XVIII Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today we have a guest blogger from Fr. Arthur F. Rojas, administrator of PRESENTATION OF THE B.V.M CHURCH, PORT EWEN AND SACRED HEART CHURCH, ESOPUS. For more information on this parish, check out their website at Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary & Sacred Heart Churches - Port Ewen - Esopus, NY (presentationsacredheart.org)

Although I am away on vacation, as your spiritual father I would not leave without commenting on the readings of this Sunday and our contemporary society.  I recall learning that Catholic homiletics should communicate the kerygma, that is the proclamation of the Word of God or the Good News and also paraenesis, an exhortation or application of the divine message to the lives of the listeners.  When done correctly, especially in the light of the Apostolic Tradition (i.e., what Catholics have prayed and believed across the millennia) and the Magisterium (i.e., the function of the Church as teacher, especially in matters of faith and morals), we as Church indeed can read “the sign of the times”, as exhorted by the Second Vatican Council in Gaudium et spes, n. 4 and other documents of the Council so that we may live more faithfully on Earth our discipleship of Christ and so that your life and my life as Christians may serve as credible signposts and witness to the life (and eternal life) that God calls us to.

 

            In our relationship with God, do we love Him more for His gifts and His blessings than for Himself?  In other words, do we love the gifts more than the Giver?  Among the teachings of Msgr. William B. Smith, a moral theology professor of mine – may he rest in peace – decades ago while I was at St. Joseph’s Seminary at Yonkers, I recall his observation that given the many blessings America has enjoyed for many years, that it is hard for Americans to imagine what Heaven is like or that perhaps some Americans simply imagine Heaven to be the United States without problems.   If we define ourselves firstly by what job we have (or have had, in the case of retirees) or by our possessions, both material and intangible, then we lose sight of how God looks at us.  He does not regard us by our credentials or achievements (even if they may be praiseworthy), let alone by race, social class, or our possessions. 

God looks for faith in Him above all (cf. First Commandment) as He has revealed Himself to us in Jesus Christ and through His Church.  God also seeks a responsive receptivity from us when He challenges us through His proclaimed and perused Word to make more room for Him and His things in our lives.  When we become too attached to earthly things, even if they are good things in themselves, so that we become unwilling to let God bring us closer to Him by letting go of some of these items, whether they be material or immaterial (e.g. preferences, plans, or priorities), then we have hardened our hearts to His voice per Psalm 90, the Responsorial Psalm for today in the Ordinary Form.  When we appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ at the hour of our death – Kyrie eleison – our material and almost all of our intangible possessions will be left behind on Earth as we stand nakedly and transparently before the All-Seeing Judge.  However, may we appear before Him clothed with many moments of sincere prayers and thanksgiving, of reverent partaking of the sacraments, of moments of attentiveness and study of God’s Word and holy subjects, of sacrifices made in His name and for His causes, and many Corporal and Spiritual Works of Charity.  These are the riches “in what matters to God” (Lk 12:21) so that “when Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with Him in glory.” (Col 3:11).

 All Rights Reserved (c) by Fr. Arthur F. Rojas

Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.

 

The scripture readings for today can be found at Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time | USCCB

In our gospel for today the disciples see how Jesus is so focused on prayer and relationship with His Heavenly Father. They wanted to share that intimacy and ask, "Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples." They wanted that close relationship with God that they see that Jesus has with the Father. So, Jesus teaches them "Our Father" or commonly known as "The Lord's Prayer." This prayer has been translated into practically every language that Christians spoke over the last 2,000 plus years. It's central to who we are as followers of Jesus Christ. It has everything that we need in order to communicate with God our desires to be close to him.

Our Lord goes on, after teaching them to pray, that prayer is more than just speaking to God. It's about relationship with others. He is encouraging us, as His followers, to be available to our friends and neighbors in need. By responding to the needs of others, we are the conduits of how God answers the prayers of others. It is through us that God answers the prayers and needs of those who reach out to him and pray for their needs and concerns. We are called to be open to others in their needs. In helping others, we are helping the Lord. We are called to see Jesus in all people that we meet. 

