Sixth Sunday of Easter_C - Keeping God's Word_052525

Photo attribution - Pinterest.com

Deacon Tom Writes,

“Keeping God’s Word”

 

Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year C

 

In today’s gospel Jesus tells His disciples, “Whoever loves me will keep my word and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him”. It sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it? If we keep God’s Word, the Eternal, Almighty, Divine Presence will come and be a part of our lives forever, through the good times and the bad, through thick and thin.

 

The problem is there are many of Jesus’ words that are really troubling to us; words that we choose not to believe, let along want to keep; words that challenge us, like...

   “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness” … Matthew 6:33

     “Love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you” …Luke 6:27

       “No one can serve two masters” … Matthew 6:24

          “Go and sin no more” … John 6:11

     Or this one.... “Do not judge” ... Matthew 7:1

 

We dismiss the hard words of Jesus, the words that are at the core of his teaching…to love one another – as I have loved you. Loving one another, showing respect to everyone because of one’s intrinsic worth, one’s divine essence, one’s very nature as a child of God, is how we reflect the love of God in our lives. This love is an active, conscious act of the will; it is how we cooperate with God, allowing ourselves to be transformed by God and in turn helping bring about the transformation of the world. This is what it means to keep God’s word. We just can’t pick and choose which words of Jesus we will accept and which ones we will ignore if we want to have an authentic relationship with Jesus and grow in his love.

 

In all reality there is another question we need to ask ourselves, “Do we really want God living within us?” Within, well, that may be too close for comfort. It’s better when he’s living some distance away like the “In-Laws” whom we can invite over whenever we have something they can do for us. Far enough away that they can only come over when invited. How much God enters our life is pretty much our choice! We can keep God’s Word and look forward to the promises he has made to us, or we can go it alone and see what the world has in store for us. It’s…. all our call. 

 

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please Visit www.deaconspod.com and listen in as the three deacons engage in a contemporary conversation exploring the treasures our Catholic faith has to offer to those on the threshold, those thinking of joining our Catholic Community or walking away from it. 

 

OTHER RESOURCE

 

Recommended Reading: Do Not Judge Anyone - Desert Wisdom for a Polarized World Too often Christianity has been hijacked by the superego and the good news of grace has been compromised by fear and the rationalization of violence. In “Do Not Judge Anyone” Cistercian monk Isaac Slater reflects on the desert fathers’ teachings and practice of not judging with a focus on contemporary life. Interweaving sources from East and West, ancient and modern, Slater finds profound points of contact between the first monks and figures like Dostoevsky and Simone Weil, and in the teaching and witness of Pope Francis. “Do Not Judge Anyone” offers a radical, refreshing, and deeply hopeful vision of the gospel for the twenty-first century. 
 
Following closely Jesus’s injunction to “Stop judging!” the first Christian monks strongly emphasized the practice of not judging others as central to the gospel ethos. Through captivating and sometimes enigmatic sayings and stories of the desert fathers, Slater shares a monastic approach to everyday living that applies Jesus’s teaching of radical non-judgement as a balm for the polarized environment commonly found in the Church and the world today. This book can be a wonderful group read for us today. Why not ask some of your friends and parishioners to join in and do this.

 

Recommended YouTube Video Catholics for the Common Good with Daryl Grigsby - Author, Daryl Grigsby, joins FutureChurch to share about his new book, "Catholics for the Common Good: An Eternal Offering." In his book, Grigsby profiles 36 contemporary Catholics who have worked for justice and human dignity. He features Catholics from diverse national and racial backgrounds; religious, lay, and ordained. During the presentation, Grigsby shares the origins of his book, how it's organized, offers highlights about four of the Catholics who appear in the book, and takes questions from our community. Daryl Grigsby is an author and commentator on contemporary Catholic issues. A retired public works director, he also holds a Master’s Degree in Theology and Pastoral Studies from Seattle University and is a graduate of the Sabbatical Renewal Program at the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University. He is a board member for Leadership Foundations, which resolves critical urban challenges around the world, and for FutureChurch. Grigsby is the author of In Their Footsteps: Inspirational Reflections on Black History for Every Day of the Year and is a frequent contributor to National Catholic Reporter and Black Catholic Messenger.

