First Things First

Deacon Tom Writes,

“First Things First!”

Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

We have so many demands upon our time that we can hardly keep track of them. Fortunately, we have the technology to remind us where we have to be and when we have to be there. We have electronic calendars, email reminders and cell phones, I-pads and

I-pods. We leave ourselves voice mail messages, stick post-its on the refrigerator. All this busyness and the technology to keep up with it is a part of the great reality in which we live, but it comes at a price. And the price that we pay seems increasingly that we crowd so many other important things out of our lives, like God! …. Really, who has time for God given our demanding schedules? 

Working God into our daily lives has become a challenge for us today, but it hasn’t always been that way. From early Jewish scripture comes our first reading in which we hear the famous Jewish prayer, the “shema” which means “hear”.

“Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone! Therefore, you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all you soul, and with all your strength. Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today”

These words that God spoke through Moses were a simple message intended to help the people find their happiness in this world by cooperating with God’s plan. Keep it simple; put first things first God says; live according to my plan; love me above all else…… with every fiber of your being.

Today we are busy. We are busier today than yesterday, and it doesn’t stop. Just ask someone you know who’s retired! “We don’t have time”, they complain. “We don’t know how we got things done when we were working” you’ll also hear.

The challenge we face today is consciously putting God first in our lives. It’s a matter of practice…of building the habit of inviting God into all the activities of our day, into all that busyness that so often overwhelms us. Invite God to be with us during our evaluation at work. Invite God to be with us when we’re running the kids or grandkids to soccer or piano lessons; invite God to join us in the Dentist’s chair or when we’re getting the oil changed. All the activities of our day are opportunities to draw close to God and to show him that we are mindful that His desire is to be a part of the lives of those who love Him. Inviting God into all our daily chores will help us get them all done...by the Grace of God

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

Rescue Me

Deacon Tom Writes,

“Rescue Me”

Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Throughout the Old Testament God is always coming to the aid of His people. He is always there to rescue them from every sort of peril and even deliver them from the consequences of their bad choices. We know these turbulent adventures of the Israelites as “Salvation History”. It is the story of God “rending the heavens” so that He may come and dwell among His people and yes, at times even come to their rescue. God lives and works among us so He can save us from ourselves, reveal Himself to us, and “teach us His ways”.

There is much we can learn from the “Remnant” that we hear mentioned by the Prophet Jeremiah today. The small band that God rescues are the beneficiaries of God’s goodness as He actively worked out “Salvation History” for the Jewish People. From the moment they became God’s Chosen People, the Israelites slowly began to turn away from Him. When He delivered them from their bondage in Egypt, they showed their gratitude by returning to their former ways by worshiping a golden calf. When He gave them the land of the Canaanites, they again turned their backs on Him and continued their idolatrous practices. But, God always remained faithful to His people, always preserving a “remnant” of people who would remain faithful to Him.

God’s faithfulness to His people is an important lesson for us today. For in reality, we are quite similar to the people who have gone before us. As a people of God we often stumble and fall; we get caught up with the “things” of this world and turn our backs to God. “Rescue Me, Lord!” is our plea too.

It is good for us to desire to be numbered among that “Remnant” that seeks to draw close to God; to be numbered among those who seek to be sheltered and insulated from the evils that surround us today. It is just this sort of protection the Blind Man in our gospel must have felt when he encountered Jesus. God rescues him from the blindness that imprisoned him and gives him a new beginning.

What do we need to be rescued from: our fears, our broken relationships, our hurt memories and regrets, our shortcomings and failures, our guilt? Many things I suspect. Today’s message is a comforting one. God is there and always has been to rescue us from all our anxieties and fears if we just call upon Him to, “rescue me!”

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

But... You Just Don't Understand

Deacon Tom Writes,

“But…. You Just Don’t Understand”

Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Have you ever heard the expression, “But….you just don’t understand”? That phrase finds its way into a conversation often when someone feels they are not getting the emotional support they need to communicating “their side” of the story or when they are trying to justify their own bad behavior and explain how things were “different for them”. 