Finally in today's Gospel, Our Lord is teaching us perseverance in prayer. We are to constantly reach out in prayer to the Lord. "...ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." (Luke 11:9) Do we get everything we ask or pray for? No, but we get what the Lord feels we need. "If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the holy Spirit to those who ask him?” (Luke 11:13) 

So be constant in prayer and know that the Lord is ever present to us in all our needs.

I have seen the Lord

Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples,
“I have seen the Lord,”
and then reported what he told her.

Scripture for today's reflection can be found at Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene | USCCB

Today we celebrate the feast of Mary Magdalene, who was the first to see the Risen Lord. Mary was one of the original Galilean disciples of Jesus and one of the many women who followed him during his ministry around Galilee. She is known as the “woman from whom seven demons had gone out.” There has developed over the years that she was a penitent prostitute, but there’s no scriptural basis for this belief. All we know of Mary is that Jesus cured her of these issues.

Mary, being healed by Jesus, was truly grateful for the love Jesus showed her in this healing. Instead of a life of hardship and despair, she was restored to health & wellbeing by Jesus and was able to enter relationship with Heavenly Father and found the peace that can only come from her loving God. Her love for Jesus was so strong that she was the first to go to the tomb on Easter Sunday morning, not really expecting anything so spectacular as Jesus risen from the dead. What she found was an empty tomb. She was fearful that someone stole the body of Jesus. So, she ran to tell Peter and the others. After they found the tomb as she described and left, she stayed there to pray. Such was her love for the Lord.

Due to her perseverance, she was blessed to be the first to encounter the risen Lord on Easter Sunday morning.  Then Jesus gives her the responsibility of sharing this good news with the apostles that the He has risen from the dead. Because of this responsibility, she came to be known as the “disciple to the disciples.” She encountered the Risen Lord and went, without fear, to the apostles to let them know that Jesus was alive.

We ourselves encounter the Risen Jesus each time we come to church, whether it’s through the sacrament of Reconciliation to receive the forgiveness and healing of our sins, or receiving our Lord: body, blood, soul, and divinity in the Eucharist. We should, like Mary, be joyful at the opportunity to encounter the Risen Lord in these Sacraments. Then, after encountering Jesus in either the sacrament of Reconciliation or in Holy Communion, we should bring this Good News to all those in our lives.

Like Mary, when we meet others in our lives, we can and should say, “I have seen the Lord” and share the good news that Jesus is alive and present to all who seek him with a sincere heart.

The Better Part

From the desk of Fr. Rojas…

 

Today we have a guest blogger from Fr. Arthur F. Rojas, administrator of PRESENTATION OF THE B.V.M CHURCH, PORT EWEN AND SACRED HEART CHURCH, ESOPUS. For more information on this parish, check out their website at Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary & Sacred Heart Churches - Port Ewen - Esopus, NY (presentationsacredheart.org)

From the desk of Fr. Rojas…

 

            As I write this missive to you, dear reader, the Gregorian chant from my office computer competes with the diligent hum of the parish’s electric generator outside my office window at Presentation Rectory. 

I am grateful for the lived faith of those who attended morning Mass today and those parishioners who worked to set things up for Mass in a church without electric power except for our stalwart generator.  May God bless also the parishioners who went to Sacred Heart Church at Esopus this morning (July 14) to check on its condition and to attend to one matter of ongoing care there in the midst of the local power outage.  Their love for God, His Church, and our parish was greater than the obstacles caused by the tumult last night falling from the sky.  With echoes of Back to the Future as New York City airs a “public service announcement” with guidance in the event of a nuclear attack (Kyrie eleison), with echoes of the Soviet quack Trofim Lysenko - look him up - through “Professor” Khiara Bridges and her fanatical insistence at a recent U.S. Senate hearing that men can get pregnant, and with echoes of our dependency today on fragile wires, posts, and routers for the conveniences and even necessities of American culture, I hope and pray that the children and grandchildren of these quiet, down-to-earth, and personally selfless parishioners will learn from their example of Christian fortitude.

