14th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle A - July 6, 2014

14th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Cycle A

July 6, 2014   9:30 and 11am

Saint Margaret Parish, Bel Air

My Yoke

When we hear the word yolk, we probably think of the yolk of an egg – spelled y-o-l-k.

The yolk is a very tasty part of an egg.  We are also advised that it has a lot of cholesterol.

There is another kind of yoke that Jesus is talking about today and it is spelled y-o-k-e.  This kind of yoke was made of wood and it fit around the neck of oxen. 

In Jesus’ day, they used oxen instead of John Deere tractors to plough the fields.  A yoke was like a wooden collar that fit around the neck of oxen and connected them to the plough. 

Yokes had to be carefully made so that they would fit the oxen just right.  If the yokes fit well and were comfortable, the oxen could go on ploughing for hours, maybe all day long. 

But if the yokes did not fit well, they would dig into the oxen and really hurt.  They would deplete the energy of the oxen and they would be able to plough for far less time.

“My yoke is easy”

Jesus says, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

So I am thinking: how can the yoke of Jesus be easy?  Can we truly say that living the way he invites us to live is easy?

Practically speaking, is it easy to love our enemies, to turn the other cheek, and to go the extra mile?  Is it easy to forgive 70 times 7 times, to do good to those who would harm us, and to share what we have with the needy whom we do not even know?

Doesn’t Jesus make it clear that following him means taking up our cross?  So isn’t it a bit of a stretch to say that his yoke is easy?

Why Is It Easy?

Maybe the best way to evaluate how difficult or easy it is to live the way of Jesus and Christian principles is to compare this lifestyle with other lifestyles.

For example, do we really think that a dog-eat-dog approach is easier on our nerves than working together and caring for the well-being of everyone?  Are we better off emotionally by holding on to our resentment rather than forgiving?

Is war really more beneficial than negotiation and compromise?  Is it easier to fall asleep at night trusting in the stock market rather than trusting in God’s providence in our lives?

It may not be easy to live by a clear moral vision, but are we going to be more at peace living by only how we feel about this or that?  It may be difficult not to judge others, but is it easier to live in the mistrust brought on by the judgmental character of society?

It may not be easy to live with love as one’s guiding principle, but can we pretend that it is easier to live with prejudice and hatred?  It may not be easy to tell the truth about something we did, but is it really easier to live with ourselves when we don’t do that?

Conclusion

So, Jesus assures us today that his “yoke is easy” and his “burden is light.”

He is gently, but clearly calling us to try his way and his lifestyle.  And if we do, we just might find that it contributes more to our happiness in the long run and is even lighter in the short run of life.

Saturday of the 13th Week in Ordinary Time, Cycle A - July 5, 2014

Saturday of the 13^th Week in Ordinary Time

July 5, 2014                  8:30am

 

This morning I am taken by the words of the psalm, “The Lord speaks of peace to his people.”

They are warm, beautiful words.

They also say something that we need to hear today.

If we look around the world, we can develop quite a list:

civil war in Syria, Iraq descending into chaos, violence in Nigeria and Kenya, all too frequent mass shootings in our own country.

Our world needs the peace of today’s psalm.

The question is: what are we as individual persons to do?

I for sure do not have an easy or all-encompassing answer.

But I do think God invites each of us to peace on this earth.

And I think God expects us to be persons of peace in very concrete ways.

So, we pray for an end to war and violence and the injustice that usually causes that.

We seek ways to promote peace in our community and nation and world.

We try to heal broken relationships in our own lives and to use the way of understanding and kindness instead of retribution.

It is important that we maintain hope that as we cultivate peace in our personal lives, this will have an affect on the broader community and world.

It is possible that new ideas and approaches will emerge.

New paradigms for personal and international relationships are needed.

That is one way to understand the new wineskins that Jesus talks about in today’s gospel.

Old hurts and misunderstandings and approaches may need to give way to something new in this quest for peace.

In this, we need to be open to new wineskins.

So today we pray that our individual efforts at peace and peaceful relationships will have an effect beyond us and on our world.     

Wednesday of the 13th Week in Ordinary Time, Cycle A - July 2, 2014

Wednesday of the 13^th Week in Ordinary Time

July 2, 2014                  6:30am

 

Consistency is not easy.

Maybe that is one way to summarize what the prophet Amos is saying in today’s first reading.

