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June 26, 2022

6/25/2022

We hear seemingly harsh words from Jesus in today’s Gospel. Jesus, like Elijah before him asked his followers to leave behind everything and follow him. No words of compassion for the one whose father had just died! No time to say goodbye to friends and family...not even time to bury the dead!

We might wonder what is going on with Jesus?... earlier in the Gospel of Luke Jesus’ compassion is readily visible, curing the sick and lame, raising a little girl from the dead, curing the lepers...what has happened?

Surely the people following Jesus were surprised by these hard-hitting words, or were they...they would have been used to hyperbole as it was quite commonly used by storytellers and speech -makers.

But still, Jesus is making a point about the urgency and the demands of discipleship...it cannot be left until tomorrow, and it will not be easy! Jesus knows that he is heading to certain death in Jerusalem and his followers will need to be “all in” in order to survive the ordeal of that “awful” first Good Friday that Jesus sees on the horizon. Jesus wants to be sure that those who seek to be his disciples understand that the road ahead will be difficult and the cost of discipleship is great.

It almost seems like too great of a demand...but we do not travel the road of discipleship alone, Jesus is at our side...and that makes all the difference. And remember we are filled with the Holy Spirit to guide us and strengthen us as we live out our discipleship.

What am I willing to give up to be a disciple of Jesus? What does my discipleship call me to do this week? What choices am I being called to make as a disciple of Jesus in light of the current social and political realities here in the United States and around the world?

Blessings,
Fr. Tim

June 19, 2022

6/17/2022

On this day when we celebrate the awesome gift of the Eucharist one would think that the Gospel of this wonderful feast day would be about “the Last Supper” but instead it is the Gospel of the feeding of the 5000.

When the disciples come to Jesus and complain that the people are hungry, Jesus says in response “give them some food yourselves”! The story of the “feeding of the five thousand” is about Jesus’ acknowledgement of human hunger...hunger for food... hunger for justice... hunger for God!

As we celebrate the gift of Jesus giving himself to us in the Eucharist let us take seriously his command to “do this in memory of me”. Of course the question is, what is the “this”? For sure it is the breaking of the bread and the sharing of the cup. But, is it more? Perhaps the “this” of “do this in memory of me” includes all that Jesus had done and what he was about to do, the next day!

As Roman Catholics we believe that the bread and wine become the real body and blood of Jesus Christ poured out for the life of the world. And that when we receive the real presence of Christ we are changed, transformed more and more into the Body of Christ. This transformation though is not just for our sake but for the sake of the world. We are called to take the real presence of Christ out into the world and feed all those who hunger....those who hunger for food...those who hunger for justice...those who hunger for peace...those who hunger for God!

So how do I fulfill Jesus’ call to feed those who hunger for food...those who hunger for justice... those who hunger for peace...those who hunger for God? How do I share the “real presence” within me with others? How does participating in the celebration of the Eucharist affect the way I live my life on a daily basis?

Blessings,
Fr. Tim

June 12, 2022

6/10/2022

As we celebrate the Solemnity of The Most Holy Trinity my mind always returns to an 8th grade classroom and a tall red haired nun, in full habit, named Sister Mary Janelle. I recall her patiently helping my classmates and myself as we wrestled with the concept of the Trinity -- three Persons who were at the same time separate, but one. As she went through theological gymnastics trying to help us understand, ultimately she conceded that it was a mystery...mystery with a capital “M”!

At the time my classmates and I felt it was a bit of a “cop-out” on her part. But, now almost 50 years later I have come to see her wisdom, and have come to be comfortable with and truly enjoy the concept of mystery.

We live in a society that demands to know all things; to have concrete explanations for everything. Everything is “googleable”! But the reality is that ultimately God is beyond our understanding...beyond even Google!

Today I realize that I am part of a religious tradition that has passed on a faith -- a faith filled with mystery and awe in our God.

There is a consensus of our ancestors that harbors “revealed truths” that are essentials of our faith that will always lie just beyond our capacity to fully understand.

The Holy Spirit has been sent into our hearts to lead us headlong into “The Mystery”...to live out in concrete terms what we say we believe even though we may not fully understand.

Our lack of understanding has no impact on The Mystery itself... The Mystery desires us and loves us just as we are...conflicted and wrestling with our faith.

The principle of unshakeable human dignity is grounded in the faith conviction that we are made in the image and likeness of God. If we are made in the image of God, this means the Trinity, our personhood and consequently our dignity may be more than we imagine it to be. In the Trinity, three Persons engage in a mutual and self-giving activity that is so complete it makes them a dynamic unity. This activity has been characterized as a relational dance. If we are made like this, as persons we are essentially plural, there is an ongoing interrelating, an interpersonal flow of energy. We are essentially social beings, in relationship to others, in relationship to The Mystery by the very essence of who we are!

One of the most important realities is that we remain engaged... wrestling with our faith...engaged with God...wrestling with the Holy Trinity!

But when all is said and done what is most important is that we remain engaged in the struggle for understanding...and we open our hearts and minds to the Holy Spirit, the bringer of wisdom.

And what wisdom and understanding is the Holy Spirit trying to bring us today in the midst of the light that is being shined on the darkness, of the SIN of the systemic racism and bigotry that is woven into the very fabric of our nation? What wisdom is being brought to us about the heart-breaking gun violence in our society and what we should be doing about it?

How comfortable am I with the concept of “mystery” of not fully understanding? How am I engaged in living out my faith? What am I wrestling with at this point in my faith journey?

Blessings,
Fr. Tim

June 5, 2022

6/4/2022

Happy birthday to the Church, to this parish community of Our Lady Queen of Peace and to the Spiritan Community. We are thankful for the Holy Spirit’s coming upon Mary the other disciples on that amazing and shocking Pentecost so many centuries ago. An event that unleashed a religious revolution that has, down through the centuries, in one way or another impacted the whole world.

We are thankful for our courageous Black Catholic sisters and brothers who, filled with the Holy Spirit, went to Richmond to meet with the bishop and ask for a parish of their own where they could worship in dignity and be treated with love and respect. And we are thankful for the Spiritan Congregation who responded to the call from the Bishop of Richmond to come to Arlington and working with the first thirteen Black Catholic Families to start a new Black Catholic Church community. We are thankful to all my brother Spiritans who have shepherded this parish community for 77 years. We offer a prayer of gratitude for all the parishioners and clergy who have gone before us, filled with the Holy Spirit and labored to create this wonderful parish community. Happy 77th anniversary to Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish Community!

St. Augustine said that the Spirit blows where the Spirit wills...not exactly comforting if you are someone who likes things neat and orderly or if you prefer to have life all figured out and neatly packaged. Most of us would prefer to see life’s decisions as right or wrong, good or bad...as if everything in life were black and white. The problem with life is that most of the time we are living in the grey, everything is not black and white! This is where the Holy Spirit offers counsel, the challenge is to be open to the Spirit’s counsel! The Holy Spirit blows where it wills and inspires and guides whomever it chooses, whenever and wherever it chooses.

Most of us get use to a particular routine and we find comfort in doing things in particular ways and we find discomfort when our routine gets changed by outside influences or when we are forced to do things in a different or new way. It is no different in the church, we all get comfortable in the way we worship, in the way we pray, in the way we sing, in what we sing, and then when change comes we suddenly are set off center and we feel “off balance” at the change or new ways.
This reality has probably never been clearer or truer than during this COVID pandemic. First closing all masses to the public and then reopening but with restrictions on how many could come back and how we would reassemble! All this without any certainty on when we will be able to return to something that looks like it used to look and feel.

But what we do know is we will all return, when it is safe for everyone, and we can once more raise our voices in full song without masks and we can once again greet our sisters and brothers with a sign of the peace of Christ! And we can all come forward to the Table of the Lord!

It has been said that, there is one constant in life and that is change. We recognize how difficult all the changes, due to COVID-19, have been for all us, from the youngest to the oldest of not just our parish community but for people around the entire world.

I am sure that many in the church today see the Pope’s challenge to live a radically gospel centered life as a change from what they were used to, a change in what they thought it meant to be a Catholic.

In answering the Gospel’s call, Pope Francis has called us out of the church building and into the streets to be a “field hospital” where binding up the wounds of the poor and brokenhearted is a priority.

The Pope is following the call of Christ, who calls us to be a welcoming presence to immigrants and refugees, to seek out the lost and forsaken and to “be” the word of peace in the presence of war, to “be” the word of love spoken to the lonely and marginalized of the world, to “be” the word of justice and equality spoken in the midst of racial injustice and exclusion.
As well, we are called to be care takers of creation, to take responsibility for the way we live on the planet; personally, communally, nationally and internationally.

While all of this can all seem overwhelming, we need to remember that we are not called to do all this by ourselves but rather as a community filled with, and guided by, the Holy Spirit. It is in and through the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit within us and around us that we are able to do all good things! As we celebrate the great feast of Pentecost let each of us ask ourselves to where and to what is the Holy Spirit calling me in my life?

Happy 77th anniversary Our Lady Queen of Peace!

Pentecost Blessings,
Fr. Tim

June 26, 2022

June 19, 2022

June 12, 2022

June 5, 2022

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