August 28th 2011: Gospel Reflection

Matthew 16: 21-27

We don’t like to deny ourselves. We are told that it is oppressive or guilt-based to deny ourselves. Instead we are encouraged to get whatever we feel like: food, money, the newest toy, etc. Whether we intend to or not we are formed by this cultural expectation both to get what we want and to get it now. Heck, I get frustrated when I have to wait more than five seconds for my phone to access the internet or for the car ahead of me to wait more than one second to go after a light turns green!

In today’s Gospel Jesus is trying to help us and His disciples see the big picture, God’s view. If we only exist to satisfy our pleasures today then perhaps we should seek immediate gratification. Jesus reminds us, however, that we were created for more, for eternity, to be eternally loved. Because we were created to live eternally we have within us eternal longings that cannot be satisfied by the finite world around us. Too often we turn to earthly or worldly things to satisfy a hunger that is so much bigger.

How do we satisfy our hunger? Fist, we have to think about what we are consuming and whether or not it is nourishing us. Sometimes this means making tough choices to give up addictions, power, busyness or other ‘stuff’ that unsuccessfully tries to fill a hole within us; these are the crosses in our lives. This denying can be painful and causes us real suffering, but like our own muscles, we have to be broken down in order to grow stronger. This is certainly the example of Jesus who embraced his cross, took on our sins, suffered and died for us so that He might overcome death and sin for us through His resurrection.

Secondly we need to find proper food: Eternal Dynamic Love. Living in relationship with the Person of Jesus in the Holy Spirit is our guide to healthy living. Sometimes this is difficult, frustrating and even painful but if we believe that we were created for eternal love then it is the only way for us to be truly happy.

-What is something in my life that would be hard to live without?

-When in my life do I expect immediate gratification?

-What are some of the things in my life that I might need to let go of to be healthier?

-What are the crosses that I have to carry in my life?

August 21st 2011: Sunday Gospel Reflection

Matt. 16:13-20

Imagine that someone was walking around your town saying that he was God. Most people would assume he was crazy without even listening to him. Others might have heard what he said and be inspired by his words. What if someone said that she saw him heal someone who was sick or dying! What would you think of him? Would you try to find out more about him? Would you be too busy to care? It would be really hard to know who this person was or what our response to him should be. This is the dilemma that Jesus’ followers had too.

They were not born Christians they had to really reflect and discern if they should listen to Him and follow Him. Some began to follow Him and then left because they didn’t like His message or didn’t want to have to change their lifestyle. For those followers of Jesus, especially his closest followers, the Apostles, it took a ton of faith and trust to follow some guy who said he was God. Peter and the Apostles were able to know that Jesus was God because they were open to what God wanted from them; they witnessed His words, actions and were open to the possibility of miracles. We too can see miracles, God’s work in this world, if we look with eyes of faith.

In the Gospel Peter exclaims with joy, you are the Christ (the anointed one), the Son of the living God. Jesus replies that Peter is blessed because God has revealed that truth to him. Because of this faith Jesus made Peter the rock (the word peter in Latin means rock) for his community of believers, the Church.

We too continue to need that faith in Jesus as members of Jesus’ Church. Science, logic, and prudence cannot allow us to know the God who is sometimes mysterious, illogical, and recklessly loving. Only faith in the everlasting God who made us and who placed everlasting hearts within us can open our eyes. Jesus is asking us to grow our faith, our inner life, so that we can see Him and know Him more and more. He loves us and wants us to be with Him, isn’t that  a miracle?

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

-What do you believe about Jesus?

-What is the hardest part about having Faith?

-How can you grow your faith? What does prayer have to do with growing Faith? Being a part of a Christian community?

Photo Credits: www.tlc.org

Blessed are the Poor...

How can we embrace poverty as a way to God when everyone around us wants to become rich?   Poverty has many forms.  We have to ask ourselves:  "What is my poverty?"  Is it lack of money, lack of emotional stability, lack of a loving partner, lack of security, lack of safety, lack of self-confidence?  Each human being has a place of poverty.  That's the place where God wants to dwell!  "How blessed are the poor," Jesus says (Matthew 5:3).  This means that our blessing is hidden in our poverty. 


