July 19, 2015: 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

After a long line of shepherds who didn't faithfully fulfill their duty, God sends a Good Shepherd, that His people may dwell securely in the land--note that two verses from the first reading from Jeremiah are displayed at the beginning of the movie The Nativity Story.  This Shepherd is Jesus Christ, whose heart is filled with compassion for the needs of His people, as in the story in the Gospel reading when He sees the crowd of people.  As St. Paul writes in the 2nd reading, He even gives His life that we can be brought into God's peace as His one people.

July 12, 2015: 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

In the midst of His own ministry, Jesus Christ sends out His disciples on a mission, well before the Great Commission.  They go with only a few things, as they are relying on His power, even over demons.  He sends them, just as God called Amos from his agriculturally-oriented work to be a prophet, which he mentions in rebutting Amaziah's repulsion.

We share in this mission of proclaiming repentance that the disciples performed, a turning from our ways to God's ways, because of the marvelous work of salvation God has chosen to work in us, as St. Paul writes of so eloquently in the 2nd reading.

July 5, 2015: 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time

The role of a prophet is to speak the words of God to the people He intends as the recipients.  As people of faith, we are all prophets, called by God to speak His words, even as we keep our hearts open to the words God speaks to us.

The primary focus of our work is not to achieve a positive, enthusiastic response from the people.  We must speak the words of God even when the intended recepients resist, as is to be expected because of the hardness of people's hearts.  Our call is to be obedient, in faith, to the task God gives us, relying on His graces to strengthen us.  So no matter how others respond, God's word speaks, and His power will be manifest even in the struggles we face.

June 28, 2015: 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time

God does not want death for us, as the reading from Wisdom so eloquently states.  He created us to have life.  But sin got in the way, and with it came evil and death.

Jesus Christ came to show that God has the power over death and all ills, reversing their power over us.  So we are no longer afraid.  We must just have faith to believe in the God who comes to rescue us, who gave of His riches, that we might be filled with grace and life anew.

June 21, 2015: 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time

I was out storm chasing four years ago, and after four days of nothing, we encountered a fierce storm.  As we stood parked on a road south of Burlington, CO, Job 38 came to mind, a part of which is the first reading.

As fierce as any storm gets, God is the One who summons them, and so He is in charge, even as Jesus demonstrates when He calms the storm on the lake.  And in the midst of any storm we encounter, even mental or emotional storms of life, God, in Jesus, is with us to comfort us.  But we must heed Jesus's words, and demonstrate faith in Him to be present with us in the storms.  We must reach out and trust Him.

This is the faith that comes because Christ, in His great love for us, rescued us from the storminess caused by sin, and made us a new creation.  We live behind the fear, and venture forth with Him.

June 14, 2015: 11th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Although we're back in Ordinary Time, we're fully reminded that "Ordinary" does not refer to this time being uneventful and unexciting.

Indeed, a farmer's daily work, as Jesus stipulates in the first parable in the Gospel reading, involves planting seeds, and then tending to them until they bear fruit.  Through a slow, but sure process, the seeds become a bountiful harvest.

God indeed is at work in our world, and in us, His people, to bring about His Kingdom.  We don't really know how it happens, but our faith tell us that it does.  God is truly in charge of accomplishing His purposes, even so far as reversing fortunes and letting good stand in the face of evil.

While we don't control things as God does, we nonethless seek to please Him as we participate in the work of the Kingdom He does within us, whom He has chosen.  And even small efforts can become something immense, like the mustard seed, just as the seed of Christ's Death and Resurrection produces something immense, and Eternal.  Indeed, in light of the Paschal Mystery, we have faith to know God accomplishes His work.

June 7, 2015: Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

Jesus established God's New Covenant with us in the spirit of the Covenant Moses established at Mount Sinai.

Moses sprinkled the people with blood, and in His covenant, Christ sprinkles us with His own precious blood to cleanse us from sin.  He indeed offers His very self for our deliverance from sin and redemption.

In the ancient Near East, parties entering into a covenant shared a meal.  This New Covenant is now something we partake of, and we are thus transformed to be as He is, carrying His presence into the world.  We walk before Him all our days, lifting up the cup in thanksgiving to Him who has saved us.