Gospel Reflcetion: Sunday, July 29, 2007 Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our Father: the Prayer of Relationship
by: Rev. Fr. Gerry Pierse, C.Ss.R.

When the student is ready the teacher comes along. Real teaching
only takes place when the student is eager. In today's Gospel we see
that Jesus, through the example of his own prayer has made the disciples curious. They make the request, "Lord, teach us to pray." Having requested, they are eager to hear the response.


And it is a response worth waiting for. It tells us about Jesus' own inner life in which he invites us to share. It is a life that centers in "Abba," Our Father, our heavenly Papa or Daddy. It was shocking for the people of his time that Jesus would refer to God in such endearing terms. Most people in our times also cannot accept this first basic truth that we have a loving heavenly father. When we accept this we have a sense of abundance within us which reduces insecurity and allows generosity.

When we know that we come from this affectionate Father the task of life becomes "Holy be your name," - we are called to glorify God. The big obstacle in this is our ego which leads us to seek glory for ourselves rather than God's glory. "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven." If we were really honest we would have to admit that what we are usually saying is "my kingdom come, my will be done on earth." Our prayers are often an effort to twist God's arm so that he will give us our will instead of being a disposing of ourselves to surrender to God's will. God's will is the final goal of life and when we seek this we find happiness. This can often be seen in marriage. When a couple are each seeking their own will or even working together on their common ambition they find themselves drawing apart from each other. But when they focus on God's will, something transcendent and beyond, they grow together in oneness.

After setting an exalted goal Jesus comes back to the nitty-gritty of life. Each of us have insecurities that energize us to seek our needs. This is very important because if our needs are not fulfilled we cannot live or grow. "Give us today our daily bread." The fulfillment of these needs, the answering of our insecurities, can easily get out of hand and lead us to seek things, or prestige, or power just for their own sakes. It will also lead us to infringe the areas of others, to hurt, and so the community will always have need of forgiveness.

Jesus links forgiveness by God to our forgiveness of each other. "Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us." How many realize when they say this prayer that they are telling God not to forgive them their sins unless they forgive their neighbor. The teaching on forgiveness is probably the toughest teaching of Christianity. The command to love our enemies is the one that we most often want exemption from. Yet this is precisely what being perfect as the Heavenly Father is perfect means. It means loving the imperfect - those who have sinned.

The "Our Father" is a beautiful guide to relationship. It gives us the value of having God at the center of our lives. It invites us to deal realistically with ourselves and our own needs. It tells us that the attitude of forgiveness is essential if we are to relate well with others.
It finally asks God not to tempt us beyond our strength. As we look back on our lives we see that many difficult things happened to us, yet, it was these trials that really made us into the people that we are. These happenings could also have broken and destroyed us. This is an appeal then that the struggles in life will strengthen us rather than destroy us.
St. Teresa of Avila said that meditation on the Our Father alone could bring us into the deepest prayer and union with God. One could spend a lifetime reflecting on it and then savoring its richness in silence. In Christian meditation you are asked to savor the word, and then let it go with you into the silence of meditation for twenty to thirty minutes each morning and each evening.

Gospel Reflection: July 22, 2007 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Gospel Summary: St. Luke 10:38-42

Two sisters named Martha and Mary extend hospitality to Jesus as he stops for a visit while on his journey to Jerusalem. Mary sits beside Jesus as a disciple talking with him. Martha, burdened by much serving, asks Jesus to tell Mary to help her. Jesus instead tells Martha that while she is needlessly worried about many things, there is need of only the one thing that Mary has chosen.


Life Implications

The first reading of this Sunday's Mass is the story of Abraham and Sarah, who offer hospitality to three strangers. Their generosity in meeting the needs of the strangers knows no bounds: rolls made from fine flour, meat from a choice steer, curds and milk. Martha, a true child of Abraham and Sarah, wants to extend the traditional generous hospitality of her people to Jesus by preparing an elaborate meal for him. Jesus tells her that just one thing will be enough--perhaps a dish of yogurt (no need to prepare a tender choice steak). Jesus then uses this simple incident to talk with his two friends about a deeper level of human need and hospitality.

Jesus, also a true son of Abraham and Sarah, certainly would affirm Martha's generosity in meeting his very human need for food. So that we do not miss this point, Luke places the present passage immediately after Jesus' parable about the Good Samaritan, who responds with generosity to the needs of a man who had fallen victim to robbers. To be a disciple of Jesus does mean to respond with generosity to people in need of the basic necessities of life. That's what Jesus himself did, and the Good Samaritan parable remains an essential part of his teaching. The incident of Jesus' visit and his conversation with Martha and Mary became part of the gospel tradition, however, for another reason.

Jesus knew from his own experience about the basic human needs to which Martha with traditional hospitality was responding. However, he was also aware of a deeper human hunger that things like food, drink, shelter, and health cannot satisfy. It is the hunger for personal encounter--the hunger to be in personal communion with another in mutual self-giving. This deepest of all human hungers is satisfied to some degree in human friendship; ultimately, only in friendship with God. Saint Augustine prayed, "You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you." Julian of Norwich, like so many saints, expressed the same truth, "For by nature our will wants God, and the good will of God wants us. We shall never cease wanting and longing until we possess him in fullness and joy. Then we shall have no further wants." Is it any wonder that Jesus said that Mary had chosen the better part?

