NEW BLOG

Thank you to all of you who have been following my Religious Education reflections here at Echoinghope. I will be moving my Sunday Gospel reflections as well as others to a new blog:

 mountcarmelmv.blogspot.com

The new blog will feature similar and more frequently updated content that will be geared a bit more specifically to the my parish faith community in Mill Valley, CA through applicable to much wider audience! I hope that many of you will still stay connected and give me feedback on how I can grow in echoing the hope that is among us. 

Love one another!

Jonathan

Sunday Gospel Reflection: October 23rd, 2011

Matthew 22: 34-40

We should all memorize part of today’s Gospel:

What is the greatest commandment? "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself. “

In his first letter for the benefit of all Catholics (encyclical), Pope Benedict XVI gave us a beautiful reflection on how our God is a God of love and what that means for us as followers of Jesus. Reflecting on the two-fold commandment in today’s Gospel he writes that the “love of God and love of neighbour are thus inseparable, they form a single commandment.” We need both and they mutually enrich and inspire the other.

It is not enough to just to love other people, for, “if I have no contact whatsoever with God in my life, then I cannot see in the other anything more than the other, and I am incapable of seeing in him the image of God.”

But it is also not enough to just sit in prayer and love God, for “if in my life I fail completely to heed others, solely out of a desire to be “devout” and to perform my “religious duties”, then my relationship with God will also grow arid. It becomes merely “proper”, but loveless.”

“Only my readiness to encounter my neighbour and to show him love makes me sensitive to God as well. Only if I serve my neighbour can my eyes be opened to what God does for me and how much he loves me.” (Pope Benedict XVI, God is Love (Deus Caritas), 18)

*Interested in reading more? You can read it here! Check out Part II of Deus Caritas Est.

Questions for Reflection and Discussion:

-How can we love God if we cannot see Him?

-Isn’t love a feeling? How can I love someone who I am mad at or who annoys me?

-Why is it difficult to love others if we do not love God?

-Why is it difficult to love God if we do not love others?

-What are three ways we can love people in our life (be concrete!)? Commit to following through with one of those ways this week.

--What are three ways we can love God? (be concrete!) Commit to following through with one of those ways this week.

October 16th 2011: Sunday Gospel Reflection

Matthew 22:15-21

What belongs to God?

In today’s Gospel passage the Jewish leaders are trying to trick Jesus into getting in trouble with the government (Roman Empire) by trying to get him to say that a person need not pay taxes (since paying taxes wasn’t one of the Jewish laws).

Jesus responds by asking them: whose face is imprinted on the coins? When they respond “Caesar” He tells them that they should “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God”.

It is important as Christians for us to live a life of justice: giving each person what is owed to them. But how do we give God what belongs to Him? What belongs to God? We believe that God created the world, every person, and everything. Every day God continues to give us life and love as a free gift. While Caesar’s face was imprinted on coins, the face of God is imprinted on each of our hearts. We are called to give God our whole selves, everything that we are, nothing less. We do this by resembling God in our thoughts, words and actions.

Questions for Reflection and Discussion:

-What is one way I resemble God and share His presence with others?

-What is one way I need to work on resembling God and sharing His presence with others?

-Imagine that the laws of the Government and God’s laws worked together. What would be different here in Mill

Valley?

A Morning Prayer

Dear God, I offer you my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings this day. I believe that I am your beloved Son/Daughter. Help me to be the best version of myself so that I may resemble Jesus and share His love with everyone I see today. Amen.

October 10th 2011: Sunday Gospel Reflection

Matthew 22: 1-14

God lovingly created each person so that each of us might love God in return and be the happiest we can be! In the Old Testament we hear stories about how God created covenants (or pacts) with His Chosen People, the Jews (Abraham, Moses, Noah, etc.). God promised that He would never leave them and always help them if they were faithful to God.

When God sent Jesus into the world he created a New Covenant (or pact) which was not meant just for one group of people but for everyone. Jesus told his followers that He came into the world so that all people might have new life in Him.

In today’s Gospel Jesus tells a parable (or story) about this New Covenant. He tells a story about a King who invited his friends to a wedding party for his Son, but none of them came, they rejected the invitation. As a result the King invited others to the wedding party who might not normally have been invited because they were slaves, poor or didn’t seem to ‘fit in’. Like the King, Jesus invites each one of us, every person to be His follower and to share His life in the loving arms of God.

Will we say ‘yes’ to God’s invitation to us not only in our words but in our actions? In the parable one of the people who said ‘yes’ to the invitation did not show respect for the wedding party by wearing inappropriate clothes. He made a decision that meant he wasn’t able to stay at the party.

We are invited to be in covenant relationship with God. This means (like any relationship) that we have to be good friends of God by loving Him and our neighbors. When we are not good friends of God it is like we are walking away from Him. God is always ready to welcome us back if we turn back toward Him.

Questions for Reflection/Discussion:

-How does God want me to be faithful to our Covenant? (living as an active member in the Church, following the commandments/beatitudes, golden rule, etc.)

-Do I believe that every person is created by God and has equal dignity in God’s eyes?

-Who are people who I don’t like or who I don’t have respect for?
-What can I do this week to show them the love God has for them?