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Archive for October, 2024

Grappling with How Scripture Says to Love God

Posted in Lent, Reflections from Other Writers and Speakers, Reflections on Scripture, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on October 30, 2024| Leave a Comment »

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Readings for November 3rd:

  1. Deuteronomy 6:2–6
  2. Psalm 18:2–3, 3–4, 47, 51
  3. Hebrews 7:23–28
  4. Mark 12:28b–34

What this week’s readings say to me:

The first reading reminds me:

  • to approach the world around me with humility. Remember that I don’t yet have the fullness of God’s vision or understanding.
  • that God’s vision wants only the prosperity and growth of God’s family. God’s instructions serve only these purposes. With this understanding, we receive the words of Moses to the people of Israel:
  • “[Y]ou shall love the LORD, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. (Deut. 6:5-6).

The psalm features the perspective of someone permeated by the above instruction from Moses. The permeation spills into the person’s recollections and words. I imagine voicing the recollections helps them keep their power for the narrator.

The epistle for October 26th focused on Jesus’ humanity in his role as the perfect high priest. The epistle for November 3rd focuses on his divinity in his role as the perfect high priest. He can live Moses’ his teaching more fully than any other human being because of his divine nature. This nature also allows Him to continue living Moses’ teaching. He has conquered death because he is fully human and fully divine. A priest who isn’t fully human and fully divine can’t conquer death on his own.

Often, Gospel passages provide insight into Old Testament passages. However, the November 3rd Gospel passage simply reminds hearers and readers of the central message of the Old Testament passage. It urges hearers and readers to put that message into practice.

What I’m saying (to the readings and beyond) this week:

The commandment from Deuteronomy is beyond hard to live out. If I said “I lov[ed] God with all [my] heart, all [my] soul, and with all [my] strength [emphasis mine],” I’d be lying to myself, to you, and to the Lord (Deut. 6:5-6) .

First, the verse prompts me to think about what it means to love. I’ve often heard in churches that love is an action, not just a feeling. But I experience love as a feeling. It’s a feeling that’s a response to an action or years of actions, but a feeling, nonetheless. And it’s beyond hard to have that feeling for Someone I can’t see. Sure, I can use my mind to accept what I’ve been told about the Lord. I can also accept what I’ve been told the Lord does and has done for me. My heart, however, seems to have a difficult time letting the reality of it all sink in. I have a hard time experiencing it, and I’m a person who wants to experience intense feelings. I long for concrete experiences of God’s presence.

As for a soul, how does it love? By obeying and imitating God? As I consider this as a possible answer, I think of the verse that talks about the disciples being friends of Jesus rather than his slaves (John 15:16). They’re his friends because they know what he’s doing. He’s shared everything with them. They know Him intimately. They collaborate with Him because they want what He does, not because they’re afraid of Him.

When I think of loving with all my strength, I imagine hanging onto the edge of a cliff. I hang there until I have no energy left to hold on. I suppose God is the cliff. However, I can’t lose my grip on God unless I shove myself away from the ledge.

It seems impossible to love God with every last drop of energy, endurance, and maybe even blood. Yet Jesus did it. And I remember reading that “nothing is impossible with God” (Luke 1:37). I try to think of times in my life when what seemed impossible became possible. Nothing comes to mind right now. I can think of times when I did what was difficult, but difficult is different than impossible.

I wonder when faith softens impossible into difficult and when the impossible becoming possible is nothing less than a miracle. But then I suppose faith is a type of miracle too. Maybe it often goes unappreciated for the miracle it is.

What someone else is sharing about this week’s readings:

Eilis McCulloh, HM reflects on how we can begin loving “the Lord your God with your whole being.”

This week’s prayer:

Lord, may we experience the grace of Your presence in our lives every day. May we recognize that You are the source of all that lives and all that provides. Help us to share everything with You and to receive everything you share with us. Help us to remember that love in all its forms begins with listening. It continues with discerning and is made authentic by responding to careful discernment with action. Amen.

Work cited:

The New American Bible Revised Edition, Kindle edition, Fairbrother, 2011.