How are we to understand the complementarity of Martha's generous hospitality in meeting Jesus' need for food and Mary's longing for personal communion with him? In response, we might follow the way of Jesus. He fed the hungry, cured the sick and expelled demons of every kind as an expression of love. In other words, our love must also become incarnate in whatever we do to meet the needs of others. Thus, our good work--whether cooking a meal or voting for our country's leaders--becomes a sacrament or an effective sign of our self-giving love. Etty Hillesum, a young Jewish woman who died at Auschwitz, expressed a similar understanding when she wrote that in prayer "'God can enter you, and something of 'Love' too...the love you can apply to small, everyday things." Today in our Eucharist we might join in her prayer: "Let me perform a thousand daily tasks with love, but let every one spring from a greater central core of devotion and love" (An Interrupted Life).

Our only direct line to God is prayer. Therefore let us give some of our time in praying He longs to hear something from us. From the letter of St. James it states Faith without action is nothing and with the motto of St. Benedict Ora et Labora which means Prayer at Work would be a good format for us to follow. That prayer can be done while working.

Always remember that God loves all of us more than we know! God bless us all!

By: Raymond Sinense-Macatangga
July 19, 2007

Gospel Reflection: Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Despised Ones Are the Lord
Gospel Reflection by Rev. Fr. Gerry Pierse, C.Ss.R.

A student took the boat from Iligan to study in Cebu," the preacher told the students. "Soon after the boat pulled out from the shore she found that her bag
with her money and all of her belongings were gone. Obviously, some one had stolen them and taken them ashore at the very moment they were leaving. She felt totally abandoned and powerless and began to cry. After some time a politician came along. When he heard her story he said that what happened was a disgrace and he would advise the owner of the shipping line to place more security guards to protect the passengers. A priest also heard about what happened and told her that it was indeed terrible how people now-a-days have no respect for honesty. He promised to pray for her.

All this time there was a Muslim chewing betle nut on a cot nearby. After a while he came over and offered her some of his food. Before they reached Cebu he said to her. "I know you will find it difficult to get to your relatives' place on arrival in Cebu. Please take this P100.00 to use for your fare when you get there." Then the preacher asked the students, "which of these three - the politician, the priest or the Muslim - was a Christian?" To this the students shouted back, "The Muslim, of course." Then they seemed shocked at what they themselves had said.

(Unfortunately, In most parts of the Christian Philippines the word Muslim is used sometimes to indicate unbecoming behavior. The opposite happens in Muslim areas. A friend of mine asked a Muslim family to care for his motorbike. "It will be quite safe here," they told him "There are no Christians in this place!" We have not yet learned an essential law of religious dialogue. Compare ideals with ideals and practice with practice. If we compare Christian ideals with the ideals of Muslims we will find a lot in common… If we compare Christian practice with Muslim practice we will all have much to be ashamed of. But compare Christian ideals with Muslim practice or Muslim ideals with Christian practice and you literally start a Holy War.)

The story of the Good Samaritan we read today in the Gospel tells us that true love cuts across all racial and cultural prejudice. The Samaritans were a despised people in those days. Jesus cuts through this prejudice by making the Samaritan the hero of his story. He even goes farther. He identifies himself with the Samaritan. The way you treat the Samaritan becomes the way that you treat him, Christ.

A lonely traveler makes his way along the road from Jerusalem to Jerico. A band of robbers strip him and leave him half dead. A priest passes by but decides that he cannot delay to help the man. A levite, another religious official, notices the beaten up body but also continues on his way. Perhaps both are afraid of becoming ritually defiled by coming in contact with a corpse or human blood. Their response is one that comes directly from the ego. What will happen to me if I get involved?


The response of the one who has outgrown his ego comes from the most unlikely source, the despised Samaritan. His response comes from the question: what will happen to this man if I do not help? He immediately offers aid first to the man and puts him up in the inn. He helps and pays the cost.

The lack of response that came from the selfish self was a lack of response to Christ himself. The response that came from the selfless self of the Samaritan was a model for all of us of relationship to self, others and God. He was able to put the welfare of the other before possible danger to himself and in this way truly relate to God.

Unfortunately much of our prayer is more concerned about what we can get from God and others than about what we can give. Christian meditation is a way of leaving self behind. In this form of prayer there is a total openness to reality; a reality with God, who calls us to transcend self, at its core.

Reflection for the Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C
July 8, 2007

Read Sunday's Gospel, Luke 10:1-12, 17-20.

Gospel Summary:

Jesus sent out seventy-two disciples to spread the Good News and continue the work Jesus had begun. They had not yet experienced the Good News of the resurrection, but following Jesus, they proclaimed that the Kingdom of God was at hand and healed the sick. Jesus had them pack lightÐtaking only peace with them. Whatever town they entered and whatever home, they were to greet the people with peace, even if the people did not want to hear what they had to say. When the seventy-two returned, they were most pleased by the fact that they had power over evil forces. Jesus told them not to think so much about that as the fact that they had already been assured of salvation.

Reflection for Families:

There are many places in our lives where we, too, can be missionaries. Sometimes we find ourselves in situations where we work, in our neighborhoods, or with our children's friends where we can show God's love in a single gesture of caring or kindness. Simply accepting another person is a way of showing them that the Kingdom of God has begun.

Bringing the Gospel Into Your Family:

Encourage every family member to make an effort this week to act like the missionaries Jesus sent out in this Gospel. Wherever each of you goes, take the peace of Christ with you and offer it to all the people with whom you come in contact. At the end of the week, think back over the people you have encountered and share with one another how your actions and greetings of peace have affected others.

- Resources for Christian Living