Ordinary Time Cycle A

Twenty Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time cycle C

October 16, 2022

Review the Readings

Listen to the Readings

 

 

 

The readings are a good reminder for us

 

 

 

The Israelites were on their long journey from Egypt to Canaan and they had to pass through territories were occupied by original aboriginal tribes. Which means they had to fight with the people who did not want them to pass through their territory.

 

 

 

 Moses saw the importance of praying to God so they would have victory.  Others helped him in this task as he stood on the mountain.

 

It would seem the lesson for each of us is that there is an all loving God that wants each of us in eternal life, but we need to pray to God and ask for his help and he will always give the best way to help us on our journey to eternal life.

 

 

 

Paul reminds Timothy and us as to how important the sacred Scriptures are for our instruction and for our Journey to eternal life.

Two words stand out at the end of this reading, the word patience with other and learning more about the Word of God.
Each of us are called through our baptism to make God present in the world and we do that by our patience with people and our example. We have learned that our actions as Christians can often speak louder than our words.

 

 

Jesus tells a parable of how important it is to pray and not lose heart. With all the distractions around us it is so easy to forget about God, to do very little in the way in the way of prayer or looking at the Word of God in the Sacred Scriptures as Saint Timothy suggested.

 

 

 

 

 

It might be a good idea in the week ahead to spend some time looking at the daily mass readings.

Click here for the Daily Mass Readings

 

 

Most of us use the Internet and you will find that you can pray the Rosary on line. 

 

Click here for information on Praying the Rosary

You can check out the App Store.  Search Rosary for your cell or tablet

 

and/or

 

 

Pray the liturgy of the hours with Morning, Evening, Night prayers on line

 

Click here for Liturgy of the Hours

Search the App Store for Universalis For your cell or tables

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Twenty Seventh Sunday Ordinary Time Cycle C

October 2, 2022

Review the Readings

Listen to the Readings

 

 

It seems that for each of us there are those moments when we wonder why God works the way God does, and why it often takes so long.

 

In the first reading, this prophet, who was  living in about 600 BC., was telling God about the bad situation with the people who had turned to idols and concerns about money, possessions, status, etc.  

He wondered why  God was not reacting to any of this.

 

For each of us today, as in the time of this prophet, we can, at times, question how God works and ask why it can takes so long, perhaps years or even centuries. Only God seems to know the time element of his plans. But we, like this prophet, do often question God.

 

But we have to also reflect on how merciful God is, and that He wants all people, even serious sinners, to reach eternal life.  Remember that Jesus never refused to heal anyone who was a sinner or who has done evil. He knew God had a plan for each individual person, and that time was not the major concern.

 

In the Gospel, Jesus is helping the apostles to trust in God.  These words of the Gospel certainly apply to each of us, especially in those moments when we question  how God works and why it takes so long.

 

 

 
It is a call for each of us to ask for the gift of faith.

 

 

 

 

In the second reading, St. Paul, who is in prison and waiting for the moment of his execution, writes this second letter to Timothy.

 In this situation, Paul seems to clearly understand that God works in mysterious ways, even in his sufferings and threat of his soon to happen execution.

We also have to remember the young man Timothy, who was the Bishop of Ephesus.  The situation of the people around him was difficult or almost impossible.  Most were pagans or Jews who did not except the teachings of Jesus and often reported Christians to the Roman authorities.  Many who followed the teachings of Christ were martyred. 

We can imagine that both St. Paul and St. Timothy could have questioned about why God was taking so long, and about why God worked the way He did, but they did not.
They had a deep trust, a faith in God.

 

 

It is so easy to trust God, to have faith, when things are going well.

But the real test for our faith is in those times that are difficult, those times in which we don't understand, those times that are even impossible.

 

We need to reflect back on what Jesus told his apostles about the mustard seed being so small, and yet, even with a small amount of faith only the size of a mustard seed, wonders can happen.  The same was true for St. Paul in Timothy and the situations that were very difficult for them.

