Reflections on the Sunday Readings

   A quick look at our first reading and gospel for this weekend the twenty-sixth Sunday of ordinary time, gives us a scrooge-like reference in that the people in both readings were not committing any sins, so to speak, they just ignored the poor and destitute sitting on their doorsteps.   They didn’t hurt the poor they just chose not to be cognizant of them and their plight.   They did nothing to lift the burden of hunger, disease, or poverty from those they must of obviously saw with their eyes but not with their heart. The judgment against them is not for any acts of   commission but rather for acts of complacency and omission toward the poor. Down through the centuries there have been numerous   “Lazarus’s” at our gates.   People who for circumstances often beyond their control, (i.e., poverty, illness, abuse) have gone at the least unnoticed and at the worst seen as responsible for their own dilemma.   It is not because most people a...

  From the openings prayer (i.e., the Collect) of the mass, for this 25th Sunday of Ordinary time, we see the intent of the readings: “Oh God who founded all the commands of your sacred law upon the love of you and of our neighbor, grant that by keeping your precepts we may merit to attain eternal life.”   Eternal happiness is about love.   It is about who we love, and why we love them.   These are the factors that drive us to act and live in a certain way.         C ontained in that opening prayer we see that our happiness can never come down to solely acquiring possessions, or power, or money.   The emphasis this 25 th Sunday of Ordinary calls us also to reflect about the choices we make for ourselves in order live a life based on justice, love, and compassion towards others.   The first three, possessions, power, or money are important to the world at large, but to God, by themselves, they are of little value.    ...

                                                                                                                                It was on Sept. 14 th in the year 335 that the relics of the true cross of Christ, which had been discovered 9 years before, were brought out in front of the newly built Church of the Holy Sepulcher for public veneration.  This feast of the Exaltation of the Cross falls only once every 7 years on a Sunday and otherwise occurs only during weekly masses.  On this day we honor the symbol of our salvation and price it cost Lord to bring this about. 1                          ...

    Our gospel this week has some strong words to say about family relations and our relationship with God  “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:25 ff).   At first glance one         might  wonder if I follow Jesus, do I have to hate my parents, siblings, etc.?   The word “hate” in biblical literature can have different meanings.   For example, much of the New Testament and even some of the Old Testament was initially written or translated into Greek.   The Greek word for “hate” that is often used in the bible is “miseo” which means “to love less.” 1    Using that type of meaning, Jesus   is saying that the love of God is primary and must come before the love of anyone or anything else.   To follow Jesus   requires of us such a position in our lives.   Using this un...