Scratchpad Reflections by Brother Daniel

Saint for the day:Bede the Venerable (c. 672 – May 25, 735

Scriptury readings for today’s Liturgy

James 5:9-12 – Ps. 103;1-4 -8-9-8-12 – Mark 10:1-12

“Your word, O Lord is truth. Consecrate us in your truth.” (Today’s Alleluia verse.)

 As I was typing the above scripture quote from today’s Liturgy the word, “consecrate” caught my attention and I began to think of all the ways that word is used in our liturgies. In the end I had to admit that, any way you slice it, we’re still going to have to face the fact that there will be some substantial change affecting the way we understand God and how we follow Jesus. If the priest’s words of consecration at Mass can change the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ don’t you think that God can change some of the bad things in our lives into something that more easily brings about peace and unity?

Take a little time to think about all different ways you understand the use of this word, “consecrate.” We also hear the phrases, “Do not judge or condemn. If we tie these two thoughts together we might come up with something like, “Lord, change the way I judge or condemn people that I encounter in my day-to-day life. Help me to always seek peace and unity in all that I do.”

The Gospel writers use various literary devises to force a statement about our way of following Jesus and God’s law. James’ call to perseverance in spite of hardship: Job, for example, is up against the Gospel’s call to “stick it out” since God created us to seek unity – e.g. community and be one with another. The Pharisees, standing in for us, are looking for an easy out. There is no easy out. I know of a couple both of whom were in either their second of third marriage but, by some quirk in the manner of the previous marriages they were free to be married in the Church. To other couples struggling in their own marriages this didn’t seem fair. Why did that couple get to slip through a loophole while others have to suffer pain in a marriage that isn’t good for either of them? Bottom Line: the Lord doesn’t call us to be successful. He just calls us to be faithful. We’re in the process of integration. We are striving towards that unity that is the Holy Trinity. We’re not called to act as judge or condemn or curse. Love is patient, kind, gentle, long suffering (Gal 5:23 ff.) Nobody said it would be easy to follow Jesus all the way to the cross in order to get to the resurrection. Consecrate us in your truth, O, God. Amen!

Saint for the day: Cristobal Magallanes & Companions (d. between 1915 & 1937

 Scripture readings for todays Liturgy

James 4:1-10 – Psalm 55 – Mark 9:30-37

 “Had I but wings like a dove, I would fly away and be at rest. Far away I would flee; I would lodge in the wilderness.” (Psalm 55:7-8)

 After reading today’s first scripture from the letter of James, I can see why the liturgists choose the above verse from Psalm 55 as the kick-off for our Responsorial Psalm.

James is coming down hard on the people about their “two-sidedness” and warns them, “whoever wants to be a lover of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (James 4:5)

Our Gospel picks up on this when Jesus catches his disciples arguing over who is the greater. We can see that, even in the time of Jesus, there was a tendency to seek success and notoriety – according to this world’s idea of success. But the disciples must have known that this went against what Jesus was trying to make them understand since they all lowered their heads – avoiding His eye contact – and remaining silent.

I think Jesus probably surprised the disciples when he took the little child as an example saying, “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.” (Mark 9:35)

 What is It that Jesus is trying to get across to His disciples – and, in fact, to us, too?

None of us has contempt for little children. Most of us think of them as “cute” but probably not very sophisticated and certainly not as cunning as we tend to be. And that might be just the point that Jesus is trying to get us to understand. In the first place children are dependent. They can’t make it on their own.   They need others to look after them. On the other side, the world seeks independence and individuality all leading to getting to the top and being “king of the mountain!”

The last line of today’s Holy Gospel puts it all out there for us to understand: “Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me.” (Mark 9:37)

 The world seeks independence and success. The Gospel urges us to be the servant of all. The world promises to give us everything that we want or need; The Gospel tells us that if we want to know eternal life we must be willing to lay down our life for others. One good deed done for someone who needs help could be our ticket to eternal life.