 

So, this week, check out where your faith is in the times that are stressful, or difficult, or even impossible.

 Where is your faith?  

That may be the time to request the same thing  the Apostles had requested of Him...

 

...and remember in all situations, God is teaching us, so we can reach eternal life.

 

 

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Twenty Sixth Sunday Ordinary Time Cycle C

September 25, 2022

 

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Once again, this Sunday we hear from the Prophet Amos.

He has been sent by God to tell the leaders of Judah that they are more concerned about their own luxurious living style than about their concern for the people they are ruling who are in poverty and in need.

It seems that, again and again,  the Chosen People want to be complacent, forgetting all that God has given them, and so they turn to gathering wealth and power, so that they can be comfortable and complacent, not having anything to worry about.  

 Amos was sent to warn them against this.  They have been called to show concern for the poor and needy and not to just have a selfish attitude about their own comfortable lifestyle.

Perhaps this Sunday is a time for each of us to look at our concern for the needy and the poor, and to see if we have a high priority for Christian charity.

 

Where is the concern for others on our list of priorities today?

 Is it more toward the bottom of our list?

 

 God will always put a less fortunate person into our lives.

 

How do we react when we have an encounter with someone who is in need, whether that be a friend or a person standing on the street corner with a sign.

 

Do we simply ignore the situation because it make us uncomfortable, and then we become complacent and go on with our own lifestyle, or do we go out of our way to help that person?  

These Sunday reading are  a wake up call for all of us.

It is so easy to become complacent; to want to be able to sit back and relax and enjoy life, but we are called to go out of our way for others, and not to become complacent as did the Chosen People in the Jewish scriptures that Amos was addressing.

St. Paul's letter to Timothy addresses him as, man of God, encouraging him with things that he needs to reflect upon. We can listen carefully because we too, are a people of God through our baptism.

We, like Timothy, have been called by name and we were anointed to make God present in the world for others, not only by what we say, but also by our actions, by what we do.

St. Paul tells Timothy and us to pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness.

 

The Gospel reading from Luke encourages us to become aware of the needy, and go out of our way for the less fortunate.  And not surprisingly, God will always put the less fortunate into each of our lives, giving us a chance to respond in love, patience, charity etc.

 

We hear the story of the rich man and the poor beggar, Lazarus, which we all know very well.  Now the task is to apply it to our lives today.

Let us pray that during this week we may be watchful for the Lazarus that God will put into our lives.

That may be persons in need of having someone to just listen to them, or having someone to be patient with them, or perhaps a person who is in need of mercy or compassion and forgiveness for them.

All of us will encounter Lazarus during the week.

Will we recognize that person or simply give some excuse and ignore the situation?

Will we simply not pay any attention and be complacent with our own life, or will we hear this call from God to fulfill our baptism to make God present for others in the world?

This can be a good week to make some important spiritual discoveries about ourselves.

 

What will you discover???

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Twenty Fifth Sunday cycle C

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September 18, 2022

 

 

 

 

Amos lived in the eighth century B.C. He was a shepherd who was called by God to go to Israel and to speak in God's name to the people.

 

 

 

 

 

He spoke about the injustices that were done by the upper class against the poor and the helpless.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every day God puts the poor and the helpless in the our midst.  Do we see the poor in our midst as we go about our daily lives?  It is so easy, yet when we are busy we don't even recognize them, but they are there.

 
It is not just the materially poor people, but it is also the people who are struggling  with loneliness, rejection, and all other kinds of  problems and they pass us many, many times everyday.

 

Do we go out of our way to make God present for all we meet throughout the day???

It can be a quick hello, or perhaps a smile or a nod of the head can make God present to those we counter.

 

 

Have you ever, when driving, just waved at a person walking on the street.  Amazing.  We seldom think about these little things that make God present for others. Of course there all kinds of ways to make God present, but our first step is to begin to recognize the poor we don't even recognize.

 

 

Saint Paul writes this letter to Timothy whom he has appointed to take charge of the church in Ephesus.

