Family Life or Family Strife?

Holy Family - 123rf.com

Deacon Tom writes ©

Family Life or Family Strife?

Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph

You can’t expect to be on a championship team if you aren’t willing to give it all you’ve got… and then some!  Anyone who has played sports or attended their kids’ practices knows the coaches’ constant demand for 100% from each player. Those who want to win bad enough do everything within their power to increase their performance so they can achieve their goal. Our human nature is such that we will do whatever it takes to get what we want once we want it bad enough.

St Paul’s Letter to the Colossians, one of the optional readings for today’s feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, envisions a quality of life so desirous that we are willing to sacrifice a great deal to attain it. St. Paul is giving us incredible insight on how to live wholesome, faith-filled lives rooted in the gospel of Jesus Christ, so that we can succeed at having lives that yield peace, thankfulness, gratitude, and harmony for ourselves and those with whom we share our lives, hopefully starting within our own families.

Paul is creating within us the desire to be God’s family. He is giving us a clear image of what it is like to accept this generous invitation. In a world that was brutal, suspicious, violent, insensitive, uncaring, Paul offers a vision of hope that flows from our identity as being a part of God’s family. He says, “Put on… heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience…” In addition, we must bear with one another…forgive one another…settle disputes justly so that “the peace of Christ control(s) your heart”. What an alternative vision compared to the harsh reality the Colossians’ day-to-day experience. Is it any wonder why Christianity grew so rapidly in those early days?

“I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live,” we read in Deuteronomy 30:19. The life that we are called to imitate is modeled on the life of the Holy Family. Within the structure of that family Jesus came to know and experience the love of a mother and of a father. That is where Jesus came to know of God’s love for Him. Amid the day-to-day life of the Holy Family, Jesus’ conscience was formed, His love and dependency on God fashioned, His love for God’s Holy People realized. In the safety and security of the Holy Family, Jesus was able to discern the Father’s call.

As we celebrate this Feast of the Holy Family, let us strive to create an environment for our children and for one another that is healthy, safe, loving, respectful, joy-filled, generous, and full of laughter. Let us give our children and one another the space and atmosphere where we can all come to know God’s love, hear His call, and grow together as His children, members of God’s Holy Family, so that the peace of Christ controls our hearts.

Wishing you a most joyous and peace-filled New Year!

Deacon Tom

A Wonderful Mystery

Deacon Tom writes on…

A Wonderful Mystery

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Deacon Tom writes ©

A Wonderful Mystery

Fourth Sunday of Advent, Year B

St. Paul uses the one word that succinctly summarizes this Advent Season and the most holy event it precedes, the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The word he uses is “mystery”. The Mystery of the Incarnation, the mystery of God made man is the mystery of God’s abiding love for us. Because of this love, “Christ emptied himself and took the form of a slave, being born in the likeness of men” (Phil 2:7). Fully God, fully man, Jesus enters human history to reveal the fullness of God’s love for all creation.

We read today of two people who were drawn into this mystery of God’s self-revelation to the world. They are David and Mary. The Prophet Samuel tells us that David wants to build a dwelling for God. But God has other plans. Yes, David will establish a house for the Lord, but not in the way that David envisioned it. The household that the Lord will establish through David will be one that will last forever. It will be a household that includes Joseph and Mary and that finds its completion in Jesus who fulfills that promise by becoming a “dwelling place” for all.

On this Fourth Sunday of Advent our hearts are yearning for the Divine to come to us. We turn away from the noise and clatter to hear the deep silence within give way to the chant, “Come, come, Emanuel, come Emanuel”.

What is our heart’s desire this Christmas day?  What is it that will make us complete?  What will it take to fill our emptiness?  My guess is that material things can’t come close to satisfying the cravings of our human spirit. What we really want, what will satisfy our innermost longings are the gifts that only God can give us, such as: calming our restless spirits, consoling our loss of a loved one, filling us with an inner peace, bringing us true joy, and, perhaps, a bit of happiness. We are looking for help in to let go of old grudges and to jettison old hurts or memories. We are looking for spiritual or emotional comforts and healings.