In his letter to the Hebrews St. Paul makes the point that Jesus experienced the fullness of our human experience. “He has been tested in every way, yet without sin” Jesus was ridiculed. He knows what it is like to be made fun of, to be rejected, and to be poor. Jesus had no political connections or a regular job to go to Monday through Friday. He had no family (wife and children ) of his own. And when the chips were down, when public opinion turned against Him, He was betrayed by a close friend, arrested, tortured, given a pretense of a trial on trumped up charges, found guilty, and finally executed on behalf of those He had spent his life trying to help. Yes, Jesus was “tested in every way” to say the least. He experienced all the hardships of life, yet never offered an excuse… “Hey, wait…. you don’t understand…. I’m the son of God”. No…. He continued to be a servant of all and surrendered His life as “ransom for many”. 

Today Jesus spells out a condition of discipleship, namely, that we are to imitate Him in serving others... the poor, the marginalized, the prisoner, those who cannot speak for themselves. They are an easily identifiable lot; we find them spoken of often in the books of the Old Testament as those most in need of God’s care and protection, and they are:  the…widows, orphans and strangers. Today we see them in the detention centers on the

Evening News or rummaging through the wreckage of their homes destroyed by the recent hurricanes or tsunamis or earthquakes. We see them huddled together waiting for someone to help, to listen, to be present.

Now, a day will come when each of us will stand in judgment before Jesus and we will have to render an account of our lives. St Paul gives us some insight into that incredulous moment in his Letter to the Hebrews writing, “Brothers and sisters: Indeed the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart. No creature is concealed from him, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we mush render and account.” Then we are going to have to explain what we did for the least of our brothers and sisters (those special people Jesus was so fond of during his life). When our day comes, I hope there will be someone standing next to Jesus to put in a good word for us; someone in whose life we have made a difference. And then we hear Jesus says “OK, Joe here from the soup kitchen has put in a good word for you, come on in!” On the other hand, if there is no one there to speak on our behalf, I guess we’ll have to give this feeble excuse, “Well, Jesus, you just don’t understand….” and then, hope for the best…

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

Image Credit: newvoicesforresearch.blogspot.com

Praying For Wisdom

Deacon Tom Writes,

“Praying For Wisdom”

Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Sometimes we don’t make the right decision. If we are lucky our wrong choice is about a small matter, something with few or no negative consequences. We don’t intend to make a poor choice. On the contrary, we normally act out of our own best interest seeking the best possible outcome whenever we make a choice of our own volition.

We live in an amazingly complex society. We make choices from the moment we wake up in the morning. We have so many choices about what career path to follow, where to live, the person to date or marry, what car to drive or college to attend. These are weighty decisions with enormous consequences and life can become tragic if we choose poorly.

Our readings today provide some divine guidance to assist us in our decision making process. They do so by setting out a process for us to follow to aid us in making the best decision possible. What are the steps scripture presents us with to guide us anytime we have a decision to make? The first step as we learn in the first reading from the Book of Wisdom is “to pray” for the “spirit of wisdom.” That should not surprise anyone who considers himself or herself a Christian, a follower of Jesus. Prayer is always the first choice as we begin the day, or enter the hustle and bustle of our daily activity, and as we enter our evening rest. It is through prayer we are able to act in such a way as to make the best possible choice out of the myriad opportunities we have. For prayer opens us to the Wisdom of God that then enables one to see the intrinsic value of the choices before us. Do I choose the best for me, taking all for myself, which comes as my natural inclination or does Wisdom inform my choice so that my concern is not for myself alone but for others whom I claim as my brothers and sisters in Christ.

You see, prayer and the Wisdom that enters our lives because we place ourselves before the Lord makes a tremendous difference in the choices we make in life. Prayer may alter the course of our life so that we choose to dedicate ourselves to improving the lives of others by becoming teachers, public defenders, working in a medical clinic rather than seeing to promote our own personal achievement and success. Scripture is always calling us to a life of self-sacrifice and surrender compared to a life of self-satisfaction and worldly accomplishment.

We live at a time and place where there isn’t much wisdom, only a lot of foolishness of the highest magnitude. Call it the wisdom of the world if you will. It is meant to satisfy only the here and now. It won’t last; it isn’t intended to, for it only satisfies our physical and material needs. The Wisdom described in today’s readings is a manifestation of God’s very identity. It is a part of God’s very being. God shares His Wisdom, a very part of His nature with those who ask for it, with those who seek lasting riches found only in the things from above.

If our prayer life leads us to choose to seek the things from above, we will never be disappointed. God’s Wisdom will guide us on our earthly journey and enlighten us along the way so we don’t make the wrong choice or settle for second best. 

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom