Today’s Gospel focuses on the lost being found…a sheep that wandered off…a coin misplaced and finally a rebellious child who had gone far from home. By this point in the Gospel the religious leaders have become increasingly displeased at the “type of people” that Jesus has been hanging out with and eating with…sinners and tax collectors, the sick, the poor and the
marginalized and “the lost.” Aware of their anger he tells three short stories…each one designed to drive home exactly why he is doing what he is doing…attempting to reorient their understanding of the sinner and the tax collector… “the lost”. He is trying to tell them that God’s love, mercy and forgiveness is for everyone and it is not held back from anyone…regardless of their actions or status in life!

Arguably, the best known of these three stories is “the prodigal son” and with good reason as it is so jarring to our sense of what is right and what is fair. Each of the three main characters has an insight into human relationships or our relationship with God. But what always seems to take center stage are the lavish actions of the father. His love for his child is so great that it overpowers any other feelings that he might have had…disappointment, sadness or anger…they are all completely overpowered and blown away by his love for his child and his “thrill” at his child’s return!

And that is what Jesus is trying to get across to the Pharisees and religious leaders…that God’s love for us is so great that there is nothing that can hold it back from being poured out upon each one of us regardless of how great a “sinner” we may be! God’s forgiveness is LAVISHED upon us…the real challenge is to “live like the forgiven” …and to lavishly offer our love and forgiveness to others. Imagine what the world might look like if all of us throughout the world who claim to be disciples of Jesus were “lavish” in our love of the marginalized, “the lost”, the refugee and the immigrant…how different this humanitarian crisis at our southern border might look. Imagine if we lavished our love on those who are different from us, different by the color of their skin, different by their politics or religion or country of origin or sexual orientation or gender or age or economic status…imagine if we were all lavish with our love and forgiveness…just imagine! What would I need to let go of…or begin to do in order to better “live like the forgiven”? Who are “the lost” in my country, my neighborhood, my school, my family?...Who most need me to lavish love and forgiveness upon them?

Blessings,
Fr Tim

A real deal breaker…in today’s Gospel we hear Jesus utter the words that no doubt sent a flood of people walking away from him; walking away from discipleship! Not only did he tell them that they had to renounce their family and all their possessions but, that they would have to suffer as well and carry their cross! How this must have stung their ears because in their culture family was everything. Family gave you your “identity” …you knew your place in the society and how to act and interact with others based on your identity which was rooted in your family. So to renounce your family would be tantamount to renouncing your identity…which it seems is exactly what Jesus was attempting to do…to help his disciples to let go of the old identity and to develop a new identity as disciples of Jesus Christ...as members of a new family. To do this Jesus wanted them to leave behind their old life and all its trappings and to be willing to walk with him, knowing that it would be a difficult journey. It was all about living their discipleship, putting it into action each and every day…full on, all the way! Membership in this “new family” would now be the source of their new identity; the source of knowing how to act and interact with others, and during this “Season of Creation” we have to examine our relationship with the earth as well!

How we live on the earth and how we “use” the earth, how we consume and what we consume. Being good disciples means being good stewards of “our common home”. How does my membership in “the family of disciples of Jesus” inform my daily actions and interactions with others and with the earth? How do I keep God at the center of my busy daily life?

Blessings,
Fr Tim

This weekend we find ourselves reflecting on several themes in the readings. This is due to us celebrating both World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation and Labor Day. In the first reading from the book of Genesis we hear of the creation of the earth and the heavens as well the creation of Adam and the garden of Eden and human’s job to cultivate and care for the earth. We know the story well and know that the garden of Eden becomes the home of Eve and Adam, a place of beauty and harmony, at least for a time. It is theirs to labor in the garden and cultivate the land and care for it. Just as we too are called to do the same today, and yet, it seems that instead of caring for our common home, we have quite literally set it afire. We have polluted our rivers, lakes and oceans and deforested it and poisoned the land with pesticides. And we continue to pollute the very air we breathe. Pope Francis has called us to join together and to respond immediately to the environmental crisis we find ourselves living in at this very moment. Climate change is real and undeniable! We humans, by the manner in which we have lived have brought about this crisis and we must act NOW, working together with people from around the world to find ways to reduce our carbon footprint and find ways to decrease our consumption. We must work to clean our oceans, lakes and rivers. We must find ways to clean the land we have poisoned with chemicals and replant what we have deforested. We have to remember that the earth was made for us as a “common home”; a place that we are responsible to love and care for. Not a place to consume and use thoughtlessly without regard for the consequences of our actions. As we join with people around the world to celebrate the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, let us commit ourselves to live more simply and consume less, to become more conscious of what and how we consume and what impact that reality has on our planet and on our sisters and brothers.