It is not possible to imagine that the infant whose birth we await desires that we remain in the constant state of hopelessness and despair. On the contrary, He came to set us free from all that would keep us bound up. He came to proclaim, “release to the prisoners”. That includes freeing us from our own self-imposed bondage(s).

May the mystery of God’s love revealed in the Infant Jesus free us from all that keeps us from loving Him and from loving one another.

May you celebrate a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year filled with Christ’s Peace and Joy!

Deacon Tom

Rejoice

Angel Trumpets Gaudete Sunday / odcsuffolk.com

Deacon Tom writes ©

"Rejoice"

Third Sunday of Advent, Year B

Jesus begins His ministry in Galilee quoting the words of the Prophet Isaiah that we hear today on this Third Sunday of Advent (remember Gaudete Sunday?).  They are worth reading again:

“The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; He has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners, to announce a year of favor from the LORD and a day of vindication by our God…” 

(IS 61:1- 2a)

This is the “Good News” that has been celebrated generation after generation since this prophesy was fulfilled by Christ 2000 years ago. Jesus is the one who brings us the good news that our captivity has come to and end, the good news that lifts our broken spirits pummeled by sickness, sin, and death. Jesus is the one who frees us from everything that imprisons us or has robbed us of our human dignity; Jesus restores our genuine freedom. Jesus comes to our rescue announcing that God’s favor is upon us. On our part, we wait in hope; we wait patiently for Emmanuel to come into our lives. So we wait… and watch.

Advent is a wonderful time of year. It is a season of hope and anticipation. It is even more so this year as we face so many challenges and difficulties of epic proportions. Our world has grown cold. It is a world very much in need of the “fire of God’s love”.

As we light the rose candle this Third Sunday of Advent, we rejoice in God’s nearness to us. We rejoice because the Light of Christ approaches and the days of darkness are coming to an end. We rejoice because Christ comes to fill us with the fire of His love. We rejoice because our time of deliverance is at hand. We rejoice because Our Savior comes to do what the world cannot do – give us the joy and happiness that can only come from Him; joy and happiness to be shared with one another; joy and happiness that will last forever.

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom  

Waiting in Hope

Deacon Tom writes ©

 “Waiting in Hope”

                         Second Sunday of Advent, Year B

Several weeks ago we read the Prophet Isaiah raising this prayer to God on behalf of God’s chosen ones:  “Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down”. Today we read from Isaiah again and he is instructing the people, “Fear not to cry out and say to the cities of Judah:  Here is your God!  Here comes with power the Lord God, who rules by His strong arm…”.

These two readings from Isaiah express a wonderful mystery of our faith, that God is with us right at this present moment, and yet, at the same time, we have not yet fully experienced His presence. Advent is a time to reflect on His presence in our daily lives and to know that there is more to come…And so, we wait in hope! We look ahead to the day when God’s fullness will totally reign in our hearts and in the world. We wait for that day when a new heaven and the new earth will replace the old order; we wait for the day when the justice, peace, and the realities of God’s kingdom replace the disharmony and chaos that are the dominant forces at work in our world today; we wait for our lives to be more complete and fulfilling.

Advent is a season of expectant hope. It is a time when we dream new dreams about becoming the person God has called us to be. It is a time when the spirit of hope leads us to new beginnings. Who do you want to be when that new heaven and new earth arrives?  Do you want to be a more caring person?  Do you want to be more gracious, more thankful, and more prayerful?  Or, perhaps, we want to leave behind memories of the past that are painful and full of sorrow. The beauty of Advent is that we get to fill in the blanks… and be filled with the hope that, with God’s help, we can accomplish all that we dare hope for. Advent is a time of waiting, a season of hope, for God to come into our lives and fill us with the true gifts of this season… peace, joy, love, those gifts that come from the Holy Spirit.

Each of us has the opportunity to reclaim Advent as a special time of hope. Each of us can make this a spiritual season by looking inward and hoping that the promises God holds in store for each one of us will become our reality… promises of newness, renewal, of our well being. That’s what hoping is all about. .

May this Advent journey be a time of new beginnings, new hopes, and new joys. May God’s gift of new life set us free to seek the giver and share the many gifts He has in store for those who place their hope in Him.

Enjoy the day and the Season!

Deacon Tom 

Can Anybody Help Me?

      Deacon Tom Writes ©

   “Can anybody help me?”

First Sunday of Advent, Year B 

There was a commercial on TV some time ago showing a man riding in circles on his new lawn mower while telling viewers about his financial problems.  It’s not that he was poor, quite the opposite.  He had a lot of money, he just didn’t know how to budget it…  In addition to the new lawn mower he had just purchased, he also complained of having bought a new car that he put in the new house and the list goes on. Now he is “up to his eyeballs in debt”.  As the focus of the camera narrows in on him,  he looks into it with glazy eyes and asks, “Can anybody help me?”  This is a sad but fairly accurate depiction of our human nature at work. We manage to dig quite a deep hole for ourselves before we recognize the trouble we are in and our need to ask for help.

Our spiritual lives can be very similar. In the reading from Isaiah on this First Sunday of Advent, the beginning of our new liturgical year, the prophet begs the Lord to come once more to the aid of His people who now humbly confess their sins… “Why did you let us wander, O Lord, from your ways and harden our hearts so that we fear you not?” the prophet asks.

The first step in solving a problem is to recognize that we have one, like the fellow in the commercial reaching out to “anybody” who might be able to help him with his financial problems. We do well to take this approach with our spiritual shortcomings and reach out to God and ask Him to “rend the heavens and come down” to our rescue.

The image of God as the potter and we the clay is a powerful one for us to explore this Advent. Just like clay in the hands of an artisan, God shapes and molds our lives…if we let Him. And that’s the key; God does not barge into our lives but rather waits for an invitation.  Advent is a time for us to realize that we need to invite Emmanuel into our lives and renew us from the inside out.

Let us invite God into our lives in a deeper and more intimate way this Advent Season so that He can mold us and fashion us into whatever beautiful vessel will be most fulfilling for us to accomplish His will, the plan He has in store for us. On our part, we need to be watchful so that we may recognize how God is constantly shaping us through the events, people and the always-changing circumstances of our lives.  This Advent let us be watchful for the many ways God comes to our rescue…

Enjoy the day and Happy New Year too!

Deacon Tom

The Feast of Christ the King, Year End Review

Flickr.com

Deacon Tom writes ©

"Year End Review"

The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

Today we celebrate the "Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe", more commonly known as the “Feast of Christ the King”. The gospel we read is from Matthew and is known as “The Judgment of the Nations”. It is an apocryphal reading meaning it has to do with the “end times” and the Final Judgment. Matthew is presenting us with a summation of Christ’s teachings, which is namely this: that there is a direct relationship between our actions in this life and where we will spend our eternal life. This is very appropriate since today marks the end of the liturgical year. It is right that we stop and do our own simple “Year End Review” on how faithful we have been to the gospels and the teachings of Jesus Christ this past year.

Today’s gospel gives us insight into the ordinary call to holiness. Often it seems that the work of the gospel is way beyond us, that we have to be a Saint like St. Francis or St. Martin de Porres to be faithful disciples of Christ. That’s not the case at all. Look at the sheep in our reading today who have done the good works of feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned, etc. Isn’t it interesting that they were not the lease bit aware of the good they had done for the Lord?  They have to ask, “Lord, when did we see you hungry, or naked, or sick?”  They were “surprised” that what they had done for others was noteworthy. You see, the good that they did for the Lord was the ordinary good they did for everyone and anyone around them. It was not some overwhelming, impossible task. They were not asked to do the impossible. They lived a life of ordinary goodness or holiness, giving of themselves without counting the cost, day in, day out, to friends and strangers alike.

We are called to be just like them. As a matter of fact, that is what God wants most from us…to be ordinary in our love for one another. We have been called by God to live ordinary lives of holiness, to share our love with others by our example, our witness, our smiles and laughter, our words of encouragement and hope, and at times, even our material support and physical presence through which  we become Christ for one another.