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The Importance of Persistence in Faith and Prayer

Posted in Disability, Ordinary Time, Reflections on Scripture, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on October 23, 2024| Leave a Comment »

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Readings for October 27th:

  1. Jeremiah 31:7–9
  2. Psalm 126:1–2, 2–3, 4–5, 6
  3. Hebrews 5:1–6
  4. Mark 10:46–52

What this week’s readings say to me:

This week’s readings are a reminder that we need a Savior and that we have one. In the first passage, the Lord unites the scattered tribes of Israel and leads them out of captivity and mourning. The psalm praises God for this liberation, this cause for joy. It expresses faith that God’s providence and never ceases. Working for the Lord, though often difficult, will bear good fruit. The epistle identifies Christ as the Savior whose liberating power, mercy, and providence are never-ending. The Gospel passage is a reminder. God wants us to be equally unrelenting. We should continuously ask for Divine liberation, mercy, and providence.

God wants us to participate in these gifts because participation, not passivity, allows for spiritual growth and relationships. So do the following:

  • recognizing that God is in our midst. This presence is reflected in so many ways and is recognizable to each of us in unique ways
  • recognizing the desire within us for God
  • continuing to call out to God despite fear, doubt, and other resistance from within and resistance from without.
  • trusting that God responds when we persevere in faith

What I’m saying (to the readings and beyond) this week:

I wish I were as persistent as the blind man in the Gospel passage. I also wish God’s responses to my prayers were as direct and as Jesus’ response is in the Gospel passage. I also wish God’s responses addressed my desires as clearly as Jesus does the blind man’s desire in the Gospel passage. Maybe part of the problem is my ability (or lack thereof) to perceive the response. Likely another factor is my inability to understand how my desires and God’s responses to them fit into God’s vision.

What someone else is sharing about this week’s readings:

In a reflection on this week’s gospel passage, Courtney Esteves explores the implications of the question, “What do you want?” She invites us to think about what it tells us about Jesus. It also reveals something about ourselves. Additionally, it informs us about others whom we ask the question. She encourages us to be open to various responses to that question. These responses offer insight we see them as significant or insignificant.

This week’s prayer:

Lord, help me to be persistent in turning to You to satisfy my desires. Help me to perceive Your responses and to recognize in them Your wisdom and love. Amen.

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Reflections on Divine Understanding and Surrender

Posted in Ordinary Time, Reflections from Other Writers and Speakers, Reflections on Scripture, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 18, 2024| Leave a Comment »

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This week’s readings:

  1. Isaiah 53:10–11
  2. Psalm 33:4–5, 18–19, 20, 22
  3. Hebrews 4:14–16
  4. Mark 10:35–45

What this week’s readings say to me:

The theme I’m getting from this week’s readings is that God understands us. However, we don’t understand God, at least not fully.

The first reading is a reminder to me that Christ experienced the frailty that is inherent to the human condition. In the crucifixion, He also endured suffering that comparatively few have experienced. But His suffering isn’t in vain. His entry into death defeats death by because He’s life in the flesh. Because of this, he conquers his death and ours. This defeat of our deaths occurs when we surrender to Christ whatever comes between us and life.

The passage reminds me that Christ offered his life to God and to us as a healing balm for the effects of sin. I can do the same. I can offer my life and what I value for the same purpose.

The psalm reminds me that God is “trustworthy” (Psalm 33:4). The gifts that come from God’s goodness are everywhere. It also promises that the more I’m open to God’s presence and guidance, the more I’ll experience it. As I experience it more, I’ll become more open to it. This openness will continue regardless of the circumstances I find myself in. It reminds me to seek faith and to ask God for help in recognizing God’s care.

The epistle reminds me that God understands my weaknesses and is waiting for me to turn to Him so that I don’t mistake those weaknesses for sources of freedom. He recognizes that I need his help not to confuse those weaknesses for him, in other words.

The Gospel passage reminds me that while I want to experience Christ’s presence, I tend not prepared to do what it takes to experience that presence. I’m prone to confusing being in God’s presence with bowing to the imposter god of human pride.

