Ez 2:2-5
2 Cor 12:7-10
Mk 6:1-6
Who do you think you are? Just exactly who do you think you are? Where do you get off, do you really think you’re that much better than we are? I know you, I know you family. You’re father is just a carpenter. You’re nobody special, why should we listen to you? You come in here all high and mighty, let us knock you down a peg or two. That can sum up the reaction Jesus received in Nazareth when he went back there to teach, to preach. The reaction of the people seems on the surface to be mean spirited. It is a reaction we have all seen before, a reaction to someone who has separated themselves in some way from the larger group. We react badly, at times, seeming to want no one to do more, or be more. We act as though their change in some way diminishes us. I think, though that this reaction isn’t necessarily mean or vengeful or envious. I think the reaction is fear. We are afraid of what one person’s growth or change means for us. If that person is really no different than we are, no better than we are, that means we can change and grow as well. We can step out of the larger group, and we are afraid. If those people of Nazareth had asked Jesus I’m sure he would have told them that, indeed, he was one of them, and they could, if they would, follow and be like him. But they were afraid, afraid of what change might mean, afraid that if we change we stop being who we are, or at least who we think we are. If we change we may stop being ourselves. It is the same fear we have, the same fear that moves us to try and drag down someone who has dared to separate themselves, someone who dares to be different, someone who unhesitatingly and without fear attempts to openly follow Christ. We want them to stop, we want them back, we want them to be who they were, we want them to stop challenging us to change. We are afraid, afraid of losing who we are, afraid to change, afraid we will stop being ourselves. If we would only realize that by embracing Christ, we don’t stop being ourselves, we become more ourselves than we realized was possible. The change we are called to makes who we should be, who, if we are honest with ourselves, we really want to be. We can change, if we simply embrace the gift of faith that is ours. Faith can relieve or fears, faith can make the change possible. Will we be perfect? No, we will fall. Will we stop being afraid? Some of the time, and with practice more and more of the time. We can be ourselves, our true selves, only with faith. We need not fear, yet I’m afraid that Jesus is still amazed at our lack of faith.
Deacon John
The Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
July 5, 2009
Saturday, July 04, 2009
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Wis 1:13-15; 2:23-24
2 Cor 8:7, 9, 13-15
Mk 5:21-43 or 5:21-24, 35b-43
Life and death that is what is facing us today. Life and death and the choice we make, and the choice God has made. In today’s Gospel Jesus encounters two women who are dead. You may argue that the one was not really a woman, but a child. Perhaps, but in her time she would have been close to marriage age, so she is a woman. The other you may somewhat justifiably argue isn’t dead at all. She may be ill, but she is alive. Yet her illness, her disease, makes her an outcast, untouchable, unfit to live in society. So, she is for all intents and purposes dead her society. In the appearance of Jesus she is faced with a choice, life or death. She summons up her courage and reaches for Jesus hem, reaches for life. She reaches for life because she has faith, faith that Jesus, that God, will give her a new life. Her hope is not dashed; she does get the new life she reached for, because of her faith. A man comes to Jesus, asking him to save his seriously ill daughter. As he is leading Jesus to his home people arrive to tell him it is too late, she has died. Jesus turns to the man and says do not be afraid, have faith. They continue to the place where the younger of our women lay, apparently dead. Yet Jesus turns the mourners away, saying she merely sleeps. They laugh at him, they know death when they see it. Yet for Jesus no situation is hopeless. Faith again triumphs over death. Jesus takes her hand, commands her to rise, and she does. Faith, faith stronger than fear, stronger than death, brings life. God chooses life for us, not death. In our first reading we hear, “God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living. For he fashioned all things that they might have being;” and “For God formed man to be imperishable; the image of his own nature he made him.” God wants life for us, yet we so often choose not to grasp that life that is ours to take. We turn away, either out of fear, or not believing that our faith is enough. We are simply too evil for God to forgive us, to give us a second chance, for God to give us life again. We are so, so wrong. God does not give second chances, God give third and fourth and fifth chances. God give us all the chances we need to accept the gift of life being offered us. Nothing, nothing we can do separates us from the love of God. Fear is what separates us, fear that we simply don’t have enough faith. Any faith is enough faith, God is not measuring quantity. Faith and trust and hope in a new life, they are not things to fear. Jesus told the synagogue official, do not be afraid. The woman who was ill overcame her fear. Each was given a precious gift, life, new life in Christ. Do not be afraid, reach out, touch the hem, seize the life that God wants you to have.