May God’s abundant blessings be with you and your families this Thanksgiving weekend.

Deacon Tom 

An Unfailing Prize

                 

pixgood.com smiley face pi

Deacon Tom Writes ©

"An Unfailing Prize"

Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Today’s reading from the Book of Proverbs talks about the joy a man has in finding true riches in this life. Oddly enough, the sacred author does not take us on a search for silver or gold or for any material wealth for that matter. Rather he reminds us of the treasures we uncover when we find a worthy wife (or husband as the case may be)….We obtain an unfailing prize.

The marital contract is a sacred one. It is life giving and life sustaining. Like all living things, marriage is subject to the laws of nature that say “grow or die”. In order to grow, relationships must be mutually beneficial. It requires genuine love to make a marriage grow and prosper. It takes self-sacrifice, the ability to defer or abandon one’s own plans and desires, a willingness to be more concerned about the “other” than about “self”. It is a challenge to be successful in building a mutually supportive and lasting relationship. We are all aware, I’m sure, the high percentage of marriages today that end in divorce. Yet, all who are called to this vocation must be prepared for the work of a lifetime.

It is within this relationship of marriage that we participate in the creative work of God. In this sacramental union, we are God’s instruments working in harmony with His divine plan to bring forth new life, a visible sign of His love for us that allows us to participate in the very act of creation itself. This human family that we create is, in itself, a reflection of the divine love that exists within the Most Holy Trinity.

The Gospel today calls us to reflect on how we use the gifts we have received from God. The gift of our family deserves consideration here. Chances are we may have some room to grow in this area. That’s fine, because, no matter how successful we may be, our work in building good relationships with our family, spouses and children is never done. It’s like the ad for one of the airlines that said, “We earn our wings every day”. Being a good husband or wife, father or mother, son or daughter is something we must strive to do every day. Some days we may find ourselves doing better than others. Some days we are colossal failures. We call that the "real world". What’s important to remember is that we see in our husband or wife, in our children, and in our families, the unfailing prize that we are to each other because God’s love abides within.

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

Holy Space

Lateran Basilica, Rome 

Deacon Tom writes ©

"Holy Space"

Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica, Year A

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica. It is dedicated to St. John the Baptist, St. John the Evangelist, and to Jesus Christ, our Savior. It became the Mother Church of Christendom around 313 AD when the Emperor Constantine gave it to the Bishop of Rome. Many Councils, referred to as Lateran Councils, were held within its walls in the early days of the church. It was there that much of the dogma of our faith that we profess today was formulated.

I have seen this beautiful church and indeed it has a lovely edifice. The architecture, the decorations, the adornments are beyond description. This is true for many of our basilicas and cathedrals. Many of our churches are a sight to behold. Yet, what gives them their real beauty is not the adornments. It’s not the gold and silver decorations, nor the renaissance paintings, nor the jeweled sacred vessels. What makes these grand structures so magnificent is the One in whose name and memory these houses of worship were built - the Lord, God Almighty.  

We know from our Old Testament history that David desired to build a house for the Lord and that his son, Solomon, is credited with building the magnificent Temple in Jerusalem. But buildings come and go. The temple that God wanted to establish among His people was made of human flesh. It was Christ, the God-Man. Salvation History is the story of God visiting His people and creating within them “holy space” that would be the living, breathing temples of His Holy Spirit.

Whenever we enter into this “holy space”, we come into a communal celebration to share in the banquet Christ has prepared for us through His sacrifice on Calvary. We enter into a mystery that is beyond us and that summons within us a faith that rises above our understanding. Within this “holy space” we are joined by other believers to be nourished by the Body and Blood of Christ and enlivened by the Words of Sacred Scripture. Then, reenergized by God’s love for us, we are commissioned to take our gifts out into the world and share them eagerly with everyone we meet. The gifts we receive inside our “holy spaces” will atrophy and die if we do not bring them to each and every person we encounter; if we do not used them in every situation we find ourselves, if they are not a part of all our decisions and judgments we make in the course of the day. We are the church, the living, breathing, holy spaces God desires to dwell within.

