33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B - November 17, 2024

 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time – B 

November 17, 2024

Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton  

 

An Experience of Dying 

 

Several years ago, I read an article about a woman named Jane who tells about her experience of dying.

 

Jane had a serious heart attack. She states that she experienced her spirit rising out of her body and passing upward.

 

Eventually, Jane stood before what she describes as a Being of Pure Light. She heard this Being of Pure Light telling her that it was not yet her time.

 

Jane had to return to earth, and she did just that. She states that this experience has transformed her.

 

She now has no fear of death. Her faith in the Almighty God is unshakeable.

 

The End Times

 

As we listen to Jane’s experience, we might ask: what will our end or end time be like?  

 

The Scripture readings today portray the end times with graphic and even scary imagery. The prophet Daniel in the first reading says, “That time… shall be a time unsurpassed in distress.”  

 

In the gospel, Jesus says, “In those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky.” These were standard images thousands of years ago.  

 

Today, most Scripture experts say that these images are not to be taken literally. Instead, they are intended to be more symbolic. 

 

But still, underneath them, there lies a message. I think the main message is two words: Look ahead.

 

Look Ahead 

 

Whether or not we think about dying, our life on earth will someday pass away. 

 

Jesus today uses a seasonal image when he says, “When the branches of the fig tree sprout leaves, you know that summer is near. In the same way, when you see these things, know that [the Lord] is near.”

 

Jesus’ idea is that even the natural seasons of the year are a good reminder. This season, the fall, reminds us that winter is coming – a time of dying and letting go in the world of nature.

 

Jesus’ point is that this world is not our lasting home. When we stand before the Lord, our credit cards, clothes, and cars will not matter.  

 

What will matter are the eternal things we have accumulated – the faith in the core of our being and the love in the depths of our heart. So, the scary images of these readings remind us to look ahead with a long-term vision of life.    

 

Ignatius of Loyola 

 

Saint Ignatius of Loyola who lived in the 1500s taught us something about how to look ahead. 

 

One of the things Ignatius is most known for is his teaching about discernment. Now, discernment is trying to prayerfully decide what I should do or what God wants me to do right now.

 

Discernment means that we try to make a decision with God’s help. When these decisions are important but unclear, Ignatius proposes this method.

 

He advises that we look ahead to the moment of our dying. Look ahead to the moment when we will meet God face to face.

 

And then ask ourselves: what do I think I will want at that moment to have decided on this issue today? The issue might be something like forgiving or asking for forgiveness about some big hurt.

 

Or it could be a decision about the direction of our life – maybe about a marriage or relocating our family. When it just isn’t clear and we cannot decide, look ahead and take the long-range perspective. 

 

At the moment when I will die and meet the Lord, what will I wish I had done right now? Ignatius’ teaching has been tested by time as valuable for making good, holy decisions in the present.

 

Conclusion

 

Looking ahead in this way will help us to become the kind of person God calls us to be.

 

It will help us to do the kind of things that Jesus calls us to do. It will help us, to use the words of today’s gospel, to be ready because we  

“do not know the day or the hour.”

 

 

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B - November 10, 2024

 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time – B 

November 10, 2024

Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton 

 

Trust Walk 

 

Have you ever heard of a trust walk?

 

This is sometimes part of a retreat especially for our teens. What happens in a trust walk is that the teens are paired off. 

 

In each pair, one of them is blindfolded and the other is the leader. The leader leads the blindfolded partner maybe through the aisles and rows of seats in a church or outside around a property or something like that. 

 

The challenge is for the leader to guide the other teen only by words and not by physical touch. And, of course, the challenge is to get the person being led to go through the entire walking course without bumping into anything and definitely without getting hurt. 

 

The challenge for the one being led is to trust. They need to trust that the leader is guiding them well and won’t let anything bad happen.

 

For teens especially, this is usually a fun activity and a good learning experience.

 

Scripture and Trust

 

I am recalling the Trust Walk because of one of the themes in today’s Scripture readings.

 

In the first reading, a widow gives something to eat to the Prophet Elijah. She does this even though she has practically nothing left for herself and her son. 

 

In the gospel, another widowed woman puts two coins into the Temple treasury. Jesus remarks that she “contributed all that she had.”

 

The underlying point in both of these stories is trust. Both of these women trusted in God and then acted out of that trust.

 

Our Trust 

 

The dictionary defines trust as relying on the character, strength, ability, or truth of someone. 

 

Trust is part of our faith. We are to trust that God is with us with his love and forgiveness regardless of what we have done. 

 

We are to trust that God is with us no matter what is happening to us, like sickness or anxiety or grief. This trust does not mean that we believe that things will quickly be easy or comfortable. 

 

But it does mean that we believe that God is always here with us and caring for us. It means that we believe that in some way good can come from evil and life can come from suffering and even from death. 

 

One Recommendation: Commend

 

I want to offer one simple recommendation.

 

In the official Night Prayer of our Church, there is this one-sentence prayer: “Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit.”   

 

“Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit.” It is a prayer of trust.

 

We commend or entrust ourselves to God. I recommend that we make this our Night Prayer or at least part of our night prayer. 

 

Maybe even make it a prayer at the beginning of the day. It is a prayer of trust: “Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit.”     

31st Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B - November 3, 2024

 31st Sunday of Ordinary Time – B 

November 3, 2024  8:30am

Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton 

The Escalator

 

Some years ago, a woman named Margery Guest, Margery Guest, wrote an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

 

She tells of an experience shopping in a Philadelphia department store. Mrs. Guest had just boarded the “down” escalator.

 

As she began moving down, she noticed a woman to her right standing at the escalator railing up on the floor she had just left. This elderly woman looked afraid, and Mrs. Guest called out, “Do you need some help?”

 

The woman said softly, “I’m afraid.” Margery Guest responded, “Want me to come back up and get you?”

 

The distressed woman nodded “Yes!” Mrs. Guest returned by the “up” escalator and took the older woman by the arm. 

 

As they began to step onto the “down” escalator, the woman said, “I don’t think I can do it.” Margery Guest reassured her: “I know we can do it. I can hold on to you.”

 

Together, arm in arm, they stepped onto the escalator and made their way to the bottom. “I am so grateful” the woman began.

 

“It was nothing,” Mrs. Guest replied, “I was happy to do it.” And, as Margery Guest writes in her article, “happy” is the right word.

 

She writes: “Sometimes I feel like I do very little to help others. When I helped this woman, I felt pure and whole, purposeful and happier than I had in weeks.”

 

The Commandments of Love

 

That article helps us to appreciate the impact of Jesus’ teaching today.

 

It is in the love and kindness that we extend to one another that we most resemble God. We become what we were created to be in the first place. 

 

This is why when we live out of this love for others, we are most in touch with God and with ourselves at the same time. That was the experience of Margery Guest when she says that she felt whole and pure, purposeful and happy when helping that elderly woman. 

 

A Closing Saying 

 

A lot more could be said about Jesus’ two great commandments, but I will stop with this.

 

I came across a brief saying which, I think, summarizes the point in the article that I have quoted. The saying is by an unknown author, and it is simply this:

 

“I sought my soul, but my soul I could not see.

I sought my God, but my God eluded me.

I sought my neighbor, and I found all three.”

 

There is a lot of wisdom here and it unlocks at least some of the meaning of Jesus’ commandments of love. So, I leave that with you:

 

“I sought my soul, but my soul I could not see.

I sought my God, but my God eluded me.

I sought my neighbor, and I found all three.”