Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Church - Arlington, VA
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August 28, 2022

8/27/2022

 
The Word of God came to our ancestors within a very specific socio-historical, geographic, political and religious context.

In today’s Gospel reading Jesus challenges several social norms of his culture...he challenges the negative connotations surrounding humility and social status.

Jesus encourages us to consider “taking a lower seat” at the banquet table rather than seeking a place of honor. He warns that if you seek places of honor, you may well be asked to step down when someone of greater importance shows up to the banquet...implying that there is always someone of higher status than yourself.

No doubt Jesus is hinting that we need to cultivate an attitude of humility...last week’s Gospel warned us that at the heavenly banquet “some who are first in this world will be last in the Kingdom and some who are last in this world will be first will be first in the Great Banquet.”

True humility is based on understanding and accepting who we really are in grand scheme of the universe. And not allowing “self-importance” to get in the way of our discipleship of Jesus Christ.

Humility is not born of a lack of self-esteem or rooted in self-loathing, but rather, comes from knowing our true place in the world, and accepting God’s deep and passionate love for each one of us.

So, we do not seek to wallow in self-pity or in curating a poor self-image; no, we are called to humbly rejoice in the fact that we are the beloved of God.

And, we are called to acknowledge that each of our sisters and brothers are also the beloved of God, regardless of their social status or life conditions.

Our sacred scriptures tell us that the humble will be raised up and the mighty will be brought low...clearly it is better to be among the lowly who God will raise up than to be one of the haughty who will be brought low.

How do I understand humility? Am I comfortable taking “a lower seat” at the banquet or do I seek out the seats of honor? How does accepting God’s deep and passionate love for me humble me?
​

Blessings,
Fr. Tim 

August 21, 2022

8/19/2022

 
​This weekend’s readings challenge us to understand “the other” as “ourselves”. The concept of “otherness” is a reality that allows for discrimination, persecution, racial and ethnic profiling …for hatred of “others”!

When we fail to see our common humanity then we believe that we are “different” from one another and then we see them as “other”. And from this we can come to believe that we are superior or better than the one who is different from ‘my clan’, those who are like me.

This concept of “other” often creates a situation where the one who is “other” is dehumanized and degraded. Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream…a dream where everyone was equal…where there were no “others”…only “us”!

This dream of MLK’s was a “Kingdom dream”…the Kingdom of God…and he saw this dream because he had “Kingdom vision”…Martin Luther King lived as if “the Kingdom of God” was here and now!

In the Gospel we hear this weekend that Jesus tells us to be very careful about who we believe is on the inside and who is outside…because we might be the ones who end up on the outside, precisely because we separated “others” out and made them “outsiders”!

Jesus tells us a “cautionary tale” of “otherness”! Jesus is seeking to tell us that there is no “other”…we are all the children of God…including all the migrants and immigrants around the world, like those at our southern border! Jesus is telling us we are all sisters and brothers, beloved children of God!

Regardless of the color of our skin, the place or circumstance of our birth, or our social status or our religious or political affiliation or our gender, each and every one of us is connected as a beautiful creation of God -- as Martin Luther King proclaimed, whatever happens to one of us happens to all of us!

Imagine if we lived like that…that is what Jesus did for us on the cross! What would our world look like, what would our political conversation sound like? Would we be banning books in our schools just because they were written by people of color or because they tell stories challenging racism or books that raise up stories of inclusion and representation to our children? These books written in the hopes that they will help our children grow up to build a society where diversity is celebrated and those who are “other” are welcomed and made to feel loved and accepted -- as my sister and brother, just as they are, beloved children of God!

What am I willing to do to break down the barriers that separate me from “the other”? Do I really believe that “we” are all God’s children, loved equally by God? What does that mean for me? How might that challenge how I live my life? Who do I see as “other”?

Blessings,
Fr. Tim

August 14, 2022

8/12/2022

 
The readings this weekend are filled with challenge and excitement at the same time. It seems like we are revisiting the question of “the cost of discipleship” once again!

In the first reading we have “the reluctant prophet” Jerimiah who, when God calls him to speak a prophetic word to the people, responds with “truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy”.