Enjoy the Day!

Deacon Tom 

All Souls are Called to be All Saints

300px-All Saints painting by Fra Angelico

Deacon Tom writes ©

"All Souls Are Called to be Saints"

The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls)

Celebration of the Feast of All Souls had its origin in the Benedictine Monastery in Cluny, France. In 998 A.D. Odilo, the Abbot, instructed his men to pray for the souls of the dead on the day after All Saints Day when the Church honored its Saints. This practice was quickly embraced by the faithful and by the 13^th century had spread to Rome. By the 14 century it was a universal feast of the church. Today we celebrate what is officially known as, “The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed”, commonly known as “All Souls” day.

The arranging of All Saints Day and All Souls Day back to back gives us a great opportunity to reflect on our lives in light of our Christian vocation and our individual mortality. As we recall the lives of those who have gone before us, we can’t help but know that one day we will follow in their footsteps. What kind of life do we want to live? What spiritual legacy and witness do we want to leave? What did we learn from the lives of the Saints and the holy people have gone before us?  Do you see the wisdom of connecting the Feasts of All Saints and All Souls?  To make the relationship between these two feasts practical, we have to overcome a general misperception that the Feast of All Saints is only about paying homage to the great saints, the likes of St. Francis, St Augustine, St. Thomas or St. Peter. The Feast of All Saints encompasses a much wider vision.

 

Just after converting to Catholicism, Thomas Merton was asked by a friend what he wanted to be, now that he was Catholic. “I don’t know, I suppose I just want to be a good Catholic”, Merton replied. His friend came back with, “What you should say is that you want to be a saint!” Merton was dumbfounded. “How do you expect me to become a saint?” Merton asked him. To which his friend said: “All that is necessary to be a saint is to want to be one. Don’t you trust that God can make you what He created you to be, Thomas”?  Merton was silent.

These words must have taken root in Merton’s heart. For he would go on to become one of the great spiritual thinkers and writers of the last century, and, in the eyes of many, he was indeed a saint.

It’s good to recall these words of wisdom imparted to Merton by his friend because they speak so simply and profoundly to our calling as Catholic Christians. We should want to be saints. And to be a saint, all we need is to want to be a saint.

The Church elevates the lives of the Saints to give us a good example of ordinary people who have attainted extraordinary holiness.  These men and women have dedicated their lives to being witnesses of the faith through sacrifice, service, and prayer. Often they suffered great pain, rejection, torture, and, all too often, even death in professing their love and devotion to God. It is right that they be honored and their intercessions sought by the faithful throughout the ages.

At the same time, our church also recognizes the ordinary acts of courage and dedication on the part of those living the faith day in and day out… that is, the “All Souls”. We believe in the “Communion of Saints”, that body of believers who, in addition to those “major” Saints, have professed their faith in God by their daily perseverance and their constant prayers. Included in this group are our family, loved ones, and friends, all those people who got up every day, took care of their families, and lived a good life, struggled to do the right thing…one day at a time. When things were good, they were faithful…When things were bad…they were faithful. In remaining faithful in good times and in bad, they handed on to us the legacy of our faith, our Catholic “Tradition”.

As we remember our loved ones and those who have gone before us and their sacrifice, their witness encourages us to imitate the good example they gave us. We call them to mind now as they share their reward for hearing and responding to their call to be saints.  We turn to them that they may ask God to help us answer our call to holiness so we may join them when our pilgrimage on earth comes to an end.  

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom  

The Road to Recovery

Deacon Tom writes ©

"The Road to Recovery"

Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Today’s reading from the Book of Exodus challenges us to reflect on our own deeply personal family experiences and learn from them. In that reading, God cautioned the Jewish people to remember what it was like when they were foreigners and living in a society where they were strangers, unwelcome, exploited, and abused. God wanted them to remember their past and how they were mistreated, so that once they had power and influence, once they were restored and came into their own, they would not victimize and abuse others who were weak and powerless and who lived among them. What a timely message for us today with the diversity of opinions on how to resolve the illegal immigration problem or how best to improve the quality of life for those living on the margins of society.

