Aug. 1-7
The Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
The first reading from Ecclesiastes tells about a person who has successfully amassed property and money in his lifetime. Now at the end of his life he must leave his possessions to someone who has not worked for them. This causes him pain and sorrow. Is he really successful?
In the second reading St. Paul asks us to think of heavenly things not earthly things because earthly things such as greed, evil desire, passion, etc. do not lead us to Christ. We must surrender our earthly ideas and become one with Christ because "Christ is all and in all".
In the Gospel, Luke tells of a farmer who had a bumper crop. So much so that he did not have room to store it. What did he do? He built bigger storage sheds and was very pleased with his "success". When he was taken that night by death his "success" was left behind.
How do you define success? What is a successful life, career, relationship? A marriage is successful not by how long a couple is together but if they have become more loving and better people because of their marriage. A priest is successful if he can draw the people he serves closer to God. St. Francis gave up all his worldly possessions, literally stripped off his clothes, to become a person in the image of Christ.
Success is not what we possess or what jobs we hold or what honors we have received. It is how we develop as a person. It is the goal of Christian life. We must become one in Christ as Christ is one in us. Our goal is achieved when our lives reflect Jesus Christ. This is success!
Associate Rose Denissen
July 25-31
SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Today's readings paint a picture of who God is: just, intimate, transcendent, and forgiving.
In the first reading, God, portrayed with human limitations, reveals that the innocent would never be destroyed with the guilty. The lesson: God is just.
In the Gospel story Jesus teaches the disciples (and us) how to pray. He addresses God as Father-Abba (meaning "Daddy") Jesus wants us to have an intimate and tender relationship with the Father. At the same time, God is totally "other", the holy one who is to be adored and glorified, the transcendent One. We acknowledge this in the words: "hallowed be Thy name".
This just, intimate, and transcendent Being is also forgiving. As our sins are forgiven by God, so we must forgive anyone who has sinned against us.
Jesus then reminds the disciples (and us) that our needs will be met by this loving "Daddy", if we only ask. He then shares two vignettes to describe this utterly unbelievable generosity.
So how do these teachings apply to our daily lives? Recently a friend of mine, dealing with unemployment, no financial resources, a fractured family structure, and receiving treatment for stage 3 cancer complained in desperation, "This isn't fair. I try to be so kind to others, and look what I get in return". And in the next breath, she shared how others were helping her out in various ways. An intimate, tender God was at work in the hearts of others who could reach out to my friend. Life isn't fair. Yet goodness is given to those who ask (or persist).
Sometimes, our human lives are entangled in relationships that wound us. We can harbor resentment and bitterness, or we can remember the tender heart of our God toward us and we in turn can forgive the other.
How do you pray? As conversation? Listening? Confessing? Just being present with?
PRAYER: "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name..."
Sister Francis Bangert
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