Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jesus said to the scribes and Pharisees, “A man had two sons, and the younger son said to his father, ‘Father give me the share of your estate that should come to me.’ So the father divided the property between them. After a few days, the younger son collected all his belongings and set off to a distant country where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation. When he had freely spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he found himself in dire need.”

In this Sunday’s Gospel reading, Jesus tells three parables to the scribes and Pharisees after they complained to him, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” First, he tells them about the lost sheep, where the shepherd leaves the ninety-nine to go off in search of the one lost one. Next, he tells about the woman who lights a lamp in her dark room until she finds a lost coin. In both parables, there is rejoicing over what is lost. Likewise, there is rejoicing in the third parable, the Prodigal Son. “But now we must celebrate and rejoice,” the father says to his son in the parable, “because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.” In each parable, Jesus relates to the scribes and Pharisees, and by extension to every person, the joy of bringing back to himself all who are lost to sin. What strikes me in the third parable is how the father goes out to both of his sons, the prodigal son returning and the faithful but jealous son on seeing the feast prepared for his brother’s return.

You come after me, Lord. You come out to meet me and see me, as you did the prodigal son, from a long way off. And when I have been faithful to you but look for spiritual rewards or am jealous of attention that others receive and refuse to come back to you. You come out and plead with me, saying, “My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours.”

Lord, I know your love is unconditional and wildly extravagant. I know you love me and forgive me. Let me come to you today in the Eucharist and watch for me to come to you from a long way off. Help me call to mind any sin that separates me from you so that I am able to receive your forgiveness when I come to you in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Teach me to rejoice as much in finding you when I have been lost as I do when you come out to find me. Help me learn to receive your love and give it away, to give away your love and receive it, and on and on.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Readings

Saturday of the Twenty-Third Week in Ordinary Time

Jesus said to his disciples: “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ but not do what I command? I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, listens to my words, and acts on them. That one is like a man building a house, who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when the flood came, the river burst against that house but could not shake it because it had been well built. But the one who listens and does not act is like a person who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river burst against it, it collapsed at once and was completely destroyed.”

Jesus presents two types of people in today’s Gospel reading in two separate parables: first, the good tree that bears good fruit and the rotten tree that bears rotten fruit; second, the one builds a house on a foundation of rock and the one builds a house without a foundation. These opposites are exaggerations of life as it is lived, or as one moves through different moments of life. Jesus exaggerates for the sake of making clear that I should not only call out to him in prayer but hear and do his will. However, the exaggerations are at times a direct reflection of who or what I turn to when life’s storms come.

Lord, help me understand that no one but the Son of God could claim the truth that if life is not based on you during these times, destruction will come. This is you speaking to me as the Second Person of the Trinity, the one who sits at the right hand of the Father. You know me, and you know that there are times I call out to you, “Lord, Lord” but fail to do what you command. Help me understand how to remain in you through prayer, through your word, and through the Eucharist and other sacraments. As Saint Paul says in the first reading, this unity is the cup of blessing that we bless, participation in the Blood of Christ; the bread that we break, participation in the Body of Christ.

Lord, keep me in your care today. When the river bursts, I don’t want to come to you out of urgency and desperation and cry, Lord, Lord. Instead, let me love you by hearing your word and doing your will. But whatever anguish I face today, let me come to you first and ask for help as I speak your name. In either case, at ease in the day or facing trials, let me come to you. Be the foundation of my day; be in me. Holy Spirit, guide my words and actions.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Readings

Memorial of Saint Peter Claver, Priest

Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit? No disciple is superior to the teacher; but when fully trained, every disciple will be like his teacher.

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus is addressing the disciples and not the scribes and Pharisees this time. At the end of the passage, he calls the brother hypocrite who tries to remove the splinter in his brother’s eye without noticing the wooden beam in his own eye. If Jesus calls the disciples to this standard, then it is also me he is calling; and if it is the hypocrisy of the disciples he is calling out, how much more so is he calling it out in me?

God, help me understand the logic of your love. It is not enough that you convict in me what sets up barriers between us but that you want me to be fully trained to become like you; that is, free of hypocrisy and living in your truth.

Quiet me, Lord. See how easily I am disturbed by thoughts that fly through my mind. You are there, you are always there, when I turn my attention to other things—good things, things you created for joy in this life but also things that lead me off course. Breathe in me today as I breathe the breath of the Holy Spirit, the breath of peace, the end of longing that finds you waiting for me. As the psalmist says, “My soul yearns and pines for the courts of the LORD. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.” Like the sparrow who finds a home and the swallow a nest, let me find rest in you today.

Readings

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

Today, on the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the first reading sets up a contrast between the earthly, human scope and God’s majestic reach and power. God, who brought about Mary’s immaculate conception, chose the small to do great things. The reading from Micah says God’s greatness “shall reach to the ends of the earth; he shall be peace.” From the Gospel reading, Joseph is caught up in God’s plan and drawn away from the smallness of human affairs and mere civil obedience. The angel tells him, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.” Do not be afraid! How many times did Jesus say that before and after the resurrection?

God, help me understand to listen out for your voice, to know when it is time for me to put my plans aside to do what you ask me to do. Joseph and Mary humbly heard what you asked of them and obeyed. In their example of humility, I want to learn to be humble so that I can also hear your voice and be fearless in following you. Without humility, do I have a chance of hearing you at all?

It seems right, Lord, to ask you what I can do for you today. Joseph, thinking he was doing the right thing, sought to divorce Mary quietly until the angel told him not to be afraid to take Mary into his home. Mary, who lived a life free from original sin, must have asked you throughout her young life how she could serve you. At the Annunciation, the angel told Mary not to be afraid and that the power of the Most High would overshadow her. She replied, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Teach me, Lord, to recognize the smallness of my reach in relation to yours; teach me to know and do your will.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Readings