Deacon John
Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
June 28, 2009
2 Cor 8:7, 9, 13-15
Mk 5:21-43 or 5:21-24, 35b-43
Life and death that is what is facing us today. Life and death and the choice we make, and the choice God has made. In today’s Gospel Jesus encounters two women who are dead. You may argue that the one was not really a woman, but a child. Perhaps, but in her time she would have been close to marriage age, so she is a woman. The other you may somewhat justifiably argue isn’t dead at all. She may be ill, but she is alive. Yet her illness, her disease, makes her an outcast, untouchable, unfit to live in society. So, she is for all intents and purposes dead her society. In the appearance of Jesus she is faced with a choice, life or death. She summons up her courage and reaches for Jesus hem, reaches for life. She reaches for life because she has faith, faith that Jesus, that God, will give her a new life. Her hope is not dashed; she does get the new life she reached for, because of her faith. A man comes to Jesus, asking him to save his seriously ill daughter. As he is leading Jesus to his home people arrive to tell him it is too late, she has died. Jesus turns to the man and says do not be afraid, have faith. They continue to the place where the younger of our women lay, apparently dead. Yet Jesus turns the mourners away, saying she merely sleeps. They laugh at him, they know death when they see it. Yet for Jesus no situation is hopeless. Faith again triumphs over death. Jesus takes her hand, commands her to rise, and she does. Faith, faith stronger than fear, stronger than death, brings life. God chooses life for us, not death. In our first reading we hear, “God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living. For he fashioned all things that they might have being;” and “For God formed man to be imperishable; the image of his own nature he made him.” God wants life for us, yet we so often choose not to grasp that life that is ours to take. We turn away, either out of fear, or not believing that our faith is enough. We are simply too evil for God to forgive us, to give us a second chance, for God to give us life again. We are so, so wrong. God does not give second chances, God give third and fourth and fifth chances. God give us all the chances we need to accept the gift of life being offered us. Nothing, nothing we can do separates us from the love of God. Fear is what separates us, fear that we simply don’t have enough faith. Any faith is enough faith, God is not measuring quantity. Faith and trust and hope in a new life, they are not things to fear. Jesus told the synagogue official, do not be afraid. The woman who was ill overcame her fear. Each was given a precious gift, life, new life in Christ. Do not be afraid, reach out, touch the hem, seize the life that God wants you to have.
Deacon John
Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
June 28, 2009
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Jb 38:1, 8-11
2 Cor 5:14-17
Mk 4:35-41
It has been a somewhat stormy year, at least in my part of the world. Ice and snow storms in the winter, wind and thunderstorms in the spring. These storms have caused a lot of trouble, loss of electrical power, damage to homes, often caused by trees that could not weather the storm. When you’ve faced a lot of storms, you tend to go one of two ways. Either you just get plain sick of them, and become leery every time the weather seems to be turning bad, or you become afraid of them, fearful that the next storm is the one that will destroy you and everything you have worked for. In the Gospel today the followers of Jesus are facing a storm at sea. As the storm grows in intensity, they grow more and more frightened. Jesus, for his part, is so calm, so unperturbed, that he is sleeping in the stern of the boat. They finally become so frightened, so certain that they are about to die, they wake Jesus up and ask him if he cares that they are about to die. Jesus, without fanfare, stops the storm, then looks at his disciples and asks, why are you afraid, do you not yet have faith? His disciples then ask each other, who is this that commands the wind and sky? He is the One who told Job I set the limits for the sea and fastened the bar of its door. He is the One who made them, made us, who set the limits of nature, who wrote the laws that govern the universe. He is the one who loves and cares for us. We live in a stormy time. We face a seemingly never ending war, an economy that is sinking like a rock, the prospect of losing one’s job, or being wiped out by market crashes or catastrophic illness. It is an uneasy time, filled with storms. It is very easy to be frightened. It seems that it only makes sense to be frightened. We can, however, survive these storms. We must strive to live a life that has the one thing the followers in the Gospel seemed to lack, faith. No, having faith will not automatically make everything better. You can have faith and still lose your job. You can have faith and still get wiped out. It would be fair of you to ask, so what will faith do for me? Faith can help you through the storms. Faith can help you face the storm, despite your fear. Faith is the one calm place in a world of storms. Faith won’t solve your problems, faith will help you face them. You are not facing the storm alone. The One who calmed the seas, the One who set its limits wants only to help you face these storms unafraid.