 

 

 

Sixth Sunday of Easter_C - Keeping God's Word_052222

                                            Photo attribution - Pinterest.com

Deacon Tom Writes,

“Keeping God’s Word”

Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year C

In today’s gospel Jesus tells his disciples, “Whoever loves me will keep my word and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.” It sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it? If we keep God’s Word, the Eternal, Almighty, Divine Presence will come and be a part of our lives forever, through the good times and the bad, through thick and thin.

The problem is there are many of Jesus’ words that are really troubling to us; words that we choose not to believe, let alone want to keep; words that challenge us, like...

“Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness” … Matthew 6:33
“Love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you” …Luke 6:27
“No one can serve two masters” … Matthew 6:24
“Go and sin no more” … John 6:11

We dismiss the hard words of Jesus, the words that are at the core of his teaching…to love one another – as I have loved you. Loving one another, showing respect to everyone because of one’s intrinsic worth, one’s divine essence, one’s very nature as a child of God, is how we reflect the love of God in our lives. This love is an active, conscious act of the will; it is how we cooperate with God, allowing ourselves to be transformed by God and in turn helping bring about the transformation of the world. This is what it means to keep God’s word. We just can’t pick and choose which words of Jesus we will accept and which ones we will ignore if we want to have an authentic relationship with Jesus and grow in his love.

In all reality there is another question we need to ask ourselves, “Do we really want God living within us?” Within, well, that may be too close for comfort. It’s better when he’s living some distance away like the “In-Laws” whom we can invite over whenever we have something they can do for us. Far enough away that they can only come over when invited. How much God enters our life is pretty much our choice! We can keep God’s Word and look forward to the promises he has made to us, or we can go it alone and see what the world has in store for us. It’s…. all our call.


Enjoy the day!
Deacon Tom

Reading Recommendation: The Rise of Christianity by Rodney Stark former Professor of Sociology at the University of Washington provides a provocative report which challenges conventional wisdom and finds that Christianity's astounding dominance of the Western world arose from its offer of a better, more secure way of life.

Sixth Sunday of Easter_B - First Round Draft Choice_050921

I chose you and appointed you

to go and bear much fruit,

Jn 15:16

Deacon Tom Writes,

First Round Draft Pick

Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year B

Being chosen for a special assignment can do wonders for our self image. In today’s gospel we hear Christ tell us that “...I chose you and appointed you to go and bear much fruit…”. God’s way of doing things is a little different than the way things work in this world. Take Major League football or baseball draft choices. All the teams are vying for the best players to augment their teams. They need to have backup players who can step in and fill the position when a player gets injured or is having a bad game. That’s good strategy and essential for major league sports. It’s just not the way that God does things.

You see, in God’s plan every person has a role to play, specific work that is unique to us, something that only that person can do. If we don’t do it, if we are not up to the task, that work doesn’t get done. God doesn’t have a backup player ready to take our place to carry out the life-long work he has assigned specifically to us. When we are out of the game, so to speak, that good work we were given to do, doesn’t get done. That act of kindness that would have flowed through us to another, doesn’t get done. That righting of a social or moral wrong doesn’t get done. The same goes for that injustice that doesn’t get made just.

One important point to this thought is that our failure to act as God’s chosen ones does not in any way thwart God’s plan. His will will be done in his mysterious way. But we would have sat on the sidelines ignoring the field of play where the game of life is won or lost.

Understanding that we all have a role to play in bringing about God’s plan helps us to realize just how much God loves us and lets us see that he is there every step of the way to help us succeed. We are in every sense of the word God’s, “friends” because he shares his plans with us and gives us the resources we need to accomplish the mission he calls us to do. The secret for our success is “to remain in my love” he reminds us.