We are so inclined to cover up our poverty and ignore it that we often miss the opportunity to discover God, who dwells in it.   Let's dare to see our poverty as the land where our treasure is hidden.

-Henri Nouwen

August 14th, 2011 Gospel Reflection:

Matthew 15: 21-28

Do you ask God for the things you want or need? How does it make you feel to ask God for things?

In today’s Gospel a woman asks Jesus for help when she was in need. The woman though, was not a Jew, one of God’s chosen people in the Old Testament. Jesus responds to her that He came to reach out only to the lost sheep of Israel, the Jewish people, yet the woman remains humble and persistent. Humility and persistence pay off with God.

The woman knew she was not worthy to have Jesus heal her daughter, but she know she needed him to and had faith that He could. We see through this story the heart of God moved and affected because of persistent prayer. As a result of her persistence Jesus teaches his followers and us a very important lesson: Jesus came to save everyone.

While the Old Covenant (Testament) was the story of the Chosen People, the Jews, the New Covenant (Testament) was opened for everyone. As we hear from Paul in the 1^st Reading “God delivered all to disobedience, that he might have mercy upon all”. All of humanity is in need of mercy and redemption and Jesus offers it to all.

It is through the woman’s humility, faith, and perseverance that Jesus reveals this message. Perhaps the best model of the persistent woman is the persistence of a child when they want something, crying out mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom. The child has complete faith that their mom can bring about what is asked for and asks with sometimes mind-numbing persistence.

We have something to learn from the virtue of the asking child, to have faith like a child. If we are persistent and humbly ask for what we need God will answer our prayers. Sometimes this means we have to change ourselves before we are ready to receive the answer, sometimes the answer does not come as we expect, but comes in God’s time and way, but God is always faithful.

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Matthew 7: 7-8

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

-What is something I have asked God for?

-Has God answered my prayer? How or how not?

-Is my heart open to receive a different answer than I expect?

August 7th 2011: Gospel Reflection II

Matthew 14:22-33

-Where do I look for God? Where do I expect to find God?

-Is there a time in my life when I discovered God in an unexpected place?

-Are there times during the day when I am quiet with no one around?

-How does it feel to spend time in silence?

-Do I believe that I am the beloved son/daughter of God?

-If that is true what does it tell me about who I am? How I should live?

August 7th 2011: Gospel Reflection

Matthew 14:22-33

Today’s 1^st Reading tells the story of the prophet Elijah waiting for God. God told Elijah to go up on a mountain and that God would soon pass by. On the mountain Elijah sees driving winds, earthquakes, and fire, yet he knows that those things we not the presence of God. Then, in the quiet, there came to Elijah a tiny whispering sound; God was in the whisper.

Mother Theresa said that “in the silence of the heart God speaks”, yet how often do we take time in our busy and sometimes monotonous daily lives to be quiet and to let God speak? We tend to constantly surround ourselves with people, music, TV, and other distractions. It is so much safer and comfortable to be distracted, though as the 1^st reading reminds us, we will never find God if we remain distracted and constantly busy.

The Gospel reading tells the story of Jesus walking on the water toward the disciples as they are being tossed around in a boat. Peter, with an initial firm faith walks toward Jesus on the water but becomes distracted and loses focus on his faith in Jesus; he begins to sink.

Soren Kierkegaard says that a saint is a person who can “will the one thing”. Though initially confident, because of fear and doubt Peter lost his ability to will the one thing. When we become so surrounded by stimulus and distraction and conflicting ideas we sometime lose our own focus, our rootedness in the One Thing—God and His love for us.

When we create time in our days to be silent—even if for a few minutes, we create the space for God to speak for us and for us to be able to listen. Slowing down to hear the voice  of God call us His beloved sons and daughters strengthens us to allow that identity as the beloved to ground our lives. It empowers us to consistently will the one thing, that in everything we do to God be the glory—Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam!