Friday June 29, 2018 – Saints Peter & Paul

Posted on by June 29, 2018

June 29, 2018
Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles – Mass during the Day
Lectionary: 591

Acts 12:1-11
Psalm 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
2 Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18
Matthew 16:13-19
Praying Ordinary Time Weekly Guide for Daily Prayer

Enjoying Vacation Time

Acts 4: 32 tells us that the community of believers were of one heart and mind and that is how the apostles themselves are generally believed to have been, and –I surmise– that is also why Peter and Paul are celebrated together as pillars of the Church forming a harmonious dyad. Pillars they were all right and I have no doubt they were of one heart. But of one mind? They were that too, at least when the first Council of Jerusalem discussed essentials. However, oneness of mind in essentials did not necessarily mean oneness of mind in every single issue.

Even when enlightened by the Spirit, Peter’s mind remained ultimately the mind of a good fisherman: down to earth, but not necessarily sophisticated, at least not in comparison to Paul’s. Peter himself seems to admit to that much, as we read in his second letter: …our beloved brother Paul… wrote to you, speaking of these things in all his letters. In them there are some things hard to understand… [2Pet. 3: 16]. One in heart they were, but oneness of mind was not to be taken for granted on Peter’s side.

Or on Paul’s side for that matter. It was not often that the two of them were together in the same place, but it did happen in Antioch. There Peter seems to have been backtracking on his conviction that associating with Gentiles was not forbidden to the followers of Jesus. Paul remembers that encounter very well: …when Cephas came to Antioch, then I did oppose him to his face, since he was clearly in the wrong. Before certain people from James came, he used to eat with Gentiles; but as soon as these came, he backed up and kept apart from them for fear of the circumcised [Gal. 2: 11-12]. Not of one mind in that issue. Was Paul afraid that –out of fear– Peter could be sliding back into the dissembling that led him to deny –also out of fear– that he even knew Jesus?

Oneness of mind and heart speaks of unanimity (uni-animity or one-spirit-ness), not necessarily of uniformity. The apostolic faith planted by both Peter and Paul remained the same in its essentials, but in its details it was not cloned in every one of the many faith communities that sprang from their proclamation. Each exhibited its own identifying characteristics without being perceived as a threat to unanimity, a growth that in its diversity was seen as guided by the Holy Spirit. Today’s Church extends over clearly diverse societies and cultures and, taking a clue from Peter and Paul, it strives to preserve unanimity. Micromanaging the growth of each local church over the planet may achieve the external impression of uniformity, but, in disregarding what is legitimately proper to the local church, it could hurt unanimity. Unanimity is a gift of the Spirit, uniformity is not. We need Paul’s freedom to disagree with Peter and Peter’s honest acknowledgment that there are levels of sophistication and depth in the grasping and articulation of our common faith, levels Peter was not always in a position to understand.

June 29, 2018 -Friday – 12th Week- the Church Year

Posted on by June 28, 2018

June 29, 2018 – Friday in the 12th Week of the Church Year

Saints for the day: Solemnity-of-saints-Peter-and-Paul

Scripture readings for today’s liturgy

2 Kings 22:8-13….1-3 – Psalms 119 – Matt 7:15-20

“Teach me your way of your decrees, O Lord. (Today’s Psalm response)

St. Thomas Aquinas says that nobody can choose evil for evil’s sake. The person always sees that there is something in the evil that is seen as good. Adam and Eve didn’t sit around thinking, “let’s do something evil.” They only wanted to be like Gods, which they saw as being good. None of us gets up in the morning saying, “I wonder what sin I can commit today?”

So the problem of the Israelites on-going struggle to follow God is a journey in and out of God’s love. Not by direct choice to go away from God, but by circumstantial attraction to what they perceive as good. That’s why the story of the Israelites is also our story and one that has consequences further down the road.

In today’s Gospel Jesus uses the analogy of fruit on a tree. The berry on the thorn bush looks good and tempting but it ends up being bitter. But it’s a thorn bush. What did you expect? When Jesus uses this analogy He hopes that we will learn that subtle difference between what looks – on the surface – as being good isn’t always that way. One way that we might get a better handle on this subject is to take Paul’s listing of the “good and bad fruits of the Spirit” in Galatians 5:23 ff.