No matter what difficulties we face, individually or as a society, Jesus’ centermost teaching contained in today’s gospel provides the solution. “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind…AND, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 

We can reasonably disagree as to the right course of action in providing a solution to the problem of illegal immigration or how we are to care for our less fortunate neighbors living among us but rest assure, the name calling, the violence, and other visible signs of our anger show how little regard we have for these two “greatest” commandments of God. If this problem is to be solved, it must be done in ways that reflect the inherent dignity of the human person. This is the basis for all the social justice teachings of our uniquely Catholic church. Indeed, the social justice teachings of our church are a distinguishing characteristic of our Catholic faith. They have their roots in the Mosaic Law that go all the way back to the Book of Deuteronomy that Christ cites for us today in the gospel.

We will not find permanent solutions to the problems we face or that plague our country and our world: war, hunger, disease, violence, poverty, greed, corruption, drug and alcohol addiction, other forms of escapism, yes, these so called social sins, until we begin to recognize the root cause of these horrific conditions…the lack of justice. Without justice, there is no peace, no prosperity, and no respect for one another. Jesus gave us the cure. It was the same cure given to and ignored by our ancestors. Perhaps it is time to consider the medicine - loving God and loving each other. Or, we can continue our journey along the same path and, in our collective delusion, believe that we are indeed on the road to recovery, until the next crisis brings us to our knees.

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom 

For Great is the Lord

William Blake's "The Ancient of Days" - http://en. wikipedia.org/wiki

Deacon Tom writes ©

“For Great is the Lord" - PS 96:4

Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Have you ever had this experience: you were in a jam and needed some help, but all your friends, all the “go to” people in your life were busy with other important things and they couldn’t help you out?  Then, someone you never thought of comes to the rescue. Wow, you are totally amazed at how things worked out. You just know that God somehow had something to do with sending help during your time of need. 

The story of the liberation of the Hebrew Nation from captivity in Babylon at the hands of the Persian King Cyrus is a genuine sign of God using outside help in getting His plan accomplished in an amazing and awesome way. The Jews were in a hopeless situation; they were being held captive away from their home; their temple lay in ruin; their way of life altered forever. So they thought. Then Cyrus, the king of the Persians, defeats the Babylonians and comes to their aid. In 538 B.C. he issued an edict allowing the return of all the Hebrews to Jerusalem. Better yet, he ordered the rebuilding of the Temple and provided that the Israelites be given a royal subsidy from his treasury. He directed that the sacred vessels seized by the Babylonians when they destroyed the Temple should be sent back with the released captives. Finally, he urged all Israelites to contribute to the restoration of public worship. Isaiah tells how God took Cyrus’ right hand and led him, “subduing nations before him…opening doors before him and leaving the gates unbarred.”

We are often anxious and fearful when we confront many of the problems and difficulties in our lives, problems with our relationships, with our kids, our boss, or even fears of losing our jobs or our health. We struggle with forgiving those who have hurt us; we struggle with addictions and all sorts of impossible situations. Some even struggle with the teachings of our church. We ask ourselves, “How am I going to get through this?”  Or, “Where can I turn for help?” 

It’s always darkest before the dawn, they say. I am sure the Jews held captive in Babylon felt this way. But then God, who is the master of doing the impossible, comes to their rescue and turns their tears into laughter. Isaiah tells us today to keep the faith. There is no struggle or difficulty God cannot overcome!  There is no struggle or difficulty of ours that God does not want to overcome. We need to give our cares to God and wait faithfully, prayerfully, hopefully, and patiently for Him to come to our rescue while doing the best we can with the situation at hand.

Enjoy the Day!

Deacon Tom 

Guess who's coming to dinner?

The Institution of the Eucharist by Nicolas Poussin, 1640

 Deacon Tom Writes ©

“Guess who’s coming to dinner?”

Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Jesus uses the story of a king who invites his subjects to the wedding banquet for his son and the people reject his invitation outright.  What an insult!  The King’s outrage is understandable. And so is his desire to have a banquet in honor of his son’s wedding.

