12th Sunday Ordinary

12th Sunday Ordinary A –9 AM Mt 10: 26-33 2008

A little boy woke up during a thunder clapping storm. He cried out for his daddy. He dad came into his room. “Daddy, I’m afraid,” the little boy cried. “Honey, God will always watch over you and protect you. “I know, Daddy, but right now I need someone with skin on him.
Jesus who reads the human heart like an open book, knows full well how fearful we human beings can be.
He felt the sinking fear of his disciples when they were caught in a boat as fragile as a cobweb during a bulldozing storm.
He felt their fear when, with a vision blinded by the cataracts of apprehension, they tried to dissuade him from going up to Jerusalem where the nails of certain death awaited him.
He felt their fear when they abandoned him in his crucifixion like flickering flames extinguished by brutal gusts of wind.
He felt their fear when they hid behind a locked door after the crucifixion, where they tried to exclude persecution but only succeeded in confining themselves to anguished insecurity.
Jesus himself experienced fear that ran through him like an electrical current when, in the garden of olives, he asked his Father to allow the chalice of suffering to pass.
Yet in our gospel story, Jesus stands in the skin of his incarnation and urges you not to fear.
Because of the myriad of stresses of life – from the vagaries of the economy to the nightmares of violence, you may tend to seek a safe, comfortable place to avoid the unpleasant and protect ourselves from the horrible.
Yet Jesus continues to tell you not to fear.
Joyce Rupp in her book, Fresh Bread and Other Gifts of Spiritual Nourishment, reminds us that “Fear keeps us from knowing the beautiful, tender and good within us and others.”
“Fear,” she says, “boxes us in and keeps others out.”
Steve Martini in his novel, Prime Witness, has one of his characters say, “The first sign of fear is hostility.” This hostility, seething like a cauldron of burning oil, is directed not only at others but at ourselves, tearing away shred by shred our human potential, our self-respect.
Because of hostile fear, we don’t trust ourselves, we don’t trust others, we don’t trust God. It’s a desperate, maddening way to live. It most certainly not living as followers of Jesus who tells us not to fear.
On the other hand, fear is not always directed at others; rather fear is boxing yourself in so that you cannot reach out to others.
Fear is the illigimate child of trust; when you truly trust you give birth to courage.
Those whose holiness makes God in their own image and likeness commit the most unholy act; those whose holiness consists in worshipping a vengeful God blasphemes the infinitely merciful and forgiving God revealed by Jesus.
Brother David Standel Rost in his book, Gratefulness, the Heart of Prayer, states, “Faith is fearless trust.”
How often during his long pontificate did PJP urge all of us in the human familty to fear not?
HUMOR While sports fishing off the Florida coast, a tourist capsized his boat.
He could swim, but his fear of alligators kept him clinging to the overturned craft. Spotting an old beachcomber standing on the shore, the tourist shouted,
“Are there any gators around here?”
“Naw,” the man hollered back, “they ain’t been around for years!”
Feeling safe, the tourist started swimming leisurely toward the shore.
About halfway there he asked the guy, “How’d you get rid of the gators?”
“We didn’t do nothing,’” the beachcomber said.
“Wow,” said the tourist.
The beachcomber added, “The sharks got ‘em.”
THOUGHT Always live your faith with fearless trust.

11th Sun ord 08

11th Sunday Ordinary A –7:30 AM Mt 9:36-10:8 2008

The predominant symbol in our gospel today is that of calling. Jesus calling his Apostles.
In the context of our faith, our calls come from the Trinity dwelling within us.
The Father, dwelling within you, calls you to become all he wants you to be. The Son, dwelling within you, calls you to follow him. The Spirit, dwelling within you, calls you to a deeper, more dynamic faith.
Watch how these calls coincide.
You begin with Jesus, God incarnate. In following him you will become all the Father wants you to be which means that your life of faith will be more dynamic and will predominate your relationships with God, others, your world and yourself.
But becoming all God wants you to be through prayer and the action of following Jesus is not just for yourself any more than fire burns without giving off heat.
Jesus not only calls your as he did his first disciples but he sends you forth as he did his first disciples. He sends you into the fuzzy perplexities of your own emotional life. He sends you into the turmoil and the serenity of your intimate relationships, into the festering problems of society’s injustices, into the hazards of a culture that is godless despite its hypocritical claim, In God We Trust.
The death of C. S. Lewis on November 22, 1963, has long been over-shadowed by the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on the same day. While the anniversary of Lewis’ death rarely makes the headlines, the worldwide impact of this British scholar, teacher, and author continues to grow 40 years after his passing.
His books sell more than 3 million copies a year and the most famous, Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, and The Chronicles Of Narnia, have been reprinted scores of times.
Converted to Christ as an adult, Lewis put his keen mind and imagination to work in the service of God. As a well-known writer and speaker, he continued a simple lifestyle. Michael Nelson has written in the International Herald Tribune: “Two-thirds of his book royalties were earmarked for charities. He never traveled abroad, even when fame brought invitations to lecture from around the world.”
Lewis gave us the incomparable gift of a fresh, creative look at our fallen human condition and the timeless power of the gospel of Christ. He lived out the command to serve the body of believers through whatever gift God has given us by His grace (Romans 12:4-6). His example can spur us on to use our God-given gifts for His glory.

Using your God-given gifts is what Jesus expects of you when he sends you into the lives of others: a sensitive and compassionate service as opposed to a service given out of stern duty and unfeeling obligation.
John Shea in his book, The Spirit Master, says, “Compassion is the experience of feeling the other’s life as your own.” Notice the emphasis on feeling.
Adolfo Quezada in his book, Walking With God, reminds us that ”We need courage to express our emotions including affection, compassion and intimacy.”
As you respond to Jesus’ call and his sending you forth into the lives of others with their ravishing pain, their buoyant joys, especially those in your own families, ask him to help you to do so with genuine feelings of sensitivity and compassion that will leap into the hearts of those you have taken time to love.
HUMOR Usually when we think of calling, we are thinking of phone calls.
There was a series about phone calls to travel agencies.
One went like this: A nice lady just called. She needed to know how it was possible that her flight from Detroit left at 8:20am and got into Chicago at 8:33am.I tried to explain that Michigan was an hour ahead of Illinois, but she could not understand the concept of time zones. Finally I told her the plane went very fast, and she bought that!
THOUGHT Always love with sensitivity.