Jerimiah eventually finds his voice but it almost costs him his life when his prophecy leads to his being thrown into a cistern to die.

Then in the second reading St. Paul reminds us that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses but there is a race that lies ahead of us and that running that race may cost us our lives. But we nonetheless are called by our discipleship to “run the race.” That is, to actively live out our discipleship by our daily way of life.

And in the Gospel, Jesus recognizes that not everyone who has heard his word or seen his miracles will believe in him. Jesus also recognizes that faith in him will be the source of division on all levels, both communal and familial.

And yet his zeal and excitement for preaching the Reign of God is like a blazing fire already setting the world afire!
Jesus knows that discipleship comes at a cost! A cost that he wants his disciples to understand. He wants them to understand just what they may have to pay for their discipleship.

Putting our discipleship into action and standing against unjust political policies that hurt the immigrant, the poor or the marginalized may get us labeled unpatriotic. Questioning the ethics behind a particular practice at our work place may get us labeled difficult or insubordinate. Standing up to a bully at school on behalf of another may get us labeled all kinds of nasty things meant to shun us.

Standing up and demanding racial justice and calling for an end to all forms of bigotry, misogyny and an end to the intolerance and rejection of immigrants and refugees, standing with the chronically underemployed, with Muslims and people of other faiths and with the LGBTQ+ community…standing up for the rights of others may get us called unpatriotic but it is clearly living out the call of the Gospel, living out Jesus’ call to discipleship!

Answering God’s call to be prophets in the midst of a self-centered and angry world is a tall order, but God does not ask of us that which we cannot do!

Living our discipleship, following God’s call is no easier for us that it was for Jerimiah or for Paul. We need to remember that we do not run the race alone but that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses and filled with the very presence of the Risen Christ…thus we are able to set the world ablaze by manifesting the Reign of God by what we say and do! What is the cost of my discipleship? How will I show forth my discipleship this week?

Blessings,
Fr. Tim

August 7, 2022

8/5/2022

 
In the first two readings this weekend we are reminded that we walk by faith and not by sight -- Abraham and Sarah journeyed an unknown path to an unknown land following the invitation and promise of God to become the parents of a new people, who would become as countless as the sands on the seashore.

In the Gospel, once again Jesus encourages and admonishes the disciples to focus on the Reign of God and not to seek security in the things of this world... and to be ready when the “Master” returns because much will be demanded from the one to whom much has been given.

This weekend’s readings suggest our faith is based on a God who has so generously blessed us...and the future to which we are called is beyond our wildest dreams!

But we live, now, in a world that is filled with fear and insecurity where millions of people are made refugees. A world where the majority of all human beings go to bed hungry each night. We live in a world rife with corruption and the oppression of the poor. And yet, these are the very people who walk in faith, who continue to journey toward that “promised land” believing that God’s Word is more powerful than the cruel hand of any dictator or the sufferings caused by being poor and without power in a world that seems not to care.

How will they be led to “the promised land?” Who will feed them in their hunger? The Gospel answers these questions: we are the stewards of “the household” left in charge “to distribute the food allowance at the proper time.” NOW is the proper time!

We are the ones called to shelter the homeless, to welcome the stranger and to offer freedom to the oppressed!

We are called “to be” the Reign of God! It is our responsibility to reach out to all those in need and all who are suffering and lend a hand...to pull them up out of their poverty and suffering...to do as Jesus did!

And this will require, for many of us, that we shift our focus in life from “securing the things of this world” to “seeking the Reign of God first”.

Imagine for a moment what the world would look like if we all truly sought the Reign of God first...imagine...I think we wouldn’t be dealing with mass shootings and all the gun violence, nor would we have the humanitarian crisis that we do on our southern border!

We wouldn’t be living in a country torn apart by fearmongering, systemic racism, bigotry and misogyny. If we all made building up the Reign of God a priority our world would look very different!

In what ways do I seek the Reign of God first in my life? What might I have to change in my life to make “building up the Reign of God” a greater priority?

What are the greatest social sins that I see today that hold back “the Reign of God from bursting forth...and what can I do to change that social sin?

Let us talk about this as a faith community; let us have the difficult conversations about white privilege and racial equity-- let us be the conversation starters in the our community and in our local church!
​

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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