He first list the attributes of the Spirit: Peace, joy, happiness, self-control, etc., etc.,

Then he lists those things that are not “in the spirit:” anger, jealousy, rivalry, etc., etc.,

What I do with these two lists is to imagine myself as a boat speeding across a lake. All I have to do is look back at the wake I’m leaving to see what’s happening in my life. If it produces big waves that bash against boats tied at the dock or splashes near-by people I have to say that I’m not “living in the Spirit.” Paul calls these the “fruits of the Spirit.” All any of us has to do is look back to see: are things flourishing because of our “passage” through life or are we leaving a trail of devastation? “By your fruits you will be known!” Something to think about. Amen!

June 27, 2018 Wednesday in the 12th Week

Posted on by June 26, 2018

June 27, 2018 – Wednesday in the 12th Week of the Church Year.

Saint for the day: Cyrial of Alexandria (378 – June 27, 444)

Scripture readings for today’s liturgy

2 Kings 22:8-13….1-3 – Psalms 119 – Matt 7:15-20

“Teach me your way of your decrees, O Lord. (Today’s Psalm response)

St. Thomas Aquinas says that nobody can choose evil for evil’s sake. The person always sees that there is something in the evil that is seen as good. Adam and Eve didn’t sit around thinking, “let’s do something evil.” They only wanted to be like Gods, which they saw as being good. None of us gets up in the morning saying, “I wonder what sin I can commit today?”

So the problem of the Israelites on-going struggle to follow God is a journey in and out of God’s love. Not by direct choice to go away from God, but by circumstantial attraction to what they perceive as good. That’s why the story of the Israelites is also our story and one that has consequences further down the road.

In today’s Gospel Jesus uses the analogy of fruit on a tree. The berry on the thorn bush looks good and tempting but it ends up being bitter. But it’s a thorn bush. What did you expect? When Jesus uses this analogy He hopes that we will learn that subtle difference between what looks – on the surface – as being good isn’t always that way. One way that we might get a better handle on this subject is to take Paul’s listing of the “good and bad fruits of the Spirit” in Galatians 5:23 ff.

He first list the attributes of the Spirit: Peace, joy, happiness, self-control, etc., etc.,

Then he lists those things that are not “in the spirit:” anger, jealousy, rivalry, etc., etc.,

What I do with these two lists is to imagine myself as a boat speeding across a lake. All I have to do is look back at the wake I’m leaving to see what’s happening in my life. If it produces big waves that bash against boats tied at the dock or splashes near-by people I have to say that I’m not “living in the Spirit.” Paul calls these the “fruits of the Spirit.” All any of us has to do is look back to see: are things flourishing because of our “passage” through life or are we leaving a trail of devastation? “By your fruits you will be known!” Something to think about. Amen!

 

June 26, 2018 – Tuesday in the 12th Week

Posted on by June 25, 2018

June 26, 2018- Tuesday in 12th Week of Ordinary Time

Saint for the day: Blessed Raymond Lull (c. 1235 – June 28, 1315)

Scripture readings for today’s Liturgy

2 Kings 19:9 …. ….36 – Psalm 48 – Matthew 7:6, 12-14

It’s easy for us to dismiss these OT stories that we’ve been hearing in these days with a, “that was then. This is now” attitude. But doing this only leaves us poorer and without a link to the Gospel, the real foundation of our lives. Today, Jesus tells His disciples, “Enter by the narrow gate. The way to perdition is an easy road but one that leads nowhere.”

Sometimes the OT accounts of the history of Israel’s struggle to follow the One God are easy to dismiss with their outlandish numbers of those who were killed or those who were saved. But try not to go down that road. The point of these stories is to show how much God wants to bring us into the “promised land.” Today’s Gospel reminds us that the only way “in” is through that narrow gate. When Jesus tells his disciples this I think He is reminding them of the need of a personal relationship with Him and with God. Remember Jesus’ “Priestly Prayer” that we heard all throughout the Easter time: “Father, that they might be one as you and I are one.” We can’t just follow the crowd and go with the flow.

This past weekend San Francisco had their “Gay Pride Parade” with countless thousands of people “getting on the bandwagon.” The evening news devoted the entire program to covering this event. It was interesting to me to see all the “cooperate sponsorship” that got their name out there for all to see and I couldn’t help but thinking how easy it was to “go with the flow.”

But come in and sup with you”

Until we make this first move to that personal relationship with Jesus we will always be outside begging, “Didn’t I join all the right groups? Didn’t I seek equal rights for this group or that?”

And Jesus will reply: “I do not know you” or equally important “You do not know ME!”

