Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Church - Arlington, VA
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    • Just a Thought...or two...
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    • Live-stream Schedule & Special Mass Programs
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September 26, 2021

9/24/2021

 
In last week’s Gospel the disciples quarreled amongst themselves over who was the greatest, this week they are incensed at the audacity of an “outsider” who acts as though he is part of the “insiders”; the twelve. But Jesus cautions John not to be so quick in his judgment of the man casting out daemons in Jesus’ name. Well-meaning and upstanding disciples are routinely aghast at the thought of including “less than upstanding members of our society” in “the family of God”. “But Lord,” they say, then as today, “what about standards? What about criteria? How can you admit anyone, no matter what’s contained in their past, no matter how unsuitable their present?”

Maybe “the best people” will decide not to be associated with the Kingdom as Jesus presents it...after all they have attained righteousness all by themselves, through their own efforts and how can Jesus ask them to share the Kingdom with sinners, tax collectors and the like? These people, even on their best day, with their best effort, could never attain the Kingdom...except for God’s grace! Thank God for “grace”!

I don’t know about them but I’m relying on that non- exclusive, saving, grace...yesterday, today and tomorrow!  When behavior excludes people of goodwill who are doing the best they can, like Eldad and Medad, like the man in the Gospel, such exclusion becomes the very antithesis of what is demanded of us as followers of Jesus Christ!

When we do what we do in God’s name for the good of others, we become equal in each other’s sight, as we always have been in God’s sight.

Discipleship is difficult, it challenges the way we live, the way we think and the way we view the world around us. Discipleship calls us to be our best selves, as God has created us to be, as God has dreamt us to be in the world and to live with each other and to care for the world, our common home.

God gives us the grace we need to live up to that dream that God has for us and for the world as a whole. And the Eucharist helps strengthens us for the task of living out our discipleship to the best of our abilities.

Through God’s grace we can help build up the Reign of God in the here and now through our “good works” for the sake of “the other”!

Do I exclude anyone from my life? Do I look down on anyone? Can I believe that God deeply and passionately loves us all, just as we are, even those whom I might think unworthy?

Blessings,
Fr Tim 


September 19, 2021

9/17/2021

 
In the second reading James warns us that where there is jealousy and selfish ambition there is disorder and every foul practice -- sounds so familiar and exactly why Pope Francis has decried clericalism and careerism within the church, which no doubt is directly connected to the failure of so many of the bishops to remove abusive priests.

James goes on to say that wisdom is from above and is pure; peaceable, gentle and full of mercy and is sincere.

In the Gospel Jesus catches the disciples in a moment of jealousy and selfish ambition, arguing amongst themselves who was most important, who was the greatest of the group.

He called them together and took a child, understand- ing that children were of the most vulnerable class and had no social status, and he told them that we must stop striving to be first, or to be the greatest and the most recognized.

We must rather focus on welcoming the poor, the vulnerable, the outcast and the weak, like the child, then
we welcome him, and we welcome the One who sent him! In

Last week’s Gospel Jesus told them that unless they were willing to lose their lives for him and for the sake of the Gospel, they would not save their lives. Today we hear that by reaching out to “the other” we save our lives.

Jesus calls us to refocus our lives not on ourselves but on the poor and the vulnerable. Jesus calls us to look at the world with different eyes, with “Gospel eyes”, to see the world as God sees it, to love the world as God loves it. To love our neighbor as ourselves. And the reality is that “all people” are our neighbors!

And so I believe that I need to ask myself what part of my world view could use a Gospel shift? What personal ambitions might I need to let go of or modify to live a more Gospel centered life? Who is the most vulnerable person in my life right now, that I can reach out to let them know they are deeply and passionately loved by God and are not alone in this world...and how can I help manifest that love?
​

Blessings,
Fr Tim 


September 12, 2021

9/10/2021

 
Throughout the Gospels Jesus is drawn to the outcasts, to poor and the marginalized. We see him time and time again reaching out to the leper and unclean; to people that he should have avoided but instead he embraced.

It is precisely in his embracing of the “suffering ones” that I believe Jesus’ identity shines forth. In today’s Gospel Jesus asks the disciples “But who do you say that I am?”.  And Peter, correctly, responds, “You are the Christ!”, to which Jesus responds by telling them to keep it to themselves and not tell anyone who he really is.

