Category: Sermon
Life-For the Purpose of God – The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin ~ The Rev. Lady Sherwood, OPI
Today we celebrate the nativity of the Mother of Our Lord Jesus Christ and our heavenly mother.
All parents are filled with such joy at the birth of their children. We try to bring them up to be the best which they can be in the world. Our heavenly Father who created us and who knows each of us before our birth is no different. He also is filled with joy at our birth and wants the best for us.
God already has plans for each of our lives and for exactly which role we shall fill within his kingdom on earth.
Some may eventually become Bishops, priests, ministers of the word or professed religious. For others, it may be growing up to work in the care profession, to be a Dr or nurse, carer and so on,or to teach our future adults in schools, colleges or universities. They may be in support roles such as social or charitable work. Whatever the role the Father has planned for us, all are valuable and necessary for his Kingdom on earth.
But just imagine if you can, that in this case, we have St Joachim and St Anne, who were both unable to bear children. Imagine the joy here when, because of their faith, they were given their daughter Mary. What such a special gift and blessing!!
However, not just St Joachim and St Anne were blessed by the birth of Mary, as indeed we all have been blessed!
God chose that Mary would grow up to become the Mother of Our Lord Jesus Christ, when he came down to earth as one of us. It is Mary who loved and nurtured Our Lord and who suffered so much incomprehensible sorrow and heartbreak when Jesus gave himself to be crucified for the atonement of our sins.
Through this most blessed role, Mary became our Mother in heaven who is there interceding with her Son on our behalf.
This innocent new baby, Mary, grew up so full of faith and gave herself totally and freely to the will of God our Father. When the angel Gabriel came to her to proclaim that she would bear a son and that he would be the Son of the Most High, Mary replied, “I am the Lord’s servant” May your word to me be fulfilled”.(LK 1:38 NIV)
Such Faith and devotion!
We can all learn so much in our lives from the life and faith of Mary. Her life clearly shows us how we should accept in true faith the plans that God our Father has for our lives, so that like Mary, we may be instruments of his glory.
With this in our hearts and minds, let us pray:
God Our Father, give your chosen people your help and strength. The birth of the Virgin Mary’s Son was the dawn of our salvation. May our celebration of her nativity bring us closer to lasting peace and may the virtues that she modelled develop in our lives,to love you and our neighbours more perfectly. Grant this we pray, through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Follow Me ~ The Rev. Dennis Klinzing, Novice
When Jesus left the Pharisee’s house, great crowds followed Him, but He was not impressed by their enthusiasm. He knew that most of those in the crowd were not the least bit interested in spiritual things. Some wanted only to see miracles, others heard that He fed the hungry, and a few hoped He would overthrow Rome and establish David’s promised kingdom. They were expecting the wrong things.
Jesus turned to the multitude and preached a sermon that deliberately thinned out the ranks. He made it clear that, when it comes to personal discipleship, He is more interested in quality than quantity. In the matter of saving souls, He wants His house to be filled, but in the matter of personal discipleship, He wants only those who are willing to pay the price.
A ‘disciple’ is a learner, one who attaches himself or herself to a teacher in order to learn a trade or a subject. Perhaps our nearest modern equivalent is ‘apprentice,’ one who learns by watching and by doing. The word disciple was the most common name for the followers of Jesu Christ and is used 264 times in the Gospels and the book of Acts.
Jesus seems to make a distinction between salvation and discipleship. Salvation is open to all who will come by faith, while discipleship is for believers willing to pay a price. Salvation means coming to the cross and trust Jesus Christ, while discipleship means carrying the cross and following Jesus Christ. Jesus wants as many sinners saved as possible, but He cautions us not to take discipleship lightly, and in the three parables He gave, He made it clear that there is a price to pay.
To begin with, we must love Christ supremely, even more than we love our own flesh and blood. The word hate does not suggest positive antagonism but rather ‘to love less.’ Our love for Christ must be so strong that all other love is like hatred in comparison. In fact, we must hate our own lives and be willing to bear the cross after Him.
What does it mean to ‘carry the cross?’ It means daily identifications with Christ in shame, suffering, and surrender to God’s will. It means death to self, to serve Him as He directs. A ‘cross’ is something we willingly accept from God as part of His will for our lives. The Christian who called his noisy neighbors the ‘cross’ he had to bear certainly did not understand the meaning of dying to self.
Jesus gave three parables to explain why He makes such costly demands on His followers: the man building a tower, the king fighting a war, and the salt losing its flavor. The usual interpretation is that believers are represented by the man building the tower, the king fighting the war, and we had better ‘count the cost.’ Truthfully the builder and the king represents not the believer but Jesus Christ. He is the one who must ‘count the cost’ to build the church and battle the enemy. He cannot get the job done with halfhearted followers who will not pay the price.
Discipleship is serious business. If we are not true disciples, then Jesus cannot build the tower and fight the war. If we will tell Jesus that we want to take up our cross and follow Him as His disciples, then He wants no false expectancy, no illusions, no bargains. He wants to use us as stones for building His church, soldiers for battling His enemies, and salt for bettering His world, and He is looking for quality.
After all, He was on His way to Jerusalem when He spoke these words, and look what happened to Him there! He does not ask us to do anything for Him that He has not already done for us.
To some Jesus says, ‘You cannot be MY disciple.’ Why? Because they will not forsake all for Him, bear shame and reproach for Him, and let their love for Him control them. They are the losers. Will you be His disciple?
St. Bernard of Clairvaux ~ Br. Chip Noon, Novice
Today is the Memorial of St. Bernard of Clairvaux. He was born in 1090 in France, and died there in 1153. He was the abbot of a monastery in what became known as Clairvaux, a confessor, and a Doctor of the Church. From our vantage point today, looking back 800 years, we recognize that he was a man of sincere beliefs, a lover of God and the Blessed Mother, a mediator and salesman for the Roman Catholic Church, and a man of contradictions.
First, let us look at the reading from today’s Mass, Ezekiel, Chapter 43, Verses 1 through 7.
The angel led me to the gate which faces the east,
and there I saw the glory of the God of Israel
coming from the east….
It continues to describe the vision he had of the temple, and of the calamities befalling the Holy Land and its inhabitants, and in this passage illustrates the temple itself and what happened to him there. God was speaking to him: “…here I will dwell among the children of Israel forever.”
And in the Responsorial Psalm, we see the echo of these words:
- The glory of the Lord will dwell in our land.
The LORD himself will give his benefits;
our land shall yield its increase.
Justice shall walk before him,
and salvation, along the way of his steps.
How fitting that these readings should be found in the memorial mass of St. Bernard.
Isn’t it true that we tend to look backwards in time and see only a few highlights? Don’t we think of the early Middle Ages as a time of kings and queens and knights and pages and wars and the beginnings of the crusading spirit? Don’t we see it as a time fixed in amber, with what we consider “history” encapsulating a small insect or artifact representing the whole era?
In reality, St. Bernard lived in a time about as tumultuous as our own. Yes, there were kings and queens and all the characters of our historical novels and movies. But just as today, there were disputes over territory, the wording of Bible passages, the meaning of life…all the issues we face but with considerably more complexity since the forms of governance and separation of powers and cultural norms were not nearly as codified as we know them today.
And in this mix is St. Bernard, a man of God who had all the temptations and misdirections and questions we have. He was a man of such intellect, charisma, and organizational expertise that the monastery he founded at Clairvaux grew so rapidly that they had to send out monks to other parts of Europe to relieve the overflow in the founding house.
He travelled around France and Italy and Sicily to garner support for the legitimacy of Pope Innocent II, disputed with Peter Abelard, and preached the Second Crusade, among his many activities. His disagreement with Abelard centered on what he said was the application of logic where logic didn’t belong and was therefore illogical. Admittedly, this is a major condensation of the argument, but it points to an important contribution of St. Bernard to the time.
St. Bernard was not one to close his eyes to the new applications of philosophical thinking, but with Abelard showed that while reason and logic were valuable to the growth of our intellect, there are certain truths, embodied in the teachings of Jesus and the scriptures that should not be disputed “logically.” One example of this kind of thinking can be found in his complete devotion to the Blessed Mother. St. Bernard referred to her as the Mediatrix, but did not believe in the Immaculate Conception. Faith and reason residing in the same person. It was his desire to bring order and sense to the tumult which was the 12th Century that resonates with the first reading where Ezekiel is showing God’s desire to set things aright after a period of chaos.
Which brings me to today’s Gospel.
To me, this completely encapsulates St. Bernard’s life and work. All worldly show, all human knowledge, all accomplishments and discoveries, in fact, everything that humans strive for are nothing as compared to the love of God and one’s neighbor. Whatever we show to the world and desire from the world must be put to this test: “You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers.” So no matter how learned he was, how fervent in his warlike desire to protect the Holy Land, how partisan he was in backing one pope over another, beneath all this he was a servant of man and of God. And he remained true to this devotion to Jesus and Mary to the end of his life.
Would that we could all be like this.
Lord, move in us the desire to search out new vistas, new knowledge, new advancements. But keep us always mindful of your humility and grace, and give us the courage and logic of St. Bernard that after 800 years still holds truth as that precious artifact within the gemstone of amber.