And finally, this Labor Day weekend let us remember that “Catholic teaching holds that central to promoting the dignity of work and rights of workers is building solidarity with and among workers. The Church has long looked towards the important role played by labor unions in the effort to protect the needs and rights of workers in situations of inequality and injustice” (see Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, no. 305, taken from USCCB Labor Day Pastoral Aid). Let us pray for workers’ rights around the world, for fair and just wages, healthcare, paid time off, family leave and safe working conditions.

Blessings,
Fr Tim

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 are able to believe that we are “different” from one another and then we see them as “other”. 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 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! It is 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, counting those at our southern border! We are all “sisters and brothers”! Each and every one of us is connected…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 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 and 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

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” Jeremiah 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”. Jeremiah 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. And in the Gospel Jesus recognizes that not everyone who has heard his word or seen his miracles will believe in him. He 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 and he wants his disciples 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, speaking out for gun control any of these realities 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. Living our discipleship is no easier for us than it was for Jeremiah 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 vary presence of the Risen Christ…thus are we 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

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 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.” 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 most 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, 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?

Blessings,
Fr Tim

Today’s Gospel parable asks us to consider our wealth and how we use it. 1st Century Palestine was a “limited goods” society; so amassing great quantities of “stuff” meant that someone else did not have enough. It was not a capitalist society of consumers in the same way as we are today. The parable is about the rich man who focuses his life on acquiring more and more for himself while ignoring the Reign of God and the needs of others. He has ignored what is important to God and focused only on himself and his 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. 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 consumerist society tells us that we need to consume, 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 relationship with God and with one another. Academic study after study has shown that the accumulation of wealth does not make people happier; on the other hand, clearly poverty causes great 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.

Do my possessions ever get in the way of my relationship with God or with others and my ability to care for the poor and those in need? How do I keep God at the center of my day? What is the difference in my life between what I want and what I need?

Blessings,
Fr Tim

"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 we encounter God. How is it then that such great injustices, racism, bigotry and misogyny, are so prevalent in our “Christian” society? Racism, bigotry and misogyny are outright sins and need to be called 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 are committed more and more frequently and without appropriate consequences.

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 their society….and Jesus defends this unacceptable 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 uphold the laws that created a patriarchal society that clearly valued men over 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 separate immigrant children from their parents, housing them in inhumane and heartless conditions, turning away legitimate asylum seekers and immigrants fleeing violence, poverty, seeking a better life for themselves and their families. As disciples we have to ask ourselves what are we doing in the face of the racism, bigotry and misogyny that plagues our nation? How can we work to build justice, to call out the racism, bigotry 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?

Blessings,
Fr Tim

This Sunday’s Gospel is without doubt one of the most famous in all of scripture. 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 the one hand we have sinful waste and staggering excess and on the other hand we have huge numbers of our sisters and brothers living in cruel poverty…and so very many of our citizens seem to not care at all. Our political discourse has degraded to an increasingly violent and vitriolic disdain 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 this is 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 and 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 despised 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 despised him? God cries out to us to be compassionate and kind toward others especially those in need, especially to those whom our society marginalizes and despises. 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

This week’s gospel reading recounts “the sending out of the seventy-two” disciples to preach 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 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 have just celebrated 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 housed… are the thirsty quenched…are the hungry satisfied…are immigrants and migrants welcomed? 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 and migrant 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.

Blessings,
Fr Tim