 

            As I salute the Martha and Mary Ladies (our sodality of ladies at Sacred Heart Church) in the month of their patronesses Ss. Martha and Mary and the reflection of these saints in the Gospel reading of today (Lk 10:38-42), notice that the virtues of prayer and contemplation demonstrated by St. Mary and the values of charitable service and hospitality incarnated in St. Martha are meant to be found in the daily lives of all of us committed Christians.  Certainly, each person’s call to holiness will reflect different mixtures and emphases of these combined values.  Nevertheless, in light of the Responsorial Psalm today from Psalm 15, all of these virtues reflect justice, that is, giving each person what is his due (from the Latin suum cuique of ancient times).  Prayer to God and contemplation/study of His presence, His things, His teachings, and His ways are part of what we owe God, for He is our Maker, Lord, and Redeemer. 

By giving time and making real effort for these doings personally and with our families and parishes, particularly as God teaches us to do these things in and through His Church, we start to live justly before Almighty God.  As our Christian identity is meant for body as well as soul, however, in good times and in bad, amidst tears, trembling, laughter, and thanksgiving, the Letter of Saint James reminds us that God seeks faith and works from us (Jas 2:14-26).  We are called to start as Mary and move to Martha, to let our being in a state of grace (i.e., right relationship with God) bring forth fruits pleasing to the Lord with the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy (also worth looking up if you do not know of or recall these).  Could you imagine living in a world where we live as both Mary and Martha?  Our Lord Jesus does, Our Lady does, and the saints – both known and not yet known – strove for such a world, starting with themselves.  With God’s grace and seeking His blessing and healing, so may you and so may I.

All Rights Reserved (c) by Fr. Arthur F. Rojas

The Virgin Mary, Mother of Carmel, has shown her goodness to us; come, let us rejoice in the Lord

 

It is time now for us, as Lay Carmelites, to rejoice in this beautiful feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Our Lady is the example and standard of who we are as Carmelites and how we are to live our lives as followers of Jesus Christ.

In the Holy Gospel of St. Luke, chapter one, we hear of the angel Gabriel approaching Mary and say to her, “Hail, Full of Grace! The Lord is with you.” (Luke 1:28). Mary’s love of God was always the center of who she was. She was constantly open to the Will of God in her life. When the angel told her that she was to be the mother of the Messiah, she at first was confused and questioned how can this be since she was not yet in a relationship with a man. The angel responded that the Holy Spirit will descend upon her and she will conceive by the power of the Holy Spirit. Rather than say, “No way!”, she responds: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38)

Mary’s trust in God’s Will in her life is to be an example of how we are to live out our lives. First, she always lived in the presence of God. She knew that God was always with her no matter what was happening in her life. So, as a result, her life was a constant prayer to God. She was what we would call an Active Contemplative. Second, though she knew that being the mother of the Messiah would cause many hardships in her life, she accepted it and put her trust in God’s love and protection.

Pope St. Paul VI wrote of Mary, “Yet above all else it was faith that most characterized the Mother of God – the kind of faith that does not need proof but accepts a thing as true because God has spoken it.”

Pope St. Paul VI goes on to say, “It must be our habit to meditate, to wait, to question; to be self-possessed, to be free and calm, to be definite in judging and acting.” We do all this in imitation of Mary who lived out her life knowing that God was ever present to her.

Let us offer our whole life to the Will of God. Let us make our whole life that of prayer towards God, realizing that God is always present to us no matter what struggles we may be facing. In whatever happens in our lives, let us, with Mary, pray, “May it be done according to your word.”

