19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

On Friday we celebrate the Feast of the Assumption. From the moment Mary spoke, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word,” when the Holy Spirit overshadowed her and she conceived the Savior of the world, she revealed herself to be the one chosen by God. She was the vessel of our salvation, the model of discipleship, and the first to enjoy the fruits of redemption through her assumption into heaven.

There is an image in the book of Revelation Chapter 12: 1 that is often applied to Mary: “A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” This dynamic image of a woman reigning over the universe has become an icon of Mary as queen of heaven and earth. Artistic representations of Mary often depict her dressed as the woman in Revelation. They signify the belief that the scriptures symbolically verify Mary’s place in heaven.

On the Feast of the Assumption, we celebrate the faith of a woman who accepted the challenge God put before her. She is an example of what human life is capable of achieving when touched by the grace of God. Like many mothers she gave a child to the world while remaining unaware of the details of God’s plan. We should not think that because Mary was free from sin her life was without struggles. She was subject to the same doubts and anguishes that we all face. Like her son, she shared all our problems and difficulties showing us the value of patience amidst our own trials, by turning sorrow and trouble into hope and joy.

Mary reminds us of the goodness of God which is the source and root of our life. What God wills for Mary God wills for all of us. In sending his Son into our world, God wanted to share the very best of Himself with us, by making us his adopted sons and daughters. God calls each of us like Mary to welcome Jesus and to make room for him in our lives. If we give him co-operation in living his word and sharing his cross, he will shape us into a worthy dwelling place for his Son. Mary teaches us what it means to abandon ourselves completely to God’s will and to be fully at his disposal. We are fortunate to call Mary our mother and to claim her as the model to imitate to the best of our ability, of all creatures, she is the closest in love to God, nearest to his heart and everything a human being should be.

Lord our God,

you took Mary up into heaven body and soul,

to share in the definitive triumph over death

of Jesus, your Son,

because on earth she humbly served your plans

as the first of those who believed. 

Grant us her attitude

of trusting openness to your will,

that you may overcome evil and death in us

and lead us safely with Mary

into your everlasting joy.

We ask you this through Christ our Lord.

Amen

Five More Minutes

While at the park one day, a woman sat down next to a man on a bench near a playground. "That's my son over there," she said, pointing to a little boy in a red sweater who was gliding down the slide.

"He's a fine looking boy," the man said. "That's my son on the swing in the blue sweater." Then, looking at his watch, he called to his son. "What do you say we go, Todd?"

Todd pleaded, "Just five more minutes, Dad. Please? Just five more minutes." The man nodded and Todd continued to swing to his heart's content.

Minutes passed and the father stood and called again to his son. "Time to go now?"

Again Todd pleaded, "Five more minutes, Dad. Just five more minutes." The man smiled and said, "O.K."

"My, you certainly are a patient father," the woman responded.

The man smiled and then said, "My older son Tommy was killed by a drunk driver last year while he was riding his bike near here. I never spent much time with Tommy and now I'd give anything for just five more minutes with him. I've vowed not to make the same mistake with Todd. He thinks he has five more minutes to swing. The truth is, I get five more minutes to watch him play."

Perseverance

I like the story of Dack Axselle. In October, 1984, they held the annual marathon in Richmond, Virginia. Some 831 runners started the race, a race that would cover a torturous 26.2 miles. In about three hours, the winner had crossed the finished line, and only a handful of people knew 10-year-old Dack Axselle was still running.

What Dack was doing, however, wasn't really a run. It was more of a fast shuffle. Dack was born with spina bifida, and doctors were sure he would never walk - if he lived at all. But Dack did learn how to walk with heavy leg braces and crutches. He developed a love for running, and he aimed for the toughest race of all.

So as he swung those leg braces down the road of his marathon, more and more people heard that he was still running. Twice near the end he had to stop to change gloves and re-wrap the gauze around his forearms. But each time he got up to race again. Finally, he came to the finish. It took Dack 11 hours and 10 minutes to get there, and the race had officially ended an hour and a half earlier.

The officials, the helpers, those who had run the race earlier had all packed their bags and gone. But as Dack neared the finish line, word spread like wildfire. Officials found the finish line, and put it up again. And more than 1,000 people cheered wildly as Dack pressed on, and many wept when he finally finished his marathon.

