Saturday of the 27th Week in Ordinary Time, Cycle B - October 10, 2015

Saturday of the 27^th Week in Ordinary Time

October 10, 2015          8:30am

 

So, let’s put today’s brief gospel in context.

When the angel Gabriel told Mary that she was to bring God’s Son into the world, Mary quickly responded:

“Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.

May it be done to me according to your word.”

Mary heard the Word of God and followed it.

Today, a woman, in effect, says to Jesus:

“Your mother should be proud to have given birth to such an impressive son.”

And Jesus, in effect, responds:

“It is better if your belief in me gives birth to respect for others no matter what, and to care for the poor, the abused, the oppressed and the depressed.”

So Jesus is by no means denying or putting down the greatness and uniqueness of his mother.

Actually, he is calling us to be like his mother.

Mary heard the word of God and followed it.

And Jesus is saying to this woman that he wants us to do the same.

He doesn’t want us to get caught up just in adoration and awe of him.

Instead, he wants us to balance or complete that with an attitude and mindset and lifestyle that are like his.

He knows that his mother had done that and now he wants us to do the same.

Friday of the 27th Week in Ordinary Time, Cycle B - October 9, 2015

Friday of the 27^th Week in Ordinary Time

October 9, 2015   8:30am

The context of today’s gospel is that Jesus has just expelled a demon.

He says something curious.

“If an unclean spirit is driven out of someone, it will return and find the house swept clean and in order.

And then it will bring seven other unclean spirits with it, and they will re-enter that person and the last state will be worse than the first.”

This sounds very strange.

If a person is going to end up being worse off, why bother casting out the unclean spirit in the first place?

Jesus’ idea seems to be that it is not enough just to cast out an unclean spirit, to rid ourselves of some bad habit or behavior.

We have to replace that with something good.

If we don’t, the bad behavior or habit may return and we might even be worse off.

For example, instead of just trying not to avoid wasting lots of time watching senseless TV programs, we can fill that gap by reading something worthwhile, maybe something about parenting or some spiritual reading to nourish our faith.

Instead of just trying to avoid over-drinking or even drinking any alcohol at all when we know we should not do that, we can commit ourselves to eating healthy foods and drinking healthy beverages.

The idea is that if we fill our lives with good practices and habits and with the Lord and his grace, then the casting out of evil or breaking of sinful ways can be effective.

They will not so easily return because there will less or no space for them to reside.

Tuesday of the 27th Week in Ordinary Time, Cycle B - October 6, 2015

Tuesday of the 27^th Week in Ordinary Time

October 6, 2015   8:30am Middle School

Four eighth-graders (2 boys and 2 girls) were asked to respond to the following questions.  They had two days to prepare for this.

1.    What does the gospel story about Martha and Mary mean to you?

What point is it making?  What is it teaching us?

2.    What question do you want to ask me about this?  What do you not    understand in this?

The ideas I want to convey to the kids are these:

You must pray or else there will no basis or foundation for your life.

Besides personal prayer, Sunday Mass is essential.  It gives us the solid foundation we need for life – for making decisions, for knowing what is right or wrong, for getting through tough times.

It’s like building a house.  You’ve got to put in the foundation first and it must be strong and deep enough or else the house will fall over.

This is why Jesus says that Mary has chosen the better part.  It is not that praying always is better than doing things.  It is that our everyday lives or what we do must first be grounded in prayer or in our relationship with God and that is the problem with Martha in the passage.

Monday of the 27th Week in Ordinary Time, Cycle B - October 5, 2015

Monday of the 27^th Week in Ordinary Time

October 5, 2015   8:30am

So, a brother Jew who is a scholar of the law asks Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?’

He wants an answer to that so that he knows whom he has to love and whom he doesn’t have to love.

Jesus then tells a story, what we call “The Parable of the Good Samaritan,” and then asks: “Who was neighbor to the robber’s victim?”

Jesus shifts the thought process from object to subject, from looking outside myself at others to determine my behavior to looking within at myself to determine my behavior.

It is an amazing twist and I think it is quite profound.

I want to try to state this in today’s, maybe more contemporary terms.

Jesus is calling us to be inner-directed, not outer-directed.

He wants us to determine our behavior by what is within us, by our beliefs and values.

He does not want us to determine our behavior by what happens outside of us or by what others do or don’t do.

Jesus calls us to respond and not to react.

He wants us to act and speak from that inner core of ourselves where God abides and allow the Spirit to shape what we say and do.

Jesus does not want us to react to a personality type or a statement or an action simply with unprocessed emotion, in a thoughtless and probably hurtful or destructive way.

That’s how I see the impact of what happens in this gospel incident.

For our thinking and living, Jesus takes us from object to subject – from “Who is my neighbor?” to “Who acted as neighbor?”

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B - October 4, 2015

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Cycle B

October 4, 2015  All 8 Masses

Saint Margaret Parish, Bel Air

Introduction

There’s a story about a pastor and a little kindergartner named Alex.

This five-year-old and his family were often at the Mass that this priest celebrated.  Little Alex noticed that the pastor always bowed his head and closed his eyes for a moment before he began his homily.

So, one Sunday, Alex and his parents were leaving church and this five-year-old went up to the pastor.  He asked him, “Father, why do you always bow your head and close your eyes before you preach?”

The priest responded, “Well, you see Alex, I’m asking the Lord to help me give a good homily.”  Little Alex thought for just a second and then quickly said, “Well how come he never answers your prayers?”

Introduction of Speaker

Well today, I don’t have to bow my head and close my eyes.

I will not be speaking.   Once a year, the first weekend of October every year, we talk about our financial commitment to the parish, especially to the offertory collection.

This year, different members of the parish will be speaking at each of the eight Masses.  So, here at the

4pm and 6pm Mass, I am happy to introduce Gus Brown.  

8am and 5pm Mass, I am happy to introduce to you Dick Belmonte.

10am and 12 noon Mass, I am happy to introduce to you Libby Plunkett

9am and 11am Mass, I am happy to introduce to you Karissa Pavelka.

I think many of you know Gus/Dick/Libby/Karissa.  I have gotten to know him/her well over my years here and am very pleased that he/she has agreed to speak today.

So, without any more words from me, here is…