28th sunday in ordinary time

Posted on by Cassie

The existential questions confronting us in today’s gospel are: what must we do to follow Jesus?  What is the one thing more the Lord is asking of us?

For most of us, the answer is obviously not to give away everything we have to the poor.  But it might be to continue our support of relief funds, mission work and the Catholic Charities Appeal.  For most of us, the agenda will not include leaving our home and family.  But it might mean keeping up our efforts to provide home for refugees, employment for the jobless and protection for the defenseless.

In other words, the gospel is challenging us to re-examine our values.  Have material riches replaced spiritual ones in our homes?  Has our entertainment systems pushed out all prayer time in our lives?  Have excess use of alcohol or tobacco desensitized us to the movements of God in our spirits?

The primary purpose of the gospel is not to make us feel guilty about what we have, but to lead us to reflect seriously on what our priorities are.

For example, do we have to let go of some of our work and outside involvements in order to spend more time with our family?  Do we have to sacrifice some of the luxuries we surround ourselves with, in order to open our hearts more to the plight of the poor?  Do we have to turn off some of the noise of today’s recordings in order to hear the sound of God’s voice?

Jesus tells us how hard it is for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.  Why not simplify our lives somewhat to free ourselves to follow the Lord more easily, more closely and even more joyously?

Why go away sad today because we will not let go of the one thing more that the Lord wants from us?  Why not go away happy believing that no matter how much we let go for the Lord, He will always give us back a hundredfold.

God Bless,

Msgr. Powell

27th sunday in ordinary time

Posted on by Cassie

In today’s Gospel Jesus is questioned about divorce.  Jesus goes beyond the permissive stance assumed by Moses in his period of history.  He moves to what God intended from the very beginning of time as an ideal marriage relationship.

There is no compromise on what Jesus holds out as the ultimate and ideal goal of marriage—two people should become one flesh; what God has joined let no one separate, whoever divorces and remarries commits adultery.

Ideally a marriage should be marked by unity— a total sharing of body, mind and spirit; it should be a permanent relationship—till death do us part.

However, we do not live in a ideal world.  We live in a real world where to often selfishness overpowers love, taking dominates giving, and some marriages end in divorce.  What does Jesus have to say about that?

To answer that question, recall how Jesus condemned adultery, but forgave the woman caught in adultery; how He showed compassion toward the Samaritan woman at the well who had lived with five husbands; and how he gave Peter a new start after Peter had denied Him and ran away.

Do we continue to strive for ideal marriage?  Yes, with all our resources.  Do we condemn divorced people whose marriage fell short of the ideal?  No, we condemn divorce but not the divorcee.  We deal with the divorce the way Jesus would— by balancing the law with love, firmness, with forgiveness and principles with practices.

Today let us pray for married couples that God keep them in His grace.  Let us also pray for those whose marriages have failed, that God will continue to bless them and help them to always feel His presence in their lives.

God Bless,

Msgr. Powell

26th sunday in ordinary time

Posted on by Cassie

The disciples do not understand Jesus’s words about His coming suffering, even though this is not the first time He has tried to explain it to them.  They sense they should understand, and therefore pretend that they do.  But their bluff foils, because they fail to grasp the implications of His words for their own lives.  The real test of our understanding of Jesus is how we live.  Do we really  model ourselves on a Messiah who serves and suffers?

The words of today’s gospel strike us as an exaggeration.  Why would Jesus exaggerate? Perhaps to get us thinking about what is really important in this life; perhaps to challenge our assumptions and values.  Self–preservation is normally our highest value– not losing our lives, or our sight, or our hands.  But if “whoever wishes to save His life will lose it”, then we have to re-examine what real self-preservation means.  The death of the Son of God on the cross reverses normal expectations and calls us to re-examine our thinking.  It is those who lose their lives for the sake of Jesus who save them.

God Bless

Msgr. Powell