Deacon John
Twelfth Sunday In Ordinary Time
June 21, 2009
2 Cor 5:14-17
Mk 4:35-41
It has been a somewhat stormy year, at least in my part of the world. Ice and snow storms in the winter, wind and thunderstorms in the spring. These storms have caused a lot of trouble, loss of electrical power, damage to homes, often caused by trees that could not weather the storm. When you’ve faced a lot of storms, you tend to go one of two ways. Either you just get plain sick of them, and become leery every time the weather seems to be turning bad, or you become afraid of them, fearful that the next storm is the one that will destroy you and everything you have worked for. In the Gospel today the followers of Jesus are facing a storm at sea. As the storm grows in intensity, they grow more and more frightened. Jesus, for his part, is so calm, so unperturbed, that he is sleeping in the stern of the boat. They finally become so frightened, so certain that they are about to die, they wake Jesus up and ask him if he cares that they are about to die. Jesus, without fanfare, stops the storm, then looks at his disciples and asks, why are you afraid, do you not yet have faith? His disciples then ask each other, who is this that commands the wind and sky? He is the One who told Job I set the limits for the sea and fastened the bar of its door. He is the One who made them, made us, who set the limits of nature, who wrote the laws that govern the universe. He is the one who loves and cares for us. We live in a stormy time. We face a seemingly never ending war, an economy that is sinking like a rock, the prospect of losing one’s job, or being wiped out by market crashes or catastrophic illness. It is an uneasy time, filled with storms. It is very easy to be frightened. It seems that it only makes sense to be frightened. We can, however, survive these storms. We must strive to live a life that has the one thing the followers in the Gospel seemed to lack, faith. No, having faith will not automatically make everything better. You can have faith and still lose your job. You can have faith and still get wiped out. It would be fair of you to ask, so what will faith do for me? Faith can help you through the storms. Faith can help you face the storm, despite your fear. Faith is the one calm place in a world of storms. Faith won’t solve your problems, faith will help you face them. You are not facing the storm alone. The One who calmed the seas, the One who set its limits wants only to help you face these storms unafraid.
Deacon John
Twelfth Sunday In Ordinary Time
June 21, 2009
Sunday, June 14, 2009
The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ
Ex 24:3-8
Heb 9:11-15
Mk 14:12-16, 22-26
Blood, lifeblood, it circulates through the body, giving life. Arteries take the life giving fluid from the heart through the body, veins bring the blood back to be renewed. Take the blood form the body and the body dies. Blood is essential to life. It is not surprising then that blood is used to seal covenants. The people of Israel gathered together to be sealed in their covenant by blood, the blood of bulls.
We gather together, brought to this place, this heart, to be renewed, renewed by the blood that is far greater than the blood of bulls, to be renewed by the body that is so much more than the ashes of heifers. We come together in this place to be made one in the body and blood that is greater than time, or place or bureaucracies or hierarchies. We come together to celebrate the covenant sealed in the blood of Christ, the blood that renews us, the blood that gives us life, the blood that is life, so that we may pour out into the arteries carrying that life to the world.
Deacon John
The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ
June 14, 2009
Heb 9:11-15
Mk 14:12-16, 22-26
Blood, lifeblood, it circulates through the body, giving life. Arteries take the life giving fluid from the heart through the body, veins bring the blood back to be renewed. Take the blood form the body and the body dies. Blood is essential to life. It is not surprising then that blood is used to seal covenants. The people of Israel gathered together to be sealed in their covenant by blood, the blood of bulls.
