Daily HOMILY for July 30, 2014: Wednesday of the 17th Week of Ordinary Time

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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/

St. Luke’s Institute

Wednesday of 17^th Week OT

July 30, 2014

FAMILIARITY +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  There’s old saying, “Familiarity breeds contempt”

Ø  Building on that, I’d say, “Familiarity breeds a misplaced certainty that we understand something or that we have exhausted its possibilities”

Ø  This is so often the case with scripture

Ø  We’ve heard same passages over & over again & think nothing more 2 learn so skip parts

BOTH OF TODAY’S PARABLES ++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  Today’s very simple-appearing parables are typical of this kind of action

Ø  believe that w/ bit of help, they can still surprise us

Ø  Both parables are about a man and something very precious, for which he is willing to give all he has

Ø  But there are differences in the two parables

1^st parable: TREASURE IN FIELD +++++++++++++++++

Ø  In 1^st man seems to stumble across buried treasure

Ø  Wasn’t really looking 4 anything special, but all of sudden something extraordinary comes in2 his life

Ø  There’s a tremendous sense of surprise & wonder

Ø  To concretize this exuberance U might think of birth of your 1^st niece or nephew, making of a new friend or having narrowly escaped a tragedy

Ø  In such situations a person is changed, gains an entirely new perspective & gives self 2 newfound treasure

Ø  Such events awaken an awareness of G’s gifts 2 us

Ø  An awareness that there truly is this great Someone from whom so much good comes & 2 whom we are so grateful

2^ND PARABLE: PEARL OF GREAT PRICE +++++++++++++

Ø  In other parable, man’s actually on search 4 something precious

Ø  Possibly he’s been studying, praying, hoping 4 answer or enlightenment & what he finds is answer to his prayers

Ø  So this is another way in which we find G & KoG, and give ourselves wholeheartedly to it

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

Ø  Thus, whether by surprise or by intention & hard work, God’s gifts come to us

Ø  We need to be awake enough, attentive enough, to see them when they come either by surprise or by intention

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Daily HOMILY for July 29, 2014: Feast of St. Martha

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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/

St. Martha

Cape May Retreat

July 29, 2014

A FULLER PICTURE +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  Today we are offered 2 Gospels as options 4 feast

Ø  However, if U considered them together, we’d get fuller picture of her & better understanding of women’s importance in the church

BUSYNESS ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  2 gospels R Martha’s belief in J at death of Lazarus,

Ø  And 1 we just heard, & 4 which she’s most remembered, re the preparation of dinner

Ø  In latter often understood 2B 2nd-best 2 Mary

Ø  In it she’s commended by J 4 rapt attention 2 him, while Martha’s rebuked 4 fussing w/ pots & pans

Ø  To Martha, regarding her sister Mary, J says, “Mary has chosen the better part” (Luke 10:42)

ANOTHER WAY OF SEEING POTS & PANS ++++++++++

Ø  Bumper stickers & slogans substitute so easily 4 thinking & depth in character or thought

Ø  But we could see these words of J refuting the idea that a woman belongs in kitchen and w/ the kids

Ø  As in, “Martha, why so worried about the soup, salad, and sandwiches? What I’m saying is as much 4 women as 4 men”

PARALLEL TO PETER’S FAITH +++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  And in the Gospel from John, Martha comes thru as 1 making a statement of faith almost identical w/ the 1 for which Peter was commended by the Lord

Ø  In the course of the conversation w/ J about resurrection, she says: “I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world” (John 11:27)

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

Ø  So taking both gospels together & the conversations in both, we arrive at a several-sided picture of what women can do

Ø  They – and men too, for I can see all those guys making burgers and taking care of the kids – can run a household and a kitchen, as well as hear and discuss the teaching of Jesus

Ø  Possibly there is significant teaching here on gender for both men and women

Ø  Both women and men come to this altar to be fed equally w/ the Word & the Sacrament

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Daily HOMILY for July 28, 2014: Monday of the 17th Week of Ordinary Time

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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 17^th Week OT

Retreat in Cape May, NJ

July 28, 2014

Bread Rising ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  I enjoy baking bread

Ø  It’s a delight to add the sugar to the yeast and warm water, and look for the beginning signs of life in the bubbles and foam that form

Ø  I love the sensation of kneading the leavened dough and feeling it’s life and the thrill of seeing it rise in the bowl

The Kingdom Rising ++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  This, says Jesus, who had no doubt observed the process many times in his mother’s kitchen, this is what the Kingdom of Heaven is like

Ø  And if the Kingdom of Heaven is like the yeast and the seed,

Ø  Both with great potential for growth and transformation,

Ø  To whom or to what can we compare the flour and the soil?

Ø  Could it not be us?

WE AS PART OF THE RISING +++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  The yeast needs the flour to become bread

Ø  The seed needs the soil to grow and bear fruit

Ø  The Kingdom of Heaven needs us if it is to be realized and brought to fruition

Ø  “The Father willed to give us birth by the word of truth that we may be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures”

Ø  This is a fitting Gospel acclamation

Ø  But the fruit is produced only after the seed has been planted and sheds its hull

Ø  The flour must yield to the action of the yeast

Ø  And each of us must yield to the leavening of God’s word, spoken today through the prophet Jeremiah:

Ø   “Cling” to God in order to be transformed into God’s people, God’s praise ad beauty

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

Ø  We remember the God who gave us birth and wills to bring you to the fullness of life in the Kingdom of Heaven, both now and in the age to come

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Weekly HOMILY for July 27, 2014: 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

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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/

17^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Retreat in Cape May, New Jersey

July 27, 2014

GAZING ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  An art history student studying in London was given an unusual and unnerving assignment

Ø  She was to spend two hours in a museum in front of a single painting and write down her experience

Ø  The painting was entitled The Fighting Temeraire by Turner, a work in oil of one of the great English triple-mast warships of the 19^th century

THE FRUIT OF GAZING ++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  She likened the 2 hours of gazing at the painting to going for a long run,

Ø  Where in both you push yourself and go past the point of what’s comfortable

Ø  She finished the gazing with a “runner’s high,” feeling she’d experienced something magical, that there was now a tie between her and the painting

Ø  She was filled with a sense of mystery, wonder, and surprise – experiences she didn’t achieve in her work-a-day world

GOSPEL GAZING +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ø  All 3 of Jesus’ parables in the Gospel are about seeking & the hard work entailed, in order to possess the treasure we discover

1.     The seeking takes time

2.     With the seeking you need to see deeper or dig deeper than the surface of things

3.     With seeking you need to see with your heart and emotions

4.     With seeking you need to rest in and let what is there before you wash over you & give you joy

Ø  The same is true of contemplative prayer

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

Ø  What is true of enjoying a work of art or seeking a treasure or experiencing the presence of God in prayer, in the end what is “easy” isn’t usually worth the time

Ø  What is cheap eventually reveals its real worth,

Ø  But what is of real value, giving our lives purpose and meaning, requires commitment, humility and sacrifice

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