More than half the runners with good legs couldn't finish the race, but Dack became the biggest winner of the day - simply because he pressed on toward the goal. It didn't matter that his time was so slow. It mattered only that he finished. Dack said he had modeled himself on St. Paul. In finishing his race St. Paul had gained a new perspective on life. Once a persecutor of Christians, he was suddenly delighted to be part of the persecuted. His encounter with Jesus Christ had so profoundly changed him, it put a new perspective on everything in his life.

When we open Paul's letter to the Philippians, however, more than 25 years have passed. On the downside, Paul was dealing with the usual aging process and a painful "thorn in the flesh." But on the positive side of things, Paul possessed a maturity only time can bring. Part of that maturity was a new perspective, something that gave him encouragement for the long haul. He was determined to cross his finish line in a full run.

If you've been a Christian for a great many years, make it a point to model your life on St. Paul's perseverance. It worked for Dack.

Footprints

One night I dreamed a dream.

I was walking along the beach with my Lord. Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life. For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand, one belonging to me and one to my Lord.

When the last scene of my life shot before me I looked back at the footprints in the sand. There was only one set of footprints. I realized that this was at the lowest and saddest times of my life. This always bothered me and I questioned the Lord about my dilemma.

"Lord, You told me when I decided to follow You, You would walk and talk with me all the way. But I'm aware that during the most troublesome times of my life there is only one set of footprints. I just don't understand why, when I need You most, You leave me."

He whispered, "My precious child, I love you and will never leave you, never, ever, during your trials and testings. When you saw only one set of footprints, It was then that I carried you."

Margaret Fishback Powers, 1964

Feast of St. John Vianney

St. John Vianney pray for us!

In July 2016 in France, a priest was murdered by Islamic terrorists during Mass. Fr. Jacques Hamel was 86 years old; a thin, small man with white, wispy hair, hollow cheeks and hooded eyes. It is thought-provoking to compare this French priest’s appearance to another French priest who lived and died nearly 160 years ago; one who also had a diminutive frame, shrunken face, deep-set eyes, silvery hair—and a holy death. Four years after the passing of this parish priest as he celebrated Mass, the Church celebrates the passing of the patron saint of parish priests, Jean Baptiste Marie Vianney. St. Jean Vianney knew the storms of evil that beset man, and combatted them valiantly and victoriously despite their terrors. Considering present times and present terrors, the Curé of Ars stands out as a saint whose patronage is as needed today all over the world as it was in his own day in his little village of Ars to show the way to heaven​.

Sometimes We Need to be Reminded

A well-known speaker started off his seminar by: holding up a $20 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this $20 bill?"

Hands started going up. He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this. He proceeded to crumple up the $20 dollar bill. He then asked, "Who still wants it?"

Still the hands were up in the air. Well, he replied, "What if I do this?" And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty. "Now, who still wants it?"

Still the hands went into the air. My friends, we have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20. Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make or the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value. Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to those who love you.

The worth of our lives comes not in what we do or who we know, but by WHO WE ARE and WHOSE WE ARE. As Isaiah 43:1; tells us: “But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, Jacob, and formed you, Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name: you are mine.”

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

A pithy summary of all today’s readings could be “you can’t take it with you.” The bottom line for all of us is that when we die, all the earthly things we have worked for and accumulated mean nothing. What matters in Heaven is totally different from what matters in our lives here on earth. Wealth in and of itself isn’t bad. What counts in Heaven is what we do with our wealth. Do we hoard it like the doomed rich man in today’s gospel from Luke 12:13-21? Or do we follow St Paul’s suggestion in the second reading from Colossians 3:1-5, and “Think of what is above, not of what is on earth”?

In his encyclical, Evangelii Gaudium (2013), our Holy Father Pope Francis wrote “We have created new idols. The worship of the ancient golden calf has returned in a new and ruthless guise in the idolatry of money and the dictatorship of an impersonal economy lacking a true human purpose” (56). St Paul also likened greed to idolatry in today’s reading from Colossians.

As Christians our lifelong goal should be making ourselves rich in the eyes of God. Who are the rich in the Kingdom? Once again St Paul comes to our rescue giving us guidelines for citizenship in the Kingdom. “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do. And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection. And let the peace of Christ control your hearts, the peace into which you were also called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as in all wisdom you teach and admonish one another, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Col 3:12-17). If we follow St Paul’s guidelines our heavenly wealth will be abundant.

Creator God,

Lord and giver of life,

how generous you are to all your creatures.

With such generosity ever before our eyes,

help us to avoid greed in all its forms,

to measure life’s worth

not by the quantity of possessions,

but by the life and love we freely place at the service of others.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

God for ever and ever.

AMEN.