Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

“Can you drink the cup that I drink?”

 True power: James and John think it comes from status—how close you are to the head of the table. They are like those who lord it over others or think they can save themselves. Real power comes from being one who serves, a diakonos: literally the one who serves as at a table, not sits in the places of honor. The disciples also don’t seem to understand that the path to greatness goes through following Jesus’ example of suffering and sacrifice before they get to the glory.

            The church must be missionary.” So says the Catechism (n. 851) in a terse echo of the Great Commission of Jesus: Go and make disciples of all nations. We’re reminded on this World Mission Sunday that church isn’t primarily a place where we come to pray, or even a happy assembly of the already convinced. Church is a community “on a mission from God.” On this World Mission Sunday we need to be reminded where true greatness lies. On this World Mission Sunday, we recall what we often forget: that even today, missionaries around the world are tramping through forests and deserts and mountains of self-denial for the sake of the gospel and in the name of the church. They do this on our behalf, and with our prayers and our funds. Their "pain" is gain for everyone. 

            We will do our own survey for mission this weekend.  We must heed the words of the Second Vatican Council and we “must ever look to the present, to the new conditions and new forms of life introduced into the modern world.” The ways of the modern world were not threats to be condemned but opportunities to evangelize. Let us be missionaries at home and abroad. Margaret Mead said: “I personally measure success in terms of the contributions an individual makes to her or his fellow human beings.” In the next few years let us be passionate about creating opportunities to encounter Jesus so that we may grow as disciples to transform the world in which we live.

Let us go and do.    

Father William                           

Twenty-Eight Sunday in Ordinary Time

Last Sunday the gospel addressed how Christians should view marriage and divorce. Today we look at the Christian attitude to wealth and possessions. Those readings and the readings from the next two Sunday’s Gospel all come from chapter 10 of Mark, in which Jesus reveals to the disciples some important challenges that they must face if they want to continue to follow him. Season in, season out, spring, summer, fall and especially during thanksgiving… it is always about a God who looks at us with love and invites us to follow him always.

            As we know the seasons of our lives has its own color and the harvest of our lives is not always one of bounty and awe: let’s face it, sometimes the seasons of our life are not always full of promise but full of angst, nevertheless, the invitation to the harvest continues. The invitation from the master pastor himself, Jesus who looks at us with love in his eyes and invites us to come to the feast with our hungers, aches, riches, and our stories. There is a line in scripture this week that should comfort us. Jesus, looking at him, that rich young man loved him and said, ‘You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ I could imagine that moment of deep intimacy when the Lord invited that young man to a deeper relationship. He looks at us and says to us: I love you. Do we hear what he is saying to us?

            Dear friends, Jesus says to you: trust me and stay with me in all the moments of your life, stay with me in your emptiness and pain, stay with me when it appears easy to run, stay with me when the scorn is loud and stay with me in your addiction and see me look at you with love. Stay with me with all that you have… be it wealth, fame, a great job and friends galore. Stay with me and take the long view for I am your God and my word is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, it is able to judge the intentions of the heart.

            The spiritual journey is a lifelong process of having our fingers pried off false security. No one is exempt. The call to let go of all that we hold onto is not a call coming from the heart of a forbidding God. It is a call from the heart of the Beloved: “Please…look into my eyes. Let me be your security, your validation and your only source of satisfaction. Let me be your love.”  Leonardo da Vinci said…that which can be lost cannot be deemed riches. 

Stay with Jesus,

Father William