Do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say

 

Scripture readings for today's reflection can be found at Friday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time | USCCB

In our gospel for today, we hear the continuation of the gospel of St. Matthew where our Lord, after choosing his Twelve disciples, was sending them out to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom of God. Earlier this week we heard Jesus tell his disciples to go and proclaim, “The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Today we hear Jesus tell them of the challenges they will face in bringing the gospel to the world.  People will hand you over to courts and scourge you in their synagogues, and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake as a witness before them and the pagans. This doesn’t sound exactly like a dream job that anyone would want to do. But the disciples, once they encountered Jesus and developed that relationship of love and forgiveness with Him, knew that it was important to bring the good news to the world, whether the world wanted to hear it or not.

We, too, like the disciples, are called to bring the good news that the Kingdom of heaven is at hand. We are called to let people know that relationship with God and being open to His Will is the only way to bring peace to a world that is so full of violence and hurt. Unfortunately, there will be people that will try to stop us, whether family members or friends. They will not understand our motives in trying to bring the love of God into the world. It may even be people in our church community that may not understand who we are or what we are trying to do out of love and service to God.

Our Lord is encouraging us to remain focused on his love for us and for those who are in our lives that may hurt us. We are to remain centered on Jesus in prayer, frequent reading of scripture, frequent reception of Holy Communion, and frequent use of confession during the times we fall short.

Let us persevere in bringing this good news of the Gospel to others in this world no matter the cost and know that Jesus is with us always.

Do Not Submit to the Yoke of Slavery: St. Paul's Message to Galatians and Americans

 

Scripture for today's reflection can be found at https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/062622.cfm

We have a guest blogger for today from Arlene B. Muller. 

Arlene B. Muller (Arlene Clare Muller, OFS) is a lector & Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion at St. Pancras Church in Glendale, a singer in the choir at St. Margaret's Church in Middle Village, an itinerant speech/language therapist working with preschool children with delayed language development, a professed Secular Franciscan & Formation Director at St. Adalbert's Secular Franciscan fraternity. She enjoys posting on Facebook & writing reflections to connect Scripture to life & to promote the GOSPEL OF LIFE.

It has been suggested that with GOD there are no coincidences. There are times when in either our personal prayer or in the liturgy, the LORD gives us a Scripture reading that winds up being especially relevant to what is going on in our lives or in the lives of others or in our country or the world. Sometimes we call happenings like this "GOD-incidences" or "GOD winks".

A consistent "GOD-incidence" that I have observed over the years is that the second reading for the 13th Sunday of Ordinary Time from the letter of St. Paul to the Galatians usually is proclaimed on or around July 4th, the day we celebrate Independence Day and our freedom as Americans. This year it happened to be on June 26, 2022. The concurrence of the reading from Galatians & our Independence Day, from as long as I can remember, has struck me as very relevant to our country and Independence Day and an especially and increasingly relevant message to the current state of affairs in America.

In this reading St. Paul reminds us that it was for freedom that CHRIST set us free, and he exhorts us not to submit again to the yoke of slavery. He urges us not to use our freedom to give in to our fleshly desires but to use our freedom to serve GOD & others in a spirit of love, to love our neighbors as ourselves, to refrain from attacking one another, and to be guided by the Holy Spirit.

The United States of America was founded on the principles of freedom, on the proposition that all human beings are created by GOD Who endowed us with the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness (in THAT order). Added to our Constitution is our Bill of Rights that guarantees freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, and freedom of the press. Throughout our history Americans have fought and died to preserve our freedom and to protect the freedom of people in other countries. Although the United States of America is a pluralistic nation that welcomes people of all religions, is a constitutional democratic republic and not a theocracy, and our First Amendment prohibits us from establishing a state religion, the Judeo-Christian ethic is an essential aspect of our founding and fundamental principles. Our founding fathers wrote our Constitution for a people who would be guided by the Ten Commandments and primarily for people committed to faith and Judeo-Christian morality. From our earliest days and for most of our history both our leadership and our citizens have acknowledged and appreciated the blessings and providence of GOD in America, both past and present.