We gather together, brought to this place, this heart, to be renewed, renewed by the blood that is far greater than the blood of bulls, to be renewed by the body that is so much more than the ashes of heifers. We come together in this place to be made one in the body and blood that is greater than time, or place or bureaucracies or hierarchies. We come together to celebrate the covenant sealed in the blood of Christ, the blood that renews us, the blood that gives us life, the blood that is life, so that we may pour out into the arteries carrying that life to the world.
Deacon John
The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ
June 14, 2009
Sunday, June 07, 2009
Back at Last
I've been missing in action for a few weeks. Those who follow my cancer blog, Me and Poindexter,know that I have had a relapse of my cancer, Multiple Myeloma. Traetment, almost always worse than the disease, has had me down for a bit, but I am now regaining strength, and finally able to write again. Hopefully I can continue every week for a while anyway. Thanks for your prayers.
Deacon John
The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
June 7, 2009
Deacon John
The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
June 7, 2009
The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
Dt 4:32-34, 39-40
Rom 8:14-17
Mt 28:16-20
There is a popular series of books you may be familiar with called books for dummies. For example there is Plumbing for Dummies, or Carpentry for Dummies, or Auto Mechanics for Dummies. These books take a subject and break it down into very simple components, to make the subject accessible to some one who may know absolutely nothing about it. I once purchased the book Philosophy for Dummies to help me get through a class in Philosophy. Believe me, I needed the help. I can’t say that after reading the book I understood Philosophy, I did not. But the book helped me enter into the subject. It helped me begin to grasp the mystery that was Philosophy. In some ways Scripture can be looked at as God for Dummies. Scripture is God’s self-revelation to us, a self -revelation broken down and made simple so that we can begin to enter into the mystery that is God. Now, any discussion of the nature of God must begin with this understanding, if you think you understand God, what you understand is not God. We will never, this side of heaven, understand the mystery that is God, particularly the mystery that God is Trinity, three persons in one God. God’s self-revelation is for us only a beginning, giving us the barest glimpse into God. In today’s Gospel reading we have one of the very few times the concept of God as Trinity is made explicit. Jesus tells his doubting followers to go forth and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. God revealed to us as Trinity, three persons, one God. A mystery, a great mystery that we can never comprehend. You can try, you can beat your head against the wall of that mystery, but all you’ll get for your effort is a headache. All we can do is accept that the nature of God is and will always be a mystery. All we can do is rely on faith, the faith that makes it possible for us to accept this mystery. God’s self-revelation to us is a doorway, a doorway that we enter only through faith. When we have stepped through that door in faith, accepted the mystery that we will not understand, then we can go forth and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Deacon John
The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
June 7, 2009
Rom 8:14-17
Mt 28:16-20
There is a popular series of books you may be familiar with called books for dummies. For example there is Plumbing for Dummies, or Carpentry for Dummies, or Auto Mechanics for Dummies. These books take a subject and break it down into very simple components, to make the subject accessible to some one who may know absolutely nothing about it. I once purchased the book Philosophy for Dummies to help me get through a class in Philosophy. Believe me, I needed the help. I can’t say that after reading the book I understood Philosophy, I did not. But the book helped me enter into the subject. It helped me begin to grasp the mystery that was Philosophy. In some ways Scripture can be looked at as God for Dummies. Scripture is God’s self-revelation to us, a self -revelation broken down and made simple so that we can begin to enter into the mystery that is God. Now, any discussion of the nature of God must begin with this understanding, if you think you understand God, what you understand is not God. We will never, this side of heaven, understand the mystery that is God, particularly the mystery that God is Trinity, three persons in one God. God’s self-revelation is for us only a beginning, giving us the barest glimpse into God. In today’s Gospel reading we have one of the very few times the concept of God as Trinity is made explicit. Jesus tells his doubting followers to go forth and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. God revealed to us as Trinity, three persons, one God. A mystery, a great mystery that we can never comprehend. You can try, you can beat your head against the wall of that mystery, but all you’ll get for your effort is a headache. All we can do is accept that the nature of God is and will always be a mystery. All we can do is rely on faith, the faith that makes it possible for us to accept this mystery. God’s self-revelation to us is a doorway, a doorway that we enter only through faith. When we have stepped through that door in faith, accepted the mystery that we will not understand, then we can go forth and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Deacon John