I’m reminded of the priest who ended the Mass by slightly altering the last blessing/dismissal by saying, “May the peace of Christ profoundly disturb you!” I’m pretty sure that doing this disturbed the people but not in the way he intended. If our encounter with Jesus doesn’t change us, in at least some way, we have to ask ourselves whom we have encountered and what has it done for our Christian walk. Our “bottom line” has to be, “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.” (Gospel 6:33)

 Not all of us are called to be evangelists or great religious teachers but we are all called to be witnesses or “Christ bearers” to our world so desperately in need of the “Light of Christ” and His healing touch. Try to be a “Christ Light bearer” just for today; bringing a ray of hope to someone walking in the shadow of darkness. You’ll be surprised at what you, yourself get on the rebound. Amen!

click oon this “link” to go directly to all of the scriptures for tody’s Feast

Pentecost, in the first place, is a feast of the HS and, as such, is a feast of re-creation. It is a feast of re-ordering as when the Spirit hovered over the immensity of waters at creation. The HS brings order out of dis-order but not necessarily perfection. In other words, the HS at the time of creation set the world in order but also allowed it the freedom – the same freedom that was given to Adam and Eve – to “run its course.” In other words, God allows the world to play out, as it were, without keeping his finger in the pie all the time. Amen!

May 14, 2018 – Monday in the 7^th week of Easter

Saint for the day:     Matthias (dates unknown)

Scripture readings for today’s Liturgy:

Acts 1:15-17, 20-26 / Psalms 113 / John 15:9-17

How do we get chosen to be “apostles” of Jesus? What is the difference between knowing Jesus in the first third of the first century & coming to know Him now – in the 21^st Century? As Catholics. It is the Eucharist that keeps us “witnesses” of Jesus. That means that we are right next to Jesus and can hear His teachings & follow His main command, “Love one another…”

Our struggle, though, is to be able to see as Jesus sees and we know that Jesus often caught His followers in their blindness or their inability to see the larger, total picture. Loving as Jesus loves means we must put aside our pre-conceived biases and expand our notion of who can be saved. It’s always easy for me to love the people who think like me. The hard part comes when I have to love the people who have hurt me. Yet this is what Jesus did from the cross. “Father forgive them…” If I want to be a “witness of Jesus” then I must be willing to see Jesus in these kinds of people. Amen!

Saints for the day:Nereus & Achilleus (dates unknown)

Scripture readings for today’s Liturgy:

Acts 18:23-28 – Psalm 47 – John 16:23B-28

 “Jesus says to His disciples: ‘Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.” (The opening of today’s Holy Gospel according to St. John)

 I’m pretty sure that many reading today’s Holy Gospel and hearing the verse quoted above won’t have to struggle to find many times when prayers weren’t heard. Or more to the point weren’t answered.

So what are we to make of that reality? I think we need to understand three little words in the above quote that might hold the answer: “… in my name!” What, exactly, does it mean? Anybody can use the name of Jesus and many use that name even as a curse. So how do we pray in the name of Jesus? I think that the starting point has to begin with some kind of understanding of WHO and WHAT Jesus is. We have to know that there is a special relationship between Jesus and the Father. In these days of Easter we have heard over and over Jesus telling His disciples that “I and the Father are one.” With the celebration of the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord Jesus returns to the Father and to his in dwelling with the Holy Spirit. God created the world; the Holy Spirit brought it into order and Jesus brought the gift of salvation. This concept of God will be complete when we celebrate Trinity Sunday next weekend. It’s all in the concept of knowing who Jesus is and how He is related to the Father and the Holy Spirit. Praying in the name of Jesus requires that we both know who Jesus is and, also, how we are connected and related to Him. We can’t just come out of nowhere and begin praying in the name and expect quick answers. We have to have some long-term developing connection in order for Jesus to know who we are. If we don’t have some kind of relationship with Jesus through prayer and the good works we do in His name how can we expect to get some dramatic answer to our prayers. When exuberant evangelicals ask me, “do you know Jesus as your personal savior?” I often respond with, “I think it’s more important that Jesus knows who I am!” Hopefully a prayerful, trying to be a loving, modern-day disciple announcing to others the wonder of what Jesus has done in my life. Think about it. Amen?