For the past 60 years or so there has been a movement in America that has been a turning away from GOD, faith and religion and toward giving in to various desires of the flesh. Instead of viewing freedom as the ability to do what is right, it has been reinterpreted by many as license to do what people feel like doing, whether it is morally right or not, often with a failure to accept responsibility for the consequences. In this free country of ours many people have lost true freedom by becoming slaves to various addictions (e.g., sexual immorality, alcohol, drugs, materialism). Our politics has become increasingly divisive and lacking in civility. At times it seems that people on opposite sides of the political spectrum live on two different planets in our/their perceptions and perspectives while living in the same country and spend more time and energy attacking each other (something against which St. Paul warned us in this passage from his letter to the Galatians) than seeking to engage in constructive dialogue and seeking to brainstorm, to cooperate, and to achieve mutually acceptable compromise for workable solutions to our problems. People of various ideological perspectives have engaged in acts of violence and destruction. The fact that some have engaged in destructive acts and threatened people to fight for an alleged "right" to kill unborn babies is evidence of how far we have fallen.

In 1944 the Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen wrote in his book FREEDOM UNDER GOD that "freedom is meaningless apart from the moral law", that "if we destroy the moral roots of freedom we cannot expect to keep the fruits of freedom", and that "freedom divorced from moral responsibility--that is, freedom divorced from GOD--is anarchy". I think St. Paul might have substituted the word "slavery" for "anarchy" but otherwise would heartily agree with Archbishop Sheen.

Let us thank the LORD for the freedom we still possess in America and let us, especially as Catholic Christian Americans, recommit ourselves to true freedom, which is the freedom found in CHRIST and in following His ways. Let us pray that the LORD will help us not only to cherish & protect the freedoms we hold dear but also to avoid falling prey to slavery to sin, to addictions, and to attacking one another, and that the LORD will renew and reunite us in a spirit of mutual love and mutual respect.

I did not come to call the righteous but sinners

 

Scripture readings for today's reflection can be found at Friday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time | USCCB

In our gospel for today we hear of the special love and concern that Jesus has for those people that may not be in relationship with God. These tax collectors and sinners are those people who struggled to be in good relationship with God and felt rejected by Pharisees who look down upon them. The Pharisees looked at these people that Jesus was hanging out with as people not worthy of any attention. To the Pharisees, these are the dregs of society and were considered unclean according to Jewish law. They just couldn’t understand why Jesus would pay any attention to these types of people.

Jesus very clearly points out that these sinners are the ones that he came to bring repentance and salvation to. Jesus said of them, “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do.” Jesus saw in each of the tax collectors and sinners people made in the image of God who were in need of healing. He saw people with a possibility of becoming better in the eyes of God. Instead of judging them for their sinfulness, Jesus was looking to bring healing and reconciliation to these people who felt isolated from the mainstream Jewish society.

Central to the ministry of Jesus is that of mercy. The Pharisees had no mercy towards these people that they felt were rejected by God. But Jesus was teaching the tax collectors and sinners that God is an all-loving God and is ready to forgive each one their sins. All they needed to do was to turn to God and ask for the forgiveness and healing that can only come from God himself.

We ourselves, like the tax collectors and sinners in today’s Gospel, are called to turn to God and seek forgiveness of our sins. We are never to be like the Pharisees in our judgement of other people of how they are or are not in relationship with God. We need to focus on our own sinfulness and be like those tax collectors and sinners and realize that we need the love and forgiveness that can come to us only from God through Jesus Christ. None of us are perfect. We are all sinners and need the love and mercy of God. We are also called to bring others into relationship with God by sharing our faith with them. Not in a judgmental way like the Pharisees, but in a way that shows that Jesus loves all people and wants everyone to turn to Him in a spirit of repentance.

Pope St. John Paul II said, “Only in Christ do we find real love, and the fullness of life. And so I invite you today to look to Christ. When you wonder about the mystery of yourself, look to Christ who gives you the meaning of life.”

Let us continue to grow in our relationship with God by constantly turning to him with love and repentance. It is then that we, too, like the tax collectors and sinners, can know the mercy and love of God.