That’s why those huge “stadium revivals” that get the people down on the field with thousands of others to have them “make a decision for Christ” often leave people just standing there with a huge crowd and often miss the next step of getting folks into that one-on-one relationship with Jesus.

Remember Zacheses who was there with the crowd watching Jesus pass by from his treetop vantage point. He is called by name and has to break from the throng to sup with Jesus. And Jesus tells him, “This day, salvation has come to this house” because he opened his door and let Jesus into his life.

Bottom line: crowds are nice. But all they give us is that “rush” that can fool us into thinking that’s all that’s needed for salvation. But push-to-shove many of those will be standing outside the door knocking, “Lord, Lord…” and we know what Jesus answer is to that. “Enter through the narrow gate!” Amen!

 

June 25, 2018 – Monday in the 12 Week of the Church Year

Posted on by June 24, 2018

June 25, – 2018 Monday in the 12th Week of the Church Year

Saint for the day: Blessed Thuringia died c. 1260

Scripture reading’s for today’s Liturgy:

2 Kings 17:5 – – -18 – Psalm 60:3 …13 – Matthew 7:1-5

“Stop judging, that you may not be judged” or “What goes around comes around!”

The first reading for today’s liturgy could easily be a front-page newspaper account of current conflicts all around our world. As I’ve said before, “there is really nothing new under the sun. We have been fighting “in God’s name” since the very beginning! I can almost hear God saying, “Who asked you to be my defense or asked you to fight in my name?”

The scripture readings for today’s liturgy – both going along on their own cycle – surprisingly fit together so well that we have to say that God is speaking directly to us about our current situations.

You might find some interesting insights made by an Irish Dominican about today’s Gospel. Click on the following link: another Dominican’s reflection

On the subject of “judging” it is worth noting that psychologists say that even while you’re reading this reflection – or hearing someone speak to you – you are talking to yourself (usually in a judgmental sense) ten times faster than what you are hearing or reading. The next time someone is talking to you about – anything or nothing – check your own self and see that you are preparing what you want to say and not really listening to what’s being said. And the judging is usually not necessarily aimed at the person as much as aimed at what that person is saying.

And this is the cause and source of so many of our world’s problems.

Today our prayer should be: “Give me, Oh Lord, a contrite heart to seek the good of those around me knowing that I, myself, have fallen way short of the goal of having you as a real and living part of my life. Amen!

June 13, 2018 – Wednesday – 10th Week

Posted on by June 12, 2018

To all my faithful readers of Scratchpad Reflections: I am in the process of organizing 18 Years of reflections – while, at the same time, hoping to keep them fresh and able to help all my faithful readers on their journeys following the Lord.

So there might be a little bit of juggling while I try to keep these reflections meaningful to a wide range of readers. Please keep me in your prayers as I make this transition.

Brother Daniel

e-mail: brotherdaniel@opwest.org

 

June 4, 2018 – 9th Week of Ordinary Time

Posted on by June 3, 2018

Dear faithful readers of “Scratchpad Reflections!”   I’m having some computer problems which I won’t be able to fix right away.  But, I ‘ll do the best I can to get  up and running as soon as possible.  Thanks – in advance – for your patience with my difficulties.

Brother Daniel

Friday, June 1, 2018 – First Friday of the month.

Posted on by May 31, 2018

 

 Saint for the day: Justin Martyr (c. 100 – 165)

 Scripture readings for today’s Liturgy:

1 Peter 4:7-13 – Psalm 96:10-13 – Mark 11:11-26

 “Did you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit? Therefore drive out from yourselves all that is not of God.

 If I were a director for a stage play or movie centered around today’s Gospel I would have had my work cut out for me! There’s just a lot going on. How do we pull it all together with some sense of purpose and meaning? Jesus goes in and out of the Temple area and back and forth to and from Bethany and a poor fig tree gets blamed for not having figs even though it’s “not the season for figs!”

What’s going on and what does the Gospel writer want us to hear about this passage?

Seems to me it’s the basic struggle that exists between the world, the flesh and the devil. In the first place we see that “the world” will always try to get as much out of us as possible and sometimes we are not even aware that anything bad is happening. Things start out as being necessary: money had to be changed in order to pay the Temple Tax. But what “the world” does is to jack up the ante so that sooner or later we feel the pinch. Jesus’ response is to overturn the tables of the moneychangers and drive them out of the Temple area.

