Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Church - Arlington, VA
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  • About Us
    • Staff >
      • Parish Administration & Communication
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    • Just a Thought...or two...
    • Learning Alley
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    • Our History
    • Gallery
  • Worship
    • Mass Times and Schedule
    • Live-stream Schedule & Special Mass Programs
    • Liturgical Ministries
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    • Faith Formation 2022-2023 >
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July 31, 2022

7/29/2022

 
In today’s Gospel, Jesus’ parable asks us to consider our wealth and how we use it. It is a cautionary tale for sure. First Century Palestine was a “limited goods” society, which meant that they understood that there was a limited amount of goods to be had by all persons; so it was believed that when one person amassed great wealth it meant it was at the expense of someone else not having enough.

It was not a capitalist society of consumers in the same way as we are today. The parable is about a rich man who focuses his life on acquiring more and more for himself while ignoring the Reign of God and the needs of others.

That man in the parable has ignored what is important to God and not focused on the Reign of God, but focused only on himself and on acquiring more and more possessions.

The second reading also warns against greed and calls for us to focus on Christ and the Reign of God. Whereas the first reading cries out that all of life is suffering and empty, and is written through the eyes of someone who lives as if God didn’t matter and they were not cared for or loved by God, they had lost all hope!

But Jesus has called us to live with God at the center of our lives. And so the meaning in our lives is found in God and not in the possessions we accumulate.

Often we hear of people whose lives are burdensome under the weight of their possessions, as if they are “owned by what they own”. Our consumeristic society tells us that we need to consume; it tells us we need to buy more and more “stuff” and in and through having more “stuff” we will find happiness.

But we all know the truth—happiness is not found in “stuff” but rather through a loving relationship with God and loving one another as Jesus loves us.

Academic study after study has shown that the accumulation of wealth does not make people happier. On the other hand, it is glaringly clear that poverty causes great human suffering.

And this is ultimately Jesus’ point about the man in today’s Gospel—instead of thinking of God (who commanded that the poor be cared for), instead of thinking of his neighbors and those who labored in his fields, he thought only of himself and amassing great wealth for himself, that he might eat, drink and be merry. And ultimately it meant nothing as he did not live to use his wealth.

I think these readings call us to ask ourselves a few questions; do my possessions ever get in the way of my relationship with God or my relationships with others and my ability to care for the poor and those in need? How do I keep God at the center of my life each day, and throughout the day? What is the difference in my life between what I want and what I really need?
​

Blessings,
Fr. Tim 

July 22, 2022

7/22/2022

 
In today’s Gospel the disciples ask: Lord teach us how to pray. A simple request but what Jesus teaches is an amazing response! It surely amazed the disciples, to speak to God in such warm and familiar terms.

Think for a moment of reaching out to the Creator of the universe as the “perfect parent,” a loving Mommy or Daddy. It is both intimate and tender. This sets up a whole new world view. It affects how we interact with each other, it affects our stance towards the world, our stance towards life itself!

In place of a distant and impersonal deity, Jesus’ words call us into a relationship with the Creator as a loving and caring parent! That would mean then we are the beloved child!

So then this prayer not only speaks to God’s identity as loving parent but in a very real way proclaims us beloved children of our Abba God.

In this prayer we pronounce that the very name of God is holy, and then we cry out that “God’s way” should prevail both in heaven and on earth. So as we pray for this to be a reality then we are also called to work for it to be so, by the way we live our lives...building up the Reign of God.

As the prayer progresses, we next ask for the necessities of daily life...not for a super abundance, but for “our daily bread”. Just that which we need, not for riches and excess! This request has much to do with how we live on this earth. For instance, it has everything to do with our carbon footprint, with how we care for our common home.

Asking only for “our daily bread”, will then impact the needs of others, especially the poor and the marginalized. If we truly seek “only what is necessary for our lives” then our excess can be shared with those in need. I would argue that this reality is directly connected to the previous request that “God’s way should prevail both in heaven and on earth” -- surely sharing our excess with the poor is building up the Reign of God.

As the prayer moves along, next we ask to be forgiven as we forgive others. This is a very dangerous ask because it seems to be asking to limit God’s forgiveness to the same extent we forgive. Do we really want God’s forgiveness to be modeled on and limited to the manner and nature of our personal forgiveness of others? I am not so sure that is the case.

But I think there is a challenge here for us, to look at how we forgive others, a call to more freely forgive our sisters and brothers. Fortunately, God’s grace and forgiveness is limitless, always available, and just waiting for us to ask for it!

And finally we ask our loving Divine Parent to guide us and guard us as we journey through our day. In the midst of all the “violent words” we hear spoken each day, let us speak these words of intimacy, tenderness and forgiveness. Let us open our hearts to these words and allow them to transform us and our world into a place of peace and healing...into the Reign of God. Amen.
​

Blessings,
Fr. Tim

​

July 17, 2022

7/15/2022

 
They who do justice will live in the presence of the Lord.” The responsorial psalm this weekend tells us that it is by doing justice that we live in the presence of God...it is in and through building justice that we cocreate the Reign of God.

How is it then that such great injustices like racism, bigotry and misogyny are so prevalent in our “Christian” society? Racism, bigotry and misogyny are outright sins and need to be called out for what they are.

Justice demands that we look at the very structure of our society that claims to be built on the ideal of “justice for all persons” and yet clearly, acts contradictory to our notion of all women and men being equal, actions in outright violation of people’s civil rights are committed more and more frequently and without appropriate consequences, especially to people of color!

The reality of “inequality” is seen in the Gospel this weekend: Mary chooses to sit at the feet of Jesus “as a disciple”, a decidedly male role, clearly breaking the norms of her society....and Jesus defends this un-acceptable behavior.

Mary is drawn to Jesus’ words like other women of Jerusalem who broke with tradition and traveled with Jesus to support him in his mission. Jesus did not up-hold the laws that supported a patriarchal society that clearly valued men and devalued women.

This attitude of inclusion that Jesus demonstrates over and over again by eating with sinners, tax collectors and prostitutes shows his willingness to stand up to societal conventions that degraded or dishonored the dignity of a person.

Jesus reached out to the poor and the marginalized and commanded that his disciples do the same and in doing so they would be recognized as his followers.

We simply cannot stand by in silence as our government continues to disrespect and degrade immigrants and refugees, houses them in inhumane and heartless conditions and turn away legitimate asylum seekers and immigrants fleeing violence and poverty -- those seeking a better life for themselves and their families.

In the face of over 300 mass shootings so far this year alone, as disciples of the Prince of Peace, what will our response be? Will we stand up and protest, will we write to our elected officials and demand they outlaw weapons of war and mass destruction or will we give up sensing it is all too much for us to deal with? Then I would ask: “what would Jesus do” in this situation?

As disciples we have to ask ourselves, what are we doing in the face of the sin of institutionalized racism, bigotry and misogyny that plagues our nation?

How can we work together to build true justice for all people, to call out racism, bigotry, white supremacy and misogyny in all its forms whether in our schools, our neighborhoods, our places of work or the highest offices of our government? How will I “do justice” this week? How will I live out my discipleship of Jesus Christ? Filled with the Holy Spirit let us go forth emboldened to build up the Reign of God and be builders of peace and justice!
​

Blessings,
Fr. Tim 

July 10, 2022

7/8/2022

 
This Sunday’s Gospel is without doubt one of the most famous in all of scripture. It is so well known that some states have laws known as “Good Samaritan Laws”. We all know it and we all get the point...or do we? As a “supposedly” predominately Christian nation we certainly fail to live up to it! We find ourselves living in a country of great extremes...on one hand we have absolutely sinful waste and staggering excess and on the other hand we have huge numbers of our sisters and brothers living in cruel poverty...“Save the Children” statistics show that since the pandemic approximately 17 million children in the US live in hunger....and so very many of our citizens seem to not care at all.

Our political discourse has degraded to an increasingly violent and vitriolic distain for not only competing ideas but for the actual persons who hold them. The more hysterical the rhetoric, the more it seems to garner support among what appears to be a callous and uncaring faction of our nation.

Somewhere along the journey we have lost sight of the meaning of the parable of the good Samaritan. Samaritans were considered by some Israelites to be almost “sub-human”. They were often called dogs...not the cute cuddly puppy...but rather the mangy half-starved denizens of the night who wander the dark streets in search of a morsel of food.

And it is a Samaritan precisely who is the hero of Jesus’ story. It is the dehumanized one who acted with humanity; one who acted as God would want us to act. Who was his sister? Who was his brother? Surely not an Israelite who after all most likely hated or despised him... but in the very midst of that knowledge, the Samaritan was moved with pity and cared with gentleness and kindness for the one who, most likely, would not have done the same for him.

This Sunday’s Gospel offers us the chance to reflect on who we wish to be...the heartless priest who passes by... or the good Samaritan who risks being gentle and kind to someone who may have considered him an enemy?

God cries out to us to be compassionate and kind toward others especially those in need, especially to those whom our society marginalize and despise. We know who they are...what are we willing to do for them? Are we willing to risk being good Samaritans? Are we willing to stand up on their behalf and demand justice for them?
​

Blessings,
Fr. Tim 

July 3, 2022

7/1/2022

 
This week’s gospel reading recounts “the sending out of the seventy-two” disciples to preach the bursting forth of the Reign of God. They were preaching this reign that was “at hand” and is still coming upon us. Last week the theme of Sunday’s readings was “God’s call”. And so we reflected on God’s call to each of us, here and now.

God’s call to each of us is at the same time unique for each one of us and yet the same in that we are all called to live in and build up the Reign of God. But are we ready to “live” the Reign of God? Jesus makes it abundantly clear that it will not be easy, and in fact our very lives may be at risk for proclaiming it and “living it”. Jesus cautions us that we are being sent out into the world “like lambs among wolves”.

As we are celebrating the 4th of July, the great “high feast day” of our nation, perhaps we should ask ourselves if we as citizens are working to build a country that reflects the Reign of God? Are the homeless being housed...are the thirsty quenched...are the hungry being fed...are immigrants, migrants and refugees being welcomed? Is achieving true racial justice a national value and goal to which we are actively working? Are these not signs of the bursting forth of the Reign of God?

And when we fail to feed the hungry, to shelter the homeless and to welcome the immigrant, migrant and refugee and when we fail in creating true racial justice, then we fail “the mission”; we fail to build up the Reign of God”! Each of us has been called to build up the Reign of God...to “live” it in the here and now.

Perhaps in light of the celebration of our nation’s birthday we should take a few minutes to reflect on how, we as a nation, and as individuals, are doing living out the mission Jesus gave us and ask ourselves what we might need to do differently, as individuals and as a nation.
​

Blessings,
Fr. Tim 


    Author

    Fr. Tim Hickey, C.S.Sp.

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Our Lady Queen of Peace
2700 South 19th Street
Arlington, Virginia, 22204, USA
703-979-5580 Office
703-979-5590 Fax
office@ourladyqueenofpeace.org
Office hours: Mon-Fri, 8:30 am - 4:30 pm (closed on federal holidays)
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Weekend Mass Schedule
Saturday: Vigil Mass at 5:30 pm
Sunday: 8 am, 9:30 am, 11:15 am, 1 pm (Spanish),
​6 pm (young adult)

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