The gospel passage shows the sons of Zebedee having the same tendency. This tendency means they don’t understand what their wants and needs will ask of them and of God. They understand that abiding in God with Christ will satisfy those wants and needs. But they don’t understand that abiding in God with Christ requires surrender more than attainment. And surrender is often uncomfortable to the human ego. Surrender often feels impossible.

What someone else is sharing about this week’s readings:

Rebecca Malone discusses two different understandings of glory. She explores how these understandings provide insight into this week’s readings.

This week’s prayer:

Lord, thank You for meeting me where I am. Help me meet You where You are. Amen.

Work cited

The New American Bible Revised Edition, Kindle edition, Fairbrother, 2011.

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Sacred Readings and a Dictionary Bring Wisdom to Life

Posted in Ordinary Time, Reflections from Other Writers and Speakers, Reflections on Scripture, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on October 11, 2024| Leave a Comment »

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This week’s readings:

  1. Wisdom 7:7–11
  2. Psalm 90:12–13, 14–15, 16–17
  3. Hebrews 4:12–13
  4. Mark 10:17–30

What this week’s readings say to me:

The first reading shares characteristics with a love poem. Someone prays for a beloved one to come into his life. The prayer is answered. The one praying chooses the beloved over power. The beloved is more valuable to the one praying than jewels are. Compared to the beloved, gold might as well be dust, and silver is no better than mud. The beloved is more important to the one praying than health or physical attractiveness. Unlike the sun, the beloved’s brilliance never fades. The narrator chooses the beloved over all the visible things I mentioned before. However, the beloved brings all of the above with her.

Who is the beloved? Prudence, the passage says. This quality is personified as a woman in this week’s Old Testament passage. Merriam-Webster.com defines the quality as follows:

  1.  the ability to govern and discipline oneself by the use of reason
  2. sagacity or shrewdness in the management of affairs
  3. skill and good judgment in the use of resources
  4. caution or circumspection as to danger or risk

Breaking down this definition even further offers insight. Sagacity is the state of being sagacious. Miriam-Webster online defines sagacious as:

  1. of keen and farsighted penetration and judgment: discerning
  2. : caused by or indicating acute discernment

The same dictionary defines discernment as “the quality of being able to comprehend what is obscure”. It defines “obscure” as “dark, dim,” or “not readily understood or clearly expressed.”

One of the ways it defines “shrewd” is “given to wily and artful ways of dealing” and “wily” as “crafty.”

So to have wisdom in decision-making is not to rush the process. Wisdom slices through superficial concerns that cloud the process. To be open to wisdom is to be open to giving love, even though this Divine Love is difficult to understand and practice. Nonetheless, God loves wisdom, and wisdom loves God.

God sees the potential in each of us to be open to wisdom and love. God loves us for that potential. God loves us, too, in the midst of our struggle to be open to that potential.

The psalm prays for wisdom. It then offers a vision of what being open to that wisdom looks and feels like. Sometimes the experience of being open to wisdom isn’t easy. But the narrator suggests that a difficult experience is preferable if it helps him grow. He prefers it over having a pleasant experience that doesn’t contribute to growth.

The epistle uses sharp language to describe just how discerning God’s wisdom is. A paraphrase of it might be God’s wisdom is deeper and wider than any x-ray vision a person could imagine. Each of us will one day see ourselves and our actions the way God sees them.

The Gospel passage says that receiving the wisdom of God means more than just following the letter of God’s wisdom. It means letting go of whatever tries to stand in the way of that wisdom’s active spirit. The passage acknowledges that we need help to let go. It also promises that when we remove obstacles to the spirit’s movement, wisdom operates more freely within us. We will receive more than we let go of.

What someone else is sharing about this week’s readings:

This week’s readings inspire Donna Orsuto to pray and to issue a challenge.

This week’s prayer:

Lord, help me to remember that authentic wisdom comes with humility and without superficiality. Help me to take an honest look at my priorities. Enable me to make well-reasoned decisions. Let wisdom guide me. Amen.

Work cited (but not linked to):

Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc. ” 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time — 13 Oct. 2024: Readings at Mass.” The New American Bible, 2001. Universalis for Windows, Version 2.193, Universalis Publishing Ltd., 23 Sept. 2024, https://universalis.com/n-app-windows.htm.

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