The Feast of Easter which lasts from Easter Sunday to Pentecost, a period of fifty days or seven weeks, is a time to renew our hearts and minds and fine tune our lives so that we can experience that “complete joy” that only God can give to us. The joy that comes from God is a joy that is also unique to us and to our circumstances, tailor made for us, just as the mission that comes from God is strictly ours. May these last couple of weeks of Easter help us to know what God is asking of us and may we experience the joy that comes with doing all that we can on our part to becoming his “First round draft pick”.

A very happy Mothers’ Day to all the mom, grandmas, and those “grands” who have been blessed with many years!

Easter Alleluia!!

Deacon Tom

Sixth Sunday of Easter_A - Our Reason To Be Hopeful_051720

Deacon Tom Writes

“Our Reason To Be Hopeful”

Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year A

Hope is such an enduring quality. We cling to hope in troubling times as if it was life preserver and we were adrift in a stormy sea. Hope is what keeps people of faith going when the world is falling apart. You see and hear it in media reports on the faces and in the voices of people who have lost loved ones during the current pandemic or whose homes have been destroyed by floods or wildfires. They inevitably talk about rebuilding not just their homes but also their lives. Hope is what gives them the courage to face a new day.

Hope fuels our dreams also. We hope to get into the college of our choice; we hope to get that perfect job or that promotion. We hope that one day we will meet the love of our life; we hope that a bad situation will be favorably resolved. We hope others will change their ways… or better yet, that we will change ours! No matter what we hope for, we are not likely to give up hope without a fight.

In today’s scripture, Peter advises us, “Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope.” Peter wants us to pay close attention to those things in which we place our hope…. and to be able to tell others why we hope in them. Key to Peter’s advice, however, is that the focal point for Christian hope is Christ. He is the fulfillment of all our hopes. Peter wants us to put our hope in noble things, “...treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal.” (Mt 6:20)

Yes, we hope for that new job, good things for our children, a good resolution to an illness or bad relationship…but our Christian hope seeks the ultimate goodness that comes from having Christ…. “as Lord in our hearts” (1 Pt 3:15) as Peter says so well. With Christ as Lord of our hearts, our hope will turn to treasures, relationships, and loves that will last forever and provide us ample opportunity to share the reason for our hope with everyone.

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

The Eleventh Commandment?

Deacon Tom Writes,

“The 11^th Commandment?”

Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year B

If you ask any of our Religious Education students what commandment Jesus quotes in today’s gospel when He says, “This is my commandment: love one another as I love you”, I am sure there would be some very interesting answers. I’m willing to bet that would also be the case if you asked their parents‼! 

There are times during Jesus ministry when He seems very comfortable formulating His own commandments. Could it be that He thought His Father got it wrong, or perhaps Moses made a mistake when he chiseled them down on the stone tablets when he received them from God on Mount Sinai? Remember when Jesus was asked what was the greatest commandment and He came back with, “You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, with your whole soul, and with all your mind”… then He added, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (MT 22:37). What’s up? Weren’t Ten Commandments enough? Is He adding another commandment for us to obey?

The marketing experts on Madison Avenue have an expression I think is applicable here. They say, “It’s all about the spin.” When they advise a company about bringing a product to market, they will tell them to present it in the best light possible. Jesus uses that technique at times also. Jesus knows the prescriptions of the law. He told the Pharisees that He came “…not to abolish the laws, but to fulfill them” (MT 5:17).

 

Jesus isn’t giving us any new commandments but rather putting a positive spin on the original ones. Jesus’ emphasis is love. By calling us to a spirit of love, He is making it easier for us to obey all the commandments that God gave us. And this is how it works: if you love God, you will honor Him and you will want to worship Him and be united with Him in a deeper personal and intimate way... which is accomplished by spending time with Him in prayer. If you love your parents, you will honor and respect them as they should be respected and honored. If you love your neighbor, you will not cheat him, steal from her, gossip about them, kill them, or wish them ill will. You will not objectify people and exploit them for you own purpose.

Jesus gives us a new vision, a new understanding of the “Old” law, the commandments. Love makes it easier to do what is right and avoid doing what is wrong. Jesus is a genius at simplicity. Where there were Ten Commandments, He sees that only one is necessary, the one we hear today: “Love one another……as I have loved you.”

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom