and suffering, in our peace and upset.

 

Faith is trust that because Jesus Christ rose from the dead, life is not futile; that everything we do has meaning and value. 

 

Faith is trust that the Holy Spirit is present to us as a community of faith and in the sacraments; that all of us are members of God’s family, one family, the living body of Christ on this earth.

 

We are constantly called to have this kind of faith also: this trust in what is present but not seen.  

 

Conclusion

 

So, as Mother Teresa, Saint Teresa of Calcutta says, faith is not so much clarity as it is trust: trust about what is not present but hoped for, and trust about what is present but not seen.

 

With that understanding, we now once again offer our Profession of Faith.   

 

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C - July 24, 2022

 17^th Sunday in Ordinary Time – C 

July 24, 2022      8:30 and 11am         

Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton

 

“Lord, teach us to pray”

 

The disciples ask Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray,” and Jesus responds with a prayer – his prayer, the Lord’s Prayer.

 

We just heard the version of this in Luke’s Gospel, which is a little bit shorter than what we find in Matthew’s Gospel. Matthew’s fuller version has become the prayer that we pray, and today I want to share what may be a fresh way of appreciating this. 

 

The idea is that we can see the Lord’s Prayer as having three sections. First, the address or salutation – something like the beginning of a letter, like “Dear Father Mike.”

 

Second, the “thy” section with three phrases each containing the word “thy.” And third, the “we” section with three phrases each containing the word “we” or “our” or “us.”

 

1.    “Our Father”

 

So, first, we begin with the salutation, “Our Father, who art in heaven.”

 

To appreciate this, the words that the priest often uses to introduce it here at Mass are helpful. The priest says, “We dare to say.”

 

Well, today, we don’t find it daring or risky to say the Our Father. But it was daring when Jesus taught it.

 

The Jewish people would never address God in such a familiar way. They saw God as distant and felt it was irreverent to use any ordinary name for God.

 

So, here Jesus teaches us to speak to God as “Our Father.” He introduces us to seeing God as a close and caring parent. 

 

We still see God as greater than us, as transcendent and that’s why we say, “who art in heaven.” But we also speak to God as relational and loving – as “Our Father.”

 

2.    “Thy”

 

That takes us to the second section of the prayer – the “Thy” phrases.

 

We say, “Hallowed be thy name.” So, the name God or Father is sacred and that’s why we pray that it will be “Hallowed” – that it will be treated with reverence. 

 

This, of course, is why we should be careful how we use God’s name. Taking the name Godin vain is simply out of bounds – sinful.

 

Then, we say, “Thy kingdom come.” Here we are focusing not on what we want. 

 

Instead, we are focusing on what God wants for us. We are honoring God’s plan for us and trying to accept whatever that is. 

 

And to make this completely clear, we say, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” We presume that God’s way or will is done in heaven because that is what heaven is.

 

We pray that God’s will also permeates all that we do on earth. This is the way that God’s kingdom will come.

 

3.    “We/Our/Us”

 

And that takes us to the third section of the prayer – the “We/Our/Us” phrases.

 

We say, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Here we are entrusting our needs to God. 

 

We are not asking God for long-term needs. We are simply placing our trust in God for what we need to get through the day – whether that is food or something tough at work or dealing with a troubled relationship.   

 

Next, we say, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Here I have to note that nine times in this prayer, we use the words “we” or “our” or “us.”

 

Jesus never tells us to use the words I or mine or me. It is always in the plural, to express that we are one with all God’s people, and that really means all people.

 

So, in this phrase about forgiving us, as we in turn forgive, Jesus is reminding us that we are all human and imperfect. We all need to be forgiven, and remembering this helps us to be forgiving of others.

 

Finally, we say, “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.” Pope Francis has talked about these words.

 

He says that their real meaning is, “Do not let us fall into temptation.” His idea is that God, our loving Father, would never “lead us into temptation.”

 

The devil or ungodly tendencies in our world may lead us into temptation, but not God. So, we are really praying here, “Do not let us fall into temptation.”     

 

Conclusion

 

So, we dare to speak to God as “Our Father” – a loving parent.

 

And then we focus on God – the three “thy” phrases, and finally on ourselves in relation to God – the three “we/our/us” phrases. This understanding, I hope, will bring some freshness to the way we pray the Lord’s Prayer.

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C - July 10, 2022

15^th Sunday in Ordinary Time – C 

July 10, 2022   

Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton   5pm 

 

NODA

 

Last December, the Washington Post Magazine carried an article that I find very inspiring.

 

One night several years ago, nurse Sandra Clarke was making her rounds at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Eugene, Oregon. An elderly, frail patient made a request.

 

His organs were failing; he had a do-not-resuscitate order. He knew he was dying.

 

He asked: “Will you stay with me?” Nurse Sandra Clarke promised that she would – as soon as she finished her rounds. 

 

Ninety minutes later, after checking charts, assessing vital signs, dispensing meds, and assisting with bathroom needs for the other patients, she returned to the man’s room. But it was too late. 

 

Sandra Clarke later said: “I was angry because I was so helpless. All he wanted was companionship.”

 

That led this Oregon nurse to start an organization called No One Dies Alone – the acronym is NODA – N-O-D-A. NODA places volunteers with patients as they are dying.

 

To date, the program has saved thousands of patients from a lonely death. NODA serves patients who may not have any family, the homeless, those whose families must travel long distances, those who are estranged from their families.

 

More than fifteen hundred NODA programs are operating in hospitals and prisons worldwide. One volunteer is a man named Ken Budd in Virginia.

 

Six years ago, his mother died alone in her home of a heart attack. Ken Budd says that he still hasn’t shaken the feeling of guilt and failure.

 

He – a volunteer in NODA, No One Dies Alone – he recalls that on one evening, he enters the room of a 78-year-old woman who is dying. She may not survive the night.

 

He says quietly, “My name is Ken. I’m a volunteer, and I’m going to be staying with you a bit. It’s an honor to be here.”

 

Ken Budd writes: “I sit quietly. The dying can feel our presence, I’ve been told.

 

“That’s the mission here. To be a compassionate human being.

 

“To provide family members – in this case, the woman’s devoted daughter – with a break from their vigil. To make certain someone is here if she needs something. 

 

“To ensure that she won’t feel alone and, most important, that she won’t die alone.”

          

The Good Samaritan 

 

So, nurse Sandra Clarke, volunteer Ken Budd, and NODA – No One Dies Alone – remind us that on our life’s journey, we do not travel alone.

 

We are to be companions on this journey to God. Jesus says today: we are to be “neighbor” to one another.

 

We are called to lift up and to care for one another, and to allow ourselves to be lifted up and cared for when we stumble or fall or are in need. The work of the No One Dies Alonevolunteers is the work of a current-day Good Samaritan.

 

Like the Samaritan in today’s gospel, those in NODA mirror the love of God and the compassion of Christ in a very real, nitty-gritty way. I think the prayer is this: may we be willing to journey with one another as “neighbor” in the particular way that we may be called to do that in our own life situation.