New Year’s Resolutions

When you see the title of this blog, you might think that I’ve gotten wackier! It’s only November, so why talk about New Year’s Resolutions?

Here’s why.  We are ending a year right now…it’s the Church Year. It ends with the Feast of Christ the King.  This past year we heard Luke’s Gospel proclaimed nearly every weekend, including today with the wonderful story of the repentant thief.  But next weekend a New Year begins with the First Sunday of Advent and its focus on Matthew’s Gospel.

 

So take some time today to remember some highlights of Luke’s Gospel. Maybe you could even read his whole Gospel in one sitting and notice Luke’s special themes. 

       

Questions:  Is there a story in Luke’s Gospel that especially touched you this past year?  Was there a church celebration that was particularly memorable?  How did you grow closer to God last year?  What especially nourished your spiritual life? 

      

Now make some New Church Year Resolutions.  What can you do this next year that will help your spiritual life?  What new spiritual practice would you like to start this year? Maybe you could read the weekend Gospel before coming to Mass.      

                                                    New Year’s Resolutions

When you see the title of this blog, you might think that I’ve gotten wackier! It’s only November, so why talk about New Year’s Resolutions?

Here’s why.  We are ending a year right now…it’s the Church Year. It ends with the Feast of Christ the King.  This past year we heard Luke’s Gospel proclaimed nearly every weekend, including today with the wonderful story of the repentant thief.  But next weekend a New Year begins with the First Sunday of Advent and its focus on Matthew’s Gospel.

 

So take some time today to remember some highlights of Luke’s Gospel. Maybe you could even read his whole Gospel in one sitting and notice Luke’s special themes.

       

Questions:  Is there a story in Luke’s Gospel that especially touched you this past year?  Was there a church celebration that was particularly memorable?  How did you grow closer to God last year?  What especially nourished your spiritual life? 

      

Now make some New Church Year Resolutions.  What can you do this next year that will help your spiritual life?  What new spiritual practice would you like to start this year? Maybe you could read the weekend Gospel before coming to Mass.      

                                                      New Year’s Resolutions

When you see the title of this blog, you might think that I’ve gotten wackier! It’s only November, so why talk about New Year’s Resolutions?

Here’s why. We are ending a year right now…it’s the Church Year. It ends with the Feast of Christ the King.  This past year we heard Luke’s Gospel proclaimed nearly every weekend, including today with the wonderful story of the repentant thief.  But next weekend a New Year begins with the First Sunday of Advent and its focus on Matthew’s Gospel. 

So take some time today to remember some highlights of Luke’s Gospel. Maybe you could even read his whole Gospel in one sitting and notice Luke’s special themes. 

     

Questions: Is there a story in Luke’s Gospel that especially touched you this past year?  Was there a church celebration that was particularly memorable? How did you grow closer to God last year?  What especially nourished your spiritual life?

      

Now make some New Church Year Resolutions. What can you do this next year that will help your spiritual life?  What new spiritual practice would you like to start this coming year? Maybe you could read the weekend Gospel before coming to Mass.      

                                                              New Year’s Resolutions

When you see the title of this blog, you might think that I’ve gotten even wackier! It’s only November, so why talk about New Year’s Resolutions?

Here’s why. We are ending a year right now…it’s the Church Year. It ends with the Feast of Christ the King. This past year we heard Luke’s Gospel proclaimed nearly every weekend, including today with the powerful story of the repentant thief.  But next weekend a New Year begins with the First Sunday of Advent and its focus will be on Matthew’s Gospel.

 

So take some time today to remember some highlights of Luke’s Gospel. Maybe you could even read his whole Gospel in one sitting and notice Luke’s special themes.

       

Questions: Is there a story in Luke’s Gospel that especially touched you this past year? Was there a church celebration that was particularly memorable?  Did you grow closer to God last year?  What specifically nourished your spiritual life during the year?   

   

And then, make some New Church Year Resolutions.  What could you do next year to help you grow spiritually?  What new spiritual practice could you start this next year? Maybe you could read the Sunday Gospel before you come to weekend mass.    

                                                                  Hope

The city of Jerusalem was demolished by the Romans around the year 70 A.D. It was after that calamity that the Gospel of Luke was written down. So Luke wrote this text in the face of persecution, trials and hostility. He models his text on Mark’s Gospel (Mk 13:1-37).  But Luke’s version of the trials to come is more hopeful.

   

Jesus says that His disciples should not be afraid to give testimony to their beliefs and their way of love. Encouraging them He says: “By your perseverance you will secure your lives.” 

We also live in a time of division, conflict, and blame. Just think about our politics!

What can we do?  We can look into people’s hearts and not so much at their politics. We can try to build bridges with others as we look for the common ground. We can affirm people and not focus on what we think are flaws. We can reach out to people and genuinely care for those who live on the margins.  And we can look into our hearts and ask God to help change us too.  

  

What step can you take to build a bridge with someone you see as an unlikely friend? 

                                             Eye Has Not Seen, Ear Has Not Heard

                                     What God Has Ready for Those Who Love Him

I’ve never written a blog with such a long title! You may recognize the words. They are from a song refrain that we occasionally sing at mass. They are also appropriate words for us to consider as we look at a theme in this weekend’s First Reading and Gospel texts.

   

The first reading is from the Old Testament book of 2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14.  It is the only place in the Old Testament which mentions the idea of ‘being raised from the dead’.

   

And the Gospel text, Luke 20:27-38, is the only place in the Gospels where Jesus says anything about the Resurrection as such. Jesus’ only other references to the resurrection are in His predictions that He will suffer and ‘rise again’. And then, of course, there are the descriptions of His Resurrection appearances which are wonderful but unexplainable.

So what can we say about ‘resurrection’? I read this commentary:“Trying to describe ‘resurrection’ is like a butterfly describing flight to a caterpillar...or a professor describing ‘college’ to a preschooler. How can Jesus describe afterlife to those who only know this life?”   

Read the title of this blog again. Take 5-10 minutes just peacefully thinking about it.

                                                   Zacchaeus Is Out on a Limb

This weekend’s Gospel text tells the story of Zacchaeus who climbs a tree to see Jesus.  Zacchaeus is a person with a position of importance as the ‘chief tax collector’.  But somehow God’s spirit is at work in him and he wants to see Jesus.

I imagine that Jesus was touched to see a ‘man of importance’ climb a tree in order to see Him.  That was an undignified thing for an adult to do in Jesus’ day. But Jesus sees it as an act of faith. And then Jesus does the unthinkable. He invites Himself to dinner at Zacchaeus’ house. 

    

Zacchaeus is elated! And he immediately makes an ongoing commitment to repent and repay anyone he has defrauded and to be especially generous with the poor.

When’s the last time you went out on a limb and took a risk to do something unthinkable because of your faith?  Do you generally give people the ‘benefit of the doubt’? Think of a time when you were given a second chance…a chance to start over in your life.  Who stands by you when you need someone to believe in you?