The chief priests and elders of the Jews knew they were the ones Jesus was talking about and they certainly didn’t like the way the story ended. Jesus says how the King sent his servants out to the highways and byways and brought in others to celebrate this joyful occasion.

It’s interesting that history seems to be repeating itself. Every Sunday we are invited to celebrate a special Eucharistic banquet in honor of God’s Son, Jesus. It is a standing invitation to come and celebrate and to be one with each other and God.  We gather together to give thanks to God for sending His Son into our world and freeing us from sin and death….AND giving us Eternal life….but so many people today are just too busy, too tired, too involved with other interests, or simply not interested….too spent perhaps …to respond to this invitation.

I think it’s by invitation and example that those who come to Mass on a regular basis can help others to see how important it is to center our lives around this most holy banquet. We as Catholics know how important the Eucharist is to our lives, spiritual and temporal, for it is within the context of these sacred mysteries that we are renewed and strengthen for all that life throws at us. If our lives reflect the presence of Christ, others will notice the inner peace and joy in our lives and that may spark some interest for them. If others see that there is a connection between what we receive from the Eucharist and what we are able to give to our jobs, to our families - running the kids around to soccer practice, religious ed. classes and piano lessons, doing the shopping and chores – and to the community, they may want to find the source of that strength and peace for themselves.  As they say… “Imitation is the best form of flattery”.

The banquet is prepared, the table is set, and we all have our standing invitation that also says to bring a friend. Do you have someone in mind that is searching for some inner peace and joy that you would like to bring along?  Invite them and leave the rest to Jesus.

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom             

God Be In My Head

Montréal God resting after creation. jpg

Deacon Tom Writes ©

“God be in my head”

Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

The gospel for today sets the stage for Jesus’ death.  The parable of the wicked tenants who kill the servants sent by the owner of the vineyard to collect the rent and then kill the landowner’s son who was also sent by the owner foreshadow the events that will claim Jesus’ life. Jesus tells the crowd that God’s plans will not be stifled by those of man. His being rejected by the Jewish authorities allows a furthering of God’s Kingdom. For… “The stone rejected by the builders will become the cornerstone”. God’s plan of salvation is mysteriously broadened so that others may join in the task of bringing about that bountiful harvest the Kingdom of God will produce.

Jesus showed us by word and example how to live in the Kingdom of God. To follow Him we must think and act like He did.  That is the way by which we become productive members of His Kingdom. A question we might ask ourselves is, “How do we know if we are bearing fruit for the kingdom”?  One way is to set aside a few minutes at the end of the day and review the events from a spiritual perspective.   This is one of the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius. It goes like this: 

1)  Give thanks to God for all that we have.

2)  Ask God for the grace to know our sins and to avoid them in the future.

3)  Reflect on the events of the day to see where we served God or where we have neglected Him.

4)  Ask God to pardon our faults.

5)  Ask God for the grace to be more like Him.  

If we do this exercise on a regular basis, we are sure to grow spiritually and that growth will produce a harvest worthy of the kingdom.

As we grow in the love of God, we are able to surrender our thoughts and desires to Him and allow Him to fill us with His thoughts and desires. The prayer below goes back to the late 1400s to early 1500s and it calls to mind our need to surrender ourselves entirely so that his thoughts may become ours.

God be in my head and in my understanding;


God be in my eyes and in my looking;


God be in my mouth and in my speaking;


God be in my heart and in my thinking;


God be at my end and at my departing.


Amen

These words, with some alteration, are from the Sarum Primer of 1514, which was a book of prayers and Christian worship resources in the Roman Catholic Church that was collected by the clergy at Salisbury Cathedral in the south central part of England. It was published in 1514 in the “Book of Hours” (Cambridge) and republished as the “Sarum Primer” in Salisbury in 1558. (“Sarum” is the abbreviation for Sarisburium, the Latin word for Salisbury, which was and is both a city and a diocese in England.) 1

May God open our minds and hearts so that we can do our part in bringing forth the His Kingdom.

Enjoy the day!

Tom

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1 https://wordpress.com/themes/kubrick/