An Autumn Prayer

 

Give Me a Few Friends

Dear Lord,

Give me a few friends
who will love me for what I am,
and keep ever burning
before my vagrant steps
the kindly light of hope.

And though I come not within sight
of the castle of my dreams,
teach me to be thankful for life,
and for time's olden memories
that are good and sweet.
And may the evening's twilight
find me gentle still.

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

In today’s first reading, Isaiah 55:6-9, God, speaking through Isaiah tells us “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts.” Then, in the gospel, Matthew 20: 1 – 16a, Jesus, demonstrates just how true Isaiah’s words are through the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard.

he Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard was challenging to all the people who heard it, Pharisees and Disciples alike, and it is challenging to us today. It clashes with our human sense of justice. The landowner’s generosity to all his workers does not seem fair. This is another parable we should consider in context. Jesus tells this parable in response to a question Peter poses in Matthew 19:27, “what will there be for us?” Jesus’ answer is “everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for the sake of my name will receive a hundred times more, and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.” He then proceeds to tell the parable.

It can be difficult for us to grasp that God loves all of us the same. All people are precious in the sight of God. In the Kingdom of Heaven, the tax collector and the priest, the day laborer and the most skilled worker, the beggar and the richest person, the most devout Pharisee and the outcast are all welcome. In fact, the tax collectors, day laborers, beggars and outcasts may get into the Kingdom of Heaven before the priests, the skilled workers, the rich people and the Pharisees. Thankfully, for us, God’s goodness, compassion, mercy and grace surpass our very limited human notions of time, justice and logic.

Almighty Father,

the love you offer always exceeds

the furthest expression of our human longing,

for you are greater than the human heart.

Direct each thought, each effort of our lives,

so that the limits of our faults and weaknesses

may not obscure the vision of your glory 

or keep us from the peace you have promised.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Amen

The Great Attraction

This is the great attraction today:

to reach the highest contemplation
while sharing in the life of every person,
being one among many.

I would say more:
to merge oneself with the crowd
so as to allow the divine
to penetrate it,
like wine
penetrates a piece of bread.

I would even say more:
as sharers in God’s plans for humanity,
to place points of light within the crowd,
sharing shame, hunger, troubles,
and brief joys with our neighbour.

The attraction today,
as in all times,
is Jesus and Mary.

The highest conceivable expression
of the human and the divine.
The Word of God, a carpenter’s son;
the Seat of Wisdom, a mother at home.​

Chiara Lubich, Meditations, New City, London, 2005, p. 14-15

September 15 - Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows

The feast of Our Lady of Sorrows commemorates the seven great sorrows which Mary lived in relation to Her Son, as they are recorded in the Gospels or through Tradition. Today we are invited to reflect on Mary's deep suffering:

1. At the prophecy of Simeon: "You yourself shall be pierced with a sword - so that the thoughts of many hearts may be laid bare." (Luke 2:35).

2. At the flight into Egypt; "Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt." (Mt 2:13).

3. Having lost the Holy Child at Jerusalem; "You see that your father and I have been searching for you in sorrow." (Luke 2:48).

4. Meeting Jesus on his way to Calvary;

5. Standing at the foot of the Cross; "Near the cross of Jesus there stood His mother." (John 19:25).

6. Jesus being taken from the Cross;

7. At the burial of Christ.

Prior to the Second Vatican Council, there were two feasts devoted to the sorrows of Mary. The first feast was instituted in Cologne in 1413 as an expiation for the sins of the iconoclast Hussites.  The second is attributed to the Servite order whose principal devotion are the Seven Sorrows.  It was instituted in 1668, though the devotion had been in existence since 1239 - five years after the founding of the order.

You are Not

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today’s gospel is a continuation of Matthew 18 that we heard last week. The theme last week was Christlike conflict resolution or a Christian grievance process. I called it our Christian code of ethics. This week Jesus takes the matter much further. Not only are we called to settle our differences, we are called to forgive each other totally, unconditionally and from the heart.

In today’s gospel from Matthew 18:21-35, St Peter asked Jesus, "Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive? As many as seven times?" Jesus’ answer was staggering, "I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.” Jesus then told a parable about a man who was forgiven a colossal debt but who in turn refused to forgive a very small debt. The man was turned “over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt.” And Jesus warns us that “So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart." According to Jesus, there is no statute of limitations on forgiveness.

As adult Christians, we all know that forgiveness is one of the keys to the kingdom. Yet so often we are like the sinner in today’s first reading from Sirach 27:30, “Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner hugs them tight.” Why do we do it? What is it about bitterness, vengeance and hate that is so addictive? To be honest, I don’t know the answer. But I do know that clinging on to these destructive emotions can enslave us and prevent us from living full, joy filled lives.

Tomorrow the Church celebrates the great Feast of the Exultation of the Cross. For us the Cross is one of the primary symbols of our faith. It is a sign of God’s unconditional love for us. It is our sign of hope. Without the Cross, there would be no resurrection, redemption or salvation. In the gospel for tomorrow, John 3:13-17, Jesus tells Nicodemus and he reminds us that God loves us so much that he “gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” Through His death on the Cross Jesus shows us the way to the Father, the way of humility, obedience and love. Part of the redeeming power of the cross is the powerful way that Jesus, nearing death, had the capacity to forgive. God loved us so much that he sacrificed his only Son for us. Jesus loved us so much that, not only was he willing to sacrifice his life for us, he was willing to forgive us.

O God, Most High,

you are slow to anger and rich in compassion.

Keep the memory of your mercy alive in us;

calm our anger and take away all our resentments. 

Create in us a new heart,

formed in the image of your Son,

a heart strong enough to bear every wound

and gentle enough to forgive every offense,

so that the world may see

how your people love one another.

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