This letter was written in the year 65 or 66 A.D. and one of the things he tells Timothy is how important it is to pray for all of people.

 

 

 That message is for all of us as we too, for we were called at our Baptism to pray for all. Perhaps on a certain day you might want to  say a silent and quick, God bless you, for every person you encounter.

So simple but also so difficult to remember to do every now and then.    

This practice can help us to more and more become aware of our call to pray for others.

 

 

 

 

 

Saint Luke gives us the words of Christ warning those who follow Him not become slaves of earthly things. 

The parable tells us to use money and material goods to also help others.  We might think that only applies to people who are millionaires but that is not true.
It is meant for all of us.

We can spend a lot of our time concerned about worldly goods but a question to ask ourselves is how much time each day do we spend using our material things including money to make God present for others.  It is so easy to be so concerned for our self that we forget that through our baptism we are called to help others .

 

 

 

 

 

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Twenty Third Sunday Ordinary Time Cycle C

September 4, 2022

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The Book of Wisdom was the last book of the Old Testament that was written in Greek, by a pious Jew, who lived in Egypt during the first century B.C.

It was written to help those Jews who were  facing opposition to their faith by the pagans surrounding them  in Egypt.

They were questioning how God worked and why He was allowing the difficult things happening to them.

There have been times, in most of our lives, when we too questioned  the way that God works.

We may question why God allows certain things to happen in our lives.  The author of this Old Testament reading gives and indication as to what the reason might be.  He tells them that just as it is difficult to understand some of the laws of nature, so also the things of a loving, merciful God were beyond their comprehension.

 

The Gospel reading can be a real challenge for each of us as we try to understand what is being asked of us. It is the opposite of how the world seems to think.

As great multitudes accompanied Jesus, He says many things that are difficult for them and for us.

 

 

Our reactions to all that Jesus says in the Gospel are a real challenge.

 

To be able to accept the difficulties in our lives, that is the cross that the Lord presents to us, is a real struggle at times. We may even ask the question as to why God allows suffering, problems, and difficulties in our lives.

 

 

 

Again, as in the first reading, things will happen that we do not comprehend or understand, but we do see through Jesus Christ, that  those moments are a part of our journey that leads to eternal life.

 

 

 

In some ways it makes no sense, yet through the invitation of Jesus to follow Him, his example,  we come to know  that these questions and struggles are a part of our way to eternal life.

 

 
It really comes down to discovering in ourselves, if we are ready to put Jesus first in everything and to renounce all that gets in the way of being his disciple.

We may also find things in our lives that we are not willing to let go of.

 

 

When we make those discoveries, our prayer needs to become, help me Lord to let go of those things which have become idols or gods in my own life, as we journey to eternity.

When we hang on to these things so tightly, we often leave no room for the presence of Jesus Christ, as He calls us to follow Him, alone.

 

 

St. Paul writes this letter while he is imprisoned in Rome. It is the shortest of his letters and at the same time the most personal and touching. 

 

 

Paul sees the need for the slave, Onesimus, who has been with him and served him  in his imprisonment, to return to his owner Philemon, and his need to reconcile. We are not told what the difficulty was between Philemon and Onesimus, but reconciliation was needed between these two Christians.

 

In our own lives, sometimes reconciliation is extremely difficult, because we feel that we are not the problem, but that the other person is, and to be called to reconciliation makes no sense at all. We may even think, "I am not giving my life for that person.  They need to come to me first!"

 

Yet we've heard in these readings the need to renounce everything and that includes our own ideas, and to be willing to go out to the other even, to the one with whom we have difficulties.

 

The readings from this Sunday seem to all point out, that often times, God places before us, things that do not make sense in our mentality, but God knows well, that these are the things that leads us to eternal life.  So again and again, in every difficult situation, Jesus invites us to eternal life and to pick up the cross and follow, which is the only way to eternal peace.

 

Everyday He is inviting us to travel to eternal life!

 

 

What is your response today

to His invitation?

 

 

 

 

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