Jesus then goes on to tell them that even though he is the Messiah, he is going to suffer greatly, be rejected by the religious leaders and ultimately be killed! He tells them that anyone who wishes to follow him must deny themselves and pick up their cross and follow him and whoever loses their life for him and for the sake of the Gospel will save their life!

Jesus is letting them all know that they too are going to be beat- en, stripped and spit upon just like he will be as he will make his way to Golgotha.

Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem and to the cross was a journey of em- bracing all of those who suffer under the weight of their crosses -- crosses placed upon them by human traffickers, by unjust immigration policies. An embracing of those who bear the weight of the crosses of systemic racism, bigotry and misogyny and social marginalization. On his journey to the cross Jesus aligned himself with all the victims of abuse by clergy, by church leaders, and anyone abused physically, sexually or emotionally. He is the Son of the God, the one Isaiah spoke of who walked with the weak and vulnerable. Just as he embraced those whom others recoiled from or found unworthy or “out of place”...as his followers we are called to embrace them and welcome them.

We are called to reach out to the victims of abuse in our church and to call out and demand that their voices be heard. In the midst of a nation so divided we are called to be voices of unity to those who are marginalized and threatened because of the color of their skin or their nationality or their gender or orientation.

We are called to be voices of welcome to all those who are being turned away and chased down and deported. We are called to be voices of welcome to the thousands of Afghan refugees who are seeking a new life in our country.

On this 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 9/11, we are called to carry the cross of all of those who lost their lives in the attacks and in the ensuing wars and the families and loved ones they left behind, whose lives are forever scared and changed.

All the afore mentioned people are the crucified whose crosses, like Simon of Cyrene, we may help to carry, even if for just a few steps on their long journey. And in the carrying of their crosses, we may come to know them just a little better and to see Christ present in them...whose cross might I help carry? Who might I let help carry my cross?
​

Blessings,
Fr Tim 


September 5, 2021

9/3/2021

 
In the second reading St. James speaks to us about the importance of showing the same impartiality to others that God shows to us. If God doesn't make distinctions between rich and poor, then who are we to do so?

In fact, if there is to be any partiality to be shown, it should be shown to the poor whom God chooses to be the people through whom the kingdom of God is passed on to the rest of humanity. Today we call this “a preferential option for the poor”, a corner stone of Catholic Social Teaching.

Throughout the Gospels we see Jesus doing the same. Jesus not only attracted but invited and reached out to the poor, the sick, the sinner and the social outcast. His message of God’s deep and profound love for all of us was most strikingly demonstrated in his care and concern for those who were marginalized by his society. He continually reached out to and raised up the “the least ones” of his society.

Often enough they were people who others found a bit uncomfortable to be around...they were not the ones given seats of honor at banquets or at synagogues, they were the ones that most people would cross to the other side of the street in order to avoid contact with them.

In the ancient world very often sickness was tethered to sin; it was thought to be a punishment from God. Remember when Jesus and a group of followers encountered the man born blind and they asked Jesus: who sinned, this man or this parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, “Neither, this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.” (John 9: 1-3).

So, the man we encounter in today’s Gospel was most likely thought to be a sinner by some and yet Jesus immediately responds to the request to heal him -- no questions about who he is or what his back- ground was. Jesus responds with compassion and heals him and thus restores him to bodily wholeness and restores him to his community, for no one could any longer claim his illness as a sign of his sinfulness.

It’s completely understandable that we all want our lives to be prosperous and neat and tidy and full of agreeable people, but what do we do when “other things happen” and “other folks” show up—the same kinds of marginal situations and people Jesus himself loved and welcomed? In the midst of so much division, hurt and anger in our world, our country and in our church, how is the Holy Spirit calling me to respond to “the other”?

I think these readings today beg the question: how do I show my preferential option for the poor? Who do I seat at the head of my table?

We need to ask ourselves: on what realities or qualities do I judge the value of other people...by their clothes, their occupation, by where they live, their politics, by who they love, how attractive they are, by their physical abilities, their gender, or where they were born, by the color of their skin, by their immigration status...?

Or, filled with the Holy Spirit are we able to see them as they truly are, based on the reality of their identity as children of God, our sisters, our brothers, the beloved of 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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