Then, on His way to Bethany he sees a poor, barren fig tree that He curses for no apparent reason and his disciples notice it withered when they are returning to the Temple and ask Jesus about this. Jesus’ response: “…if you say to this mountain ‘Up and into the sea’ it shall be so. Anything you ask for in prayer – without doubting – will be done.”

I’m sure that most of us have many experiences of “asking in faith” only to see it not accomplished. So, what’s our ‘bottom line’ here?

I think that the closing of this Gospel passage holds the answer. It takes us back to the ‘Lord’s Prayer:’ “… unlimited forgiveness to those who have wronged us so that we, also, might know the limitless forgiveness and mercy of God in our lives.”

This is where “cleansing” comes in. We have to overturn all that pulls us away from God and sweep clean this ‘temple of ours’ that God intends for good. Only when we do this will we find our lives blossoming forth with fresh fruit. You might not like figs but try to get beyond any prejudice to see how much God wants us to be fruitful. Amen!

May 29, 2018 Tuesday in the 8th Week in Ordinary time.

Posted on by May 28, 2018

May 29. 2018 –

 

Saint for the day: Venerable Pierre Toussaint 1776 – 1853

Scripture readings for today’s Liturgy

1 Peter 1:10-16 – Psalm 98 – Mark 10: :28-31

 

 

“Be holy as I am Holy … You will not be bulked of your reward.”

Our baptism calls us into the journey and we must gird up the loins of our minds and proceed soberly knowing that the road will lead us to Calvery. We don’t need to be very clever to realize that nobody gets out of this life alive but gains eternal life in Heaven. Jesus says, “Anyone who sets his hand to this plow – and doesn’t flinch and look back – will not be balked of his reward.” Just as Jesus, on the way to Calvery, was jeared at, mocked and fallen, we must see that the setbacks and trials we encounter are a part of our birth process into heaven.

May 27,2018 – The Solemity of the Most Holy Trinity

Posted on by May 27, 2018

May 27, 2018 – Feast of the Most Holy Trinity

 Scripture readings for today’s liturgy

Deutertonomy 4:32-34, 39-40 – Psalms 33:34- 6, 9,1819, 20-22 – Romans 8:14-17 –Matt 28:16-20

 Jesus said to the disciples, “Go, therefore and make disciples of all nations … and behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

 We remember, in many of the post-resurrection appearances, how Jesus kept saying, “Don’t cling to me … but GO out…tell this good news…”

This is where the quote from G.K. Chesterton makes sense: “It’s not that Christianity has been tried – and failed. It’s more that it hasn’t really been tried completely!”

Most of us are insecure people who don’t like to get stuck in the unknown. We want to have a good, solid handle on everything so much so that we often flee back into a locked upper room where – at least – we can find some security. Still Jesus says, “Go out!” and most of us say, “But I don’t know what I’m supposed to say/do. I’m no theologian so what’s my role?”

This reminds me of the story of the Archbishop who came to the parish for Confirmation. As he began his questioning of the children he asked them, “Who can explain what the Holy Trinity is all about?” Of course there was nervous quiet and shuffling and finally one youngster mumbled an answer. The Archbishop said, “Sorry I don’t understand what you said.” Again the kid mumbled and the Archbishop repeated his “I don’t understand! To which the lad blurted out, “Of course you don’t understand! It’s a Mystery!”

So, what can we do to get a little closer to what this mystery is all about?

In the time after Easter we were hearing Jesus’, from John’s Gospel, saying over and over, “That they may be one, Father, as you and I are one … and that I am going so as to allow the Holy Spirit to come upon them.”

St. Augustine says, “Look at yourself: you see that you exist and that you have a mind and a will. These are three dimensions of your reality, and yet you are one. Each of us is a kind of trinity: three in one and one in three.” Did that help?

In one sense, God is like a community and wants to share that with us. We all know the problems that come when we try to live in any kind of community: family, social, religious. Our human fragility so often breaks it down and we have a tendency to say, “It’s not working! Let me set out on my own!”

But we should know that that wouldn’t work any better. Jesus sent them out two by two. That’s what St. Dominic did with his early friars: two by two. And this will only work if we are all/both focused on the person of Jesus and guided by the Holy Spirit. Community is difficult but basic and necessary. Jesus isn’t looking for “lone-riders” and our salvation is in some ways conditional on our ability to work with that other guy. That person, who we often think of as impossible to work with, is probably going to be our ticket to heaven. WOW! And Amen!