For example, we may hear the parable of the good stewards and yet be wasteful of the resources of the earth, such as electricity and food and water.

We may believe in Matthew chapter 25 about giving to Jesus when we give to the poor and yet be insensitive to the percentage of people living in poverty.

We may know that we are to be forgiving and yet be unwilling to talk to that relative or neighbor who offended us.

The prophet Amos is making the point that our religion and worship and prayer is to be a spur to action.

It is to affect our life and lifestyle.

There is to be a consistency between the two.

Is this always the case for us?

Probably not.

That does not argue against worship and prayer.

But it does point out that there is no quick and easy way to make us persons of full spiritual or moral integrity – persons whose lifestyle matches our worship, persons whose prayer permeates what we do and how we live.

So Amos leaves us, you and me both, with the challenge not to rest from this calling to consistency.

We are to allow our celebration of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross to lead us little by little to be sacrificing of ourselves in daily life.

We are to allow our reception of the sacramental Body of Christ to lead us little by little to become the living Body of Christ on this earth.

Tuesday of the 13th Week in Ordinary Time, Cycle A - July 1, 2014

Tuesday of the 13th Week in Ordinary Time

July 1, 2014                  6:30am

 

Yesterday I spent about an hour and a half with a man who is suddenly dealing with a very threatening tumor.

He realizes that physical healing may be impossible.

He is not literally out on the Sea of Galilee in a boat with a storm of high winds and heavy rains.

But he is in one of those storms that this gospel incident signifies.

Today’s story is both a real and symbolic incident.

At some point in life, we will all find ourselves in a storm:

maybe an emotional depression, maybe a very threatening medical diagnosis, maybe financial troubles that seem insoluble, maybe a marital crisis, maybe the death of a loved one, and on and on it can go.

And where do we go with this?

What do we do?

What does this man whom I visited yesterday do?

I think we are to do what the apostles on the Sea of Galilee do.

We turn to the Lord

“Lord, save us, we are drowning.”

Frankly, there is no other place to go.

Jesus is teaching us today that he is with us in these storms of life.

And so, we need to be aware of him and turn to him – in faith and in prayer.

And, if we do that, there may or may not be a quick or even any resolution of the storm itself.

But, there will be someone, Jesus, there with us.

And there will be some inner steadiness and calm and strength that come from Jesus and our turning to him.

We do this through prayer and the sacraments and the Scripture and the community of faith and those near us.

And we prepare for turning to Jesus in the storms that will come by turning to him when the storms are not there and things are calm and we are not even thinking that a storm is possible.

Because if we do this at those times, then our hearts and minds will be open and more able to feel that steadying and calming and strengthening presence of the Lord in the storms.

Monday of the 13th Week in Ordinary Time, Cycle A - June 30, 2014

Monday of the 13th Week in Ordinary Time

June 30, 2014               8:30am

Years ago a Christian missionary in Turkey told an interesting story.

He was friendly with a young Turk who was about to finish college.

The missionary advised the young man to make a tour of Europe when he graduated so as to broaden his vision.

The young Turk answered, “I must first of all go and bury my father.”

The missionary immediately expressed his sympathy that the young man’s father had died.

But the Turk replied that his father was still very much alive, and that what he meant was that he had to be dutiful to his parents before he could leave them and go on the tour of Europe.

In fact, he said that it would not be proper for him to go away until his father had actually died, which would probably not be for many years.

One of our Scripture scholars tells us that this man’s expression – “I must first go and bury my father” – is a common Mideastern expression.

It is, of course, what one of the people says in today’s gospel.

Jesus’ response seems rather harsh: “Let the dead bury their dead.”

What apparently is going on here is that the man in the gospel is saying what that young Turk was saying.

And Jesus’ response is intended to jolt him out of that cultural mindset and to do what is important right now.

Jesus’ lesson is that we should not resist the impulse of the Spirit to do good things.

The tragedy of life is often the tragedy of the unseized moment.

So we may feel moved to do something to help someone in need.

We may feel inclined to offer a word of encouragement or of challenge.

We may feel called to deal with some weakness or habit in our own lives.

But for whatever reason – inertia, fear, procrastination, indecision – for whatever reason, we do not act.

The impulse is never turned into action and the moment passes.

This is what Jesus is getting at with his statement, “Let the dead bury their dead.”

Not disrespect for the dead, but the importance of the moment and of responding to the Spirit right now.