The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
June 7, 2009
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Second Sunday of Easter
Acts 4:32-35
1 Jn 5:1-6
Jn 20:19-31
Admit it. Go on, admit it. It’s true, you know it is. You just don’t want to admit the truth. It’s really nothing to be ashamed of. You doubt. Occasionally, in the deep recesses of your heart, you wonder, you doubt. I think we are rough on Thomas sometimes just because his story makes us confront our own doubt. There’s nothing wrong with the occasional doubt, the occasional question. It is, indeed quite normal, especially if you take your Christianity seriously. It is, after all, an incredible story. A human being rises from the dead? I’ve never seen it happen, I am relatively certain you’ve never seen it happen, yet that is what we are called on to believe. A human being, yet much more than a human being, lived among us, died a horribly violent death, then rose from the grave, living again, thereby assuring that we who follow, we who believe, will live as well. Thomas did not believe, would not believe, without proof. That is a lot like us. We want empirical evidence, proof that this theorem is true, before we believe that it is. Too often we don’t really want to believe, we want to know. Knowing something is true is not the same as believing something is true. Knowing requires proof, but it does not require faith. The mythologist Joseph Campbell was once asked by a priest if he would believe in a personal God, if he would have faith, if the priest could prove the truth of God’s existence. Campbell replied, if you can prove it, then what need would I have of faith? If we know we don’t need faith. The sun will rise in the east whether I have faith it will or not. The sun will set in the west whether I believe it will or not. I can state with certainty that Christ rose from the dead, but I say this because I believe. I say this because I have the great gift given by God, I have faith. The faith I have tells me this is true, despite the lack of evidence, despite the evidence against the possibility of what I believe being true. Being human, however, I do on occasion question, I do on occasion, doubt. That is when I must, I must, rely on my faith. Faith is what makes it possible to overcome the doubt. Faith is what makes it possible to, without seeing, believe.
Deacon John
The Second Sunday of Easter
April 19, 2009
1 Jn 5:1-6
Jn 20:19-31
Admit it. Go on, admit it. It’s true, you know it is. You just don’t want to admit the truth. It’s really nothing to be ashamed of. You doubt. Occasionally, in the deep recesses of your heart, you wonder, you doubt. I think we are rough on Thomas sometimes just because his story makes us confront our own doubt. There’s nothing wrong with the occasional doubt, the occasional question. It is, indeed quite normal, especially if you take your Christianity seriously. It is, after all, an incredible story. A human being rises from the dead? I’ve never seen it happen, I am relatively certain you’ve never seen it happen, yet that is what we are called on to believe. A human being, yet much more than a human being, lived among us, died a horribly violent death, then rose from the grave, living again, thereby assuring that we who follow, we who believe, will live as well. Thomas did not believe, would not believe, without proof. That is a lot like us. We want empirical evidence, proof that this theorem is true, before we believe that it is. Too often we don’t really want to believe, we want to know. Knowing something is true is not the same as believing something is true. Knowing requires proof, but it does not require faith. The mythologist Joseph Campbell was once asked by a priest if he would believe in a personal God, if he would have faith, if the priest could prove the truth of God’s existence. Campbell replied, if you can prove it, then what need would I have of faith? If we know we don’t need faith. The sun will rise in the east whether I have faith it will or not. The sun will set in the west whether I believe it will or not. I can state with certainty that Christ rose from the dead, but I say this because I believe. I say this because I have the great gift given by God, I have faith. The faith I have tells me this is true, despite the lack of evidence, despite the evidence against the possibility of what I believe being true. Being human, however, I do on occasion question, I do on occasion, doubt. That is when I must, I must, rely on my faith. Faith is what makes it possible to overcome the doubt. Faith is what makes it possible to, without seeing, believe.
Deacon John
The Second Sunday of Easter
April 19, 2009
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