Daily HOMILY for March 17, 2014: Monday of the 2nd Week of Lent, Cycle A

PODCAST - Press sideways triangle below to listen

or click here if there is no triangle
In 2014, I am facilitating a 12-week interactive online course in contemplative prayer and action for priests with Saint Luke Institute.  Please visit SLIconnect.org to learn more:  https://www.sliconnect.org/product/living-god-program-contemplative-life-2/

Monday 2^nd Week of Lent

Mepkin Abbey

March 17, 2014

The tendency to judge +++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  In daily living, our natural tendency is to judge

Ø  We judge weather as good or bad, food as tasty or tasteless, traffic as great or horrendous, etc.

Ø  We have this tendency to form an opinion & judge just about everything

Ø  This includes making judgments about people

Ø  We judge because of something they say, their political opinions, the meet, greet, interact

Ø  When we do this, there is a triple loss: (1) our loss, (2) their loss, & (3) community’s loss

OUR LOSS ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  1^st, our loss – because we fail to see and appreciate the real person

Ø  Can’t judge other w/o having been in their position

Ø  Since we can never B in exactly same place & life circumstance, we really cannot judge them

Ø  So when we judge them as good or bad, as worthy or unworthy, it’s R loss because we miss the real person that’s there

THEIR LOSS +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  Then, it’s also their loss – because we are all injured when we are judged

Ø  We are stereotyped and pigeon-holed

Ø  We get frozen in place

Ø  When we are judged, it’s hard to grow and hard to feel connected, much less supported by others

Ø  And some judgment is the last thing we need

COMMUNITY’S LOSS +++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  Finally, it’s community’s loss, becz community’s injured

Ø  People R not valued & respected when this kind of judgment takes place

Ø  The community loses out on having the potentials of people unfulfilled

Ø  As a result community may not grow in its ways or thinking because of this

CONCLUSION +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  So Jesus gives us a challenge today

Ø  Calls us 2B as caring & empathetic as God himself & 2 refrain from judging one another

Ø  Instead we’re to take people where they R & move from there

Ø  It’s the Lord’s way & it met with good results

Ø  Jesus calls us to have the same approach

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Blessing after Mass in Honor of St. Patrick’s Day

May the road rise up to meet you.

May the wind always be at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face,

and rains fall soft upon your fields.

And until we meet again,

May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Daily HOMILY for March 11, 2014: Tuesday of the 1st Week of Lent, Cycle A

PODCAST - Press sideways triangle below to listen

or click here if there is no triangle
In 2014, I am facilitating a 12-week interactive online course in contemplative prayer and action for priests with Saint Luke Institute.  Please visit SLIconnect.org to learn more:  https://www.sliconnect.org/product/living-god-program-contemplative-life-2/

Tuesday 1^st Week of Lent

St. Luke’s Institute

March 11, 2014

NOISE RATHER THAN SILENCE ++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  J teaching us how to pray reminds us that R prayer includes listening & not simply saying of words

Ø  We must admit, at times, we find selves in prayer in same way as a person sitting nervously w/ a new acquaintance

Ø  We feel we have 2B saying something every minute

Ø  We find pauses in conversation as embarrassing dead spots that need to be filled, rather then see them as deep silence inviting reflection & savoring

SILENCE RATHER THAN NOISE ++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  How different w/ someone we know very well!

Ø  We can sit together, gazing at a fire or listening to music, w/o feeling that 1 of us had 2B saying something every moment

Ø  Jesus’ saying that in R prayer shouldn’t just rattle on or multiply words

Ø  Isn’t it silence that precisely R prayer often lacks?

Ø  It lacks the space for God 2B G w/o R thoughts, images, pious words

Ø  It’s in that sort of space (1) God can be God (2) Present to us without anything we’ve added, and (3) Move us at a deeper level?

A PRESENCE LIKE RAIN OR SNOW +++++++++++++++++

Ø  It’s silence of the “inner room” J spoke about Ash Wednesday, & it’s Isaiah who tells us what the encounter will be like

Ø  God’s Word will be “like rain or snow” (1) that softens the earth, (2) makes it fertile, and (3) eventually bringing forth its crops

IN SUM ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  In sum, God’s work in us requires that we leave G some opening, a chance to be heard

Ø  It’s very difficult 2 do in a world of so much noise & so little tolerance 4 silence

Ø  Sitting in silence w/ the Lord does take some practice, but the use of a 2 or 3-word phrase from SS, repeated gently, can bring us back or take us deeper

Ø  And there, in our inner room to be present to God

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Daily HOMILY for March 10, 2014: Welcoming Ceremony

PODCAST - Press sideways triangle below to listen

or click here if there is no triangle
In 2014, I am facilitating a 12-week interactive online course in contemplative prayer and action for priests with Saint Luke Institute.  Please visit SLIconnect.org to learn more:  https://www.sliconnect.org/product/living-god-program-contemplative-life-2/

Welcoming Ceremony

St. Luke’s Institute

March 10, 2014

Clue GAME ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  Remember the game Clue?

Ø  Board game where a murder’s been committed & players figure out which 1 of 6 is perpetrator

Ø  And in which of 9 rooms in mansion deed was done

Ø  And w/ which of 6 weapons crime carried out

Ø  Was it Professor Plum in parlor w/ gun?

Ø  Or Colonel Mustard in conservatry w/ candlestick?

Ø  There R as many resolutions 2 mystery as R combinations of suspects, rooms, & weapons (324)

Clue Movie ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  Years ago, there was a movie based on Clue

Ø  Went into different theaters w/ different endings

Ø  In 1 version, Mrs. Peacock, the villain; another, Miss Scarlet, and in another, almost all were guilty

GOSPEL STORY ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  Can imagine different endings to story in Gospel

Ø  Prodigal son might have come home to a sullen father who refused 2 speak 2 him

Ø  Or might have come home 2 a ranting & raving father who swore he’d never trust his son again

Ø  Or a know-it-all father who welcomed the son home, but never let him forget his foolishness

Ø  Might even have come home 2 find his father had died & there was no chance 4 reconciliation

GOSPEL A DIFFERENT STORY +++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  But Jesus’ parable of prodigal son not story about a wayward young man coming home 2 human father

Ø  It’s a story about how things work in K of G

Ø  How things work when turn away fr God, & life falls apart, coming crawling back, fumbling 4 wrds 2 say

Ø  Unlike Clue, this story always has same ending

Ø  G runs 2 meet us w/ open arms & warm welcome

Ø  Always / It happens over & over & over

Ø  G never fails 2 forgive repentant sinner

Ø  In welcoming each of you today, we hope to be that presence to you

CONCLUSON ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  We need not be clueless

Ø  When the story is about conversion, the surprise ending is that there is no surprise ending

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Responsorial Psalm / PS 103:1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12

R. (8a) The Lord is kind and merciful.

Luke 15:11-24 / LK 15:1-3, 11-32