Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Church - Arlington, VA
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August 29, 2021

8/27/2021

 
The second reading from Paul this Sunday reminds us of our responsibility to care for the vulnerable populations in our society. In first century Palestine widows and the orphans were the most vulnerable, the poorest of the poor. They had no one to watch out for them and the Law and the Prophets commanded that it was the responsibility of the rest of the community of Israel to care for them.

The Psalmist reminds us that “the one who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.” Jesus chastises the Pharisees and the Scribes for adhering to the “letter of the Law” and not living the “Spirit of the Law”.

Jesus turns their world upside down and confronts them with the truth that what is in a person’s heart is more important than simply adhering to precepts of the law. The message of God’s Word challenges us to “do justice”; to allow the Holy Spirit that dwells within us to transform our hearts from deep within.

Jesus challenges each one of us to become new creations and soar beyond the smallness and stinginess of our human societies and join in building up the Reign of God -- a place where all people are valued, loved and cared for as sisters and brothers.

This message is so on spot as we struggle through the horrific and painful natural disasters that have decimated countries like Haiti and parts of our own country. How do we respond to the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Afghanistan, and all the terror reigning down upon innocent women, children and men by the Taliban and Isis-K. How will we accept and embrace the immigrants from Afghanistan and welcome them into our communities and make them feel like our sisters and brothers?

Join me this week as I reflect on; How am I actively doing justice in my daily life? Who are the poor and vulnerable in my life that I am called to care for? What do I need to do in order let go and let the Holy Spirit take the lead in my life? What do I need to do in order let go and let the Holy Spirit take the lead in my life that I may be a person of hope in the midst of such dark and troubling times?
​

Blessings,
Fr Tim 


August 22, 2021

8/20/2021

 
“And some of them found his words too hard and just walked away”! Can you imagine it? There you are following Jesus all around Judea, watching him do astounding things -- raising the dead, restoring sight to the blind, healing the sick. He’s preach- ing the coming of the Reign of God, you’re hanging on his every word filled with a deep sense that somehow the whole world is about to change...and then he says something that is so bizarre, so totally out of bounds that even having seen him perform miracles, you just can’t be a part of it anymore and so you walk away from him and return to your former way of life!

That is what today’s Gospel says happened to some of Jesus’ disciples. What words could be so powerful? How disappointed they must have been thinking they had found the Messiah, hav- ing personally witnessed Jesus’ astounding power, having been mesmerized by his words and vision of the Reign of God...until he told them they had to eat his flesh and drink his blood; that he was the “bread of life come down from heaven. It was just too much!

When I reflect on this Gospel reading I can’t help but think of all the times and ways in which “I have just walked away”; when I felt that it was all just too much! I have a sense that I am not alone in my walking away. But the wonder of it is that when I feel that way it seems that Jesus always calls me back! He’s not willing to let me be and just walk away. And curiously enough, given the context of this Gospel, it is usually Eucharist that calls me back!

And it’s not just me, I hear it over and over again from people who have tried to walk away...but just can’t break loose from
the “pull” of the Eucharist. While we are free to walk away...God never just lets us go...God continues to follow after us...hunting us down like the “The Hound of Heaven”. I think it is also interesting to note that this total gift of self, by Jesus in the Eucharist, was precisely what caused some disciples to walk away -- they left at Jesus’ total gift of himself to them! It was just too much for them to be able to comprehend and to accept that we are so loved by God that God’s very self is made food for us.

And it is that same God who searches us out when we walk away...bringing us back home. And today in the midst of all the suffering and pain, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, millions dying, millions more gravely ill and their families suffer- ing along with them, God is here with us right this moment, weeping with us for all those who are sick and those who are suffering. In the midst of the horrible suffering of the people of Haiti and the people of Afghanistan God is with them in the midst of their sorrow and suffering. And God touches our hearts to reach out to them in their misery, to help them, to speak out on their behalf as their voices are silenced or ignored!

As we are so fortunate to be able to gather around the table of the Lord, to be nourished by his very body, let us not “walk away” for we are filled by this divine presence within us, emboldened to go forth from here and fight for all those who suffer and are burdened, for that is our call as disciples of Jesus Christ! To do as Christ did!

Blessings,
Fr Tim 


August 15, 2021

8/14/2021

 
This Sunday we celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary...and we recall the wondrous words of Mary spoken to her cousin Elizabeth... “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant...the Almighty has done great things for me...

These words have always touched me very deeply... they speak of a deep and profound love between Mary and God. Imagine your spirit “rejoicing in God” your savior! Imagine your soul proclaiming the greatness of God!

These profound words of Mary are the very heart of the Christian mystical tradition...to be so in love with God that your very “being” explodes with joy...with an inability to contain this love. This proclamation of Mary’s love has become known as the “Magnificat” and is prayed each evening by Christians throughout the world at evening prayer. Even after all the years I have prayed these words they still touch me deep- ly...and call me to open my heart, ever more, to God.

Can I list one or two “great things” God has done for me? How does my soul proclaim the greatness of God? The ways of God are not the ways of the world: scattering the proud, casting down the mighty, lifting up the lowly, giving to the hungry, and sending the rich away empty. Clearly the arrival of the messiah means that business-as-usual is no long- er the order of day. How can my daily schedule reflect God’s agenda for the world?
​

Blessings,
Fr Tim 


August 8, 2021

8/6/2021

 
This Sunday we reflect on the Eucharist as we hear Jesus pro- claim that what God asks of us is to believe in Jesus whom he sent into the world. Jesus promises that the bread he provides does so much more than just satisfy our physical hunger — it satisfies our deepest hungers. Jesus makes a clear connection between believing in him, as the one sent by the Father, and believing in his real presence in this “bread sent down from heaven”. Jesus wants the people to understand that this bread that he is offering is no ordinary bread, but rather “divine food” given because of God’s love for them.
​

Over two thousand years later we still struggle to comprehend this mystery...Jesus’ real living presence in the bread...blessed, broken and shared. As a Eucharistic Community our gathering focuses on Jesus’ real presence in our midst...as we are gathered by his love. The extravagant gift of himself to us is not just for us...but for the sake of the world — for this world caught in the midst of a horrific pandemic, with millions dead and more and more infected each day. But there is hope! We are called to be the real manifestations of hope for all those who are fearful, lonely and sick, to reach out to them, to be the “real presence” for them and to them.

The real challenge for us is to understand that as we gather for Eucharist, it is not just for our personal salvation...but that we are commissioned and sent forth to take that real presence of Jesus Christ out into a broken and wounded world. We are called to be “Christ-bearers”, bringing the healing presence of Jesus Christ to all those we meet but especially to those most in need: the marginalized, the immigrant and migrant, the disenfranchised minorities subjected to systemic racism, bigotry, misogyny and intolerance.

We are emboldened to speak truth to power, both secular and religious, we are called to speak out against the sins of our nation and of our church. This “real presence” within us emboldens us to be true disciples of Christ in action in the world build- ing up the Reign of God so the world might be, not as we have made it, but as God has dreamt it to be — a world of peace and justice, a world of equity and harmony where all people’s dignity is honored and respected! And where the earth itself is respected and cared for!

And so I believe we need to ask ourselves: to whom have I recently been “the real presence” of Jesus? How do I share this “real presence” with my family and friends? To whom is God calling me to be “the real presence” to so that they might know how deeply and passionately they are loved by God?

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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Saturday: Vigil Mass at 5:30 pm
Sunday: 8 am, 9:30 am, 11:15 am, 1 pm (Spanish),
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