July 28, 2024: 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Throughout history, God has shown His ability to provide for His people abundantly.

The 1st reading shows how Elisha, as the man of God, fully aware of what God can do, insists that twenty barley loaves are enough for a large group of 100.

This reading points toward the Gospel reading, when Jesus fed 5000 men, and others, with 5 loaves of bread.  It is one of several signs in teh Gospel according to St. John, and points to how God provides life-giving gifts for His people, which Jesus will explain in detail in the coming weeks in the rest of chapter 6.

Yet the people see Jesus's extraordinary ability and think He should be a king.

Instead, they, and we, are called to see in these signs that God provides for our greatest need, that of salvation, in Christ.  We turn to Him.  He binds us together in one faith in our God Who saves us fully, and sustains us with His life through the sacraments, as part of one church that is sent to serve the world.  As one major take-away from the National Eucharistic Congress, God gives us His life so that we can bring life to the world, that all may see this God at work to fill us abundantly.

On this day when we celebrate our Grandparents and our Elders, we give thanks for how faith is handed on from one generation to the next, and we can draw upon those ageless and timeless principles to sustain us in the life that God has given to the world through His Son Who continues to offer Himself to us in the Eucharist.

July 25, 2024: Feast of St. James

God calls us to follow the way of Christ, which means we suffer and then rise to glory, as Jesus made clear to the disciples when the mother of James and John asked for privileged places for them.

Furthermore, He calls us to live in this spirit of Christ throughout our lives as we seek not to be served, but to serve.

We thus reveal the presence of Christ at work in our world, as God works in us, putting treasures as in jars of clay, common containers.  Even in our sufferings, we persevere because the path leads to the fulfillment of God's purposes.

July 22, 2024: Feast of St. Mary Magdalene

St. Mary Magdalene was truly transformed by Christ's healing power.

She was filled with a passionate love for Him, and she was the first witness of the Resurrection.

Once she encountered the Risen Lord, she proclaimed the Good News.

So our faith calls us:  Once we have been healed and brought to New Life in the Risen Christ, we are sent forth to proclaim the Good News that Jesus Christ, Who was once dead, is now alive, bringing life to the world, even through us.

In the wake of the 10th National Eucharistic Congress, she provides a great example for us as we go forth.

July 21, 2024: 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

God has sent us a Good Shepherd in Jesus Christ, to undo the harm of shepherds who didn't have a heart for their people.

Christ reestablished justice and righteousness.  By the offering of Himself, He brought God and His people back together again.

He did so with a compassionate heart.  Even though He and the apostles needed a rest, Christ saw the crowd and was moved to meet their needs, teaching them that which would lead them to Eternal Life.

Truly, He offered His Presence as a gift.  And in light of the 10th National Eucharistic Congress that concluded with Mass today in Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, He continues to offer the gift of Himself for the Life of the World.

When we enter into this life, we share in the mission to bring that Life to others by offering ourselves as God's presence to others.

July 14, 2024: 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

From ancient times, God has called His people in the midst of their life's circumstances to a new mission, to proclaim the message He gives.

Amos was one of the country folk and was called to speak God's Truth to power.

When Jesus came, even while He was in His ministry, He sent His disciples to do the works that would proclaim God's presence and kingdom in the world.

God chose us, as St. Paul writes in the 2nd reading, before the foundation of the world to be holy and participate in God's work in the world by revealing Him to the world.

One great example relevant to today is St. Kateri Tekakwitha.  She was born among the indigenous people of the Iroquois area and later in life, embraced the Christian faith even at the risk of being scorned by her family and her people.  Yet she was devoted to God and living a life of holiness, showing Him to the world.

We now answer this call by embracing the graces God pours into us so that we can be set apart and live for Him.

July 7, 2024: 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Just as I visited my grandfather's hometown of Ottumwa, IA this weekend, Jesus returned to His hometown in the Gospel reading.  His own people were so stuck in their ideas of Who He was that they couldn't appreciate the way He spoke and made God present to them.

After many prophets spoke to God's people, He now speaks to us in His fullness in Jesus Christ.  In hardness of heart, we can close ourselves to what God says to us, even that we're not good enough for God to be present with us.

It is by the power of faith that we see how God is truly present to us.  We have an opportunity, because Christ is here, to open ourselves to God. Even in our weaknesses, God is at work, bringing us alive, as He speaks the Word that transforms us.