On Being an Ostrich ~ Br. Chip Noon, Novice
Nobody wants to hear bad news. We think that maybe if we don’t hear it, whatever it is won’t come true. The old trick of the ostrich. How long can we ignore it? It seems some of us can ignore bad news and stories of impending disaster for a very long time.
So just imagine Jeremiah’s frustration, as we hear in today’s first reading. Time and again he has warned the king and his subjects that the good times are ending and the bad times are coming. “Yeah, but what proof do you have, Mr. Jeremiah?” they all wanted to know. “You see,” they thought, “if we ignore your warnings, maybe they won’t come true.”
But Jeremiah was prophesying that the people would be between a rock and a hard place. He foresaw that the kingdom was to be overcome by the Babylonians, which was bad enough. But he also said that if they resist they will be annihilated, but that if they surrender, they will be spared.
Not a great choice there – in fact, a true dilemma.
But instead of ignoring Jeremiah this time, they ask the king if they might deal with him in their own way. And as further evidence that the whole system was breaking down, King Zedekiah lets them haul Jeremiah off, not wanting to incite their ire.
A weak king, a weak kingdom, weak-willed advisors and populace, and a man who was fearless in the service of God…something’s got to give.
In the Responsorial Psalm, though, we get the solution: The Lord heard my cry. He drew me out of the pit of destruction. And this is immediately followed by the second reading from Hebrews with the same message: Just as Jesus gave himself up for us and suffered and died, so we too, living his own example, can endure opposition from sinners, running the race until we cross the finish line which is our God.
But then we listen to today’s Gospel. What a message! Has Jeremiah returned to badger us with lamentations? I have come to set the earth on fire… Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth?
Now wait a minute! Yes, we are taught that Jesus came to establish peace on earth. So now what is Jesus saying here?
He is echoing Jeremiah in the first reading. He is saying that we’re not getting out of this life alive, but that if we take the choice of submission, then we will have eternal life. Yes, there will be problems. There will be troubles. There will be divisions and conflict. We can’t just sit back and hope that nothing bad is going to come our way. It’s already here. But what use is fighting against it? We can resist and be mowed down, or we can submit and be spared.
Some people just acquiesce, thinking that if they play the game, all will turn out well. Like King Zedekiah: to get along, go along. Isn’t this the old trick of the ostrich all over again? Today’s Gospel comes from Luke Chapter 12, which opens with Jesus saying, “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.” So we can get down there in the sand all we want. Somebody, whether the court official, Ebed-melech who tells King Zedekiah that he’s been discovered allowing one of his subjects to be harmed, or whether it is Jesus who knows what is in the Pharisee’s hearts, or God who knows our innermost thoughts, as we read in Psalm 139, Lord, you have examined me and know all about me.
This world is a perplexing place. We are buffeted on all sides by adversity. We have numerous opportunities to give in and let the winds blow us where they will. But if we truly listed to the Lord, we know that that kind of cowardice or indifference will avail us nothing. Then why not submit? Why not just trust in God who loves us, sinners as we are? What have we got to lose?
Lord, help us today to put our whole life in your hands. Help us to see that the struggle is fruitless if it is not centered on you and your message of love and peace. Help us to “Let go and let God.”
St. Clare, Virgin, Foundress of the Poor Clares ~ The Rev. Dcn Dollie Wilkinson, OPI
The Lady Clare, “shining in name, more shining in life,” was born in the town of Assisi about the year 1193. Her mother was to become Blessed Ortolana di Fiumi. Her father is said to have been Favorino Scifi, Count of Sasso-Rosso, though whether he came of that noble branch of the Scifi family is not certain. Concerning Clare’s childhood we have no reliable information. She was eighteen years old when St. Francis, preaching the Lenten sermons at the church of St. George in Assisi, influenced her to change the whole course of her life. It is likely that a marriage not to her liking had been proposed; at any rate, she went secretly to see Friar Francis and asked him to help her to live “after the manner of the Holy Gospel.” Talking with him strengthened her desire to leave all worldly things behind and live for Christ. On Palm Sunday of that year, 1212, she came to the cathedral of Assisi for the blessing of palms, but when the others went up to the altar-rails to receive their branch of green, a sudden shyness kept Clare back. The bishop saw it and came down from the altar and gave her a branch.
The following evening she slipped away from her home and hurried through the woods to the chapel of the Portiuncula, where Francis was then living with his small community. He and his brethren had been at prayers before the altar and met her at the door with lighted tapers in their hands. Before the Blessed Virgin’s altar Clare laid off her fine cloak, Francis sheared her hair, and gave her his own penitential habit, a tunic of coarse cloth tied with a cord. Then, since as yet he had no nunnery, he took her at once for safety to the Benedictine convent of St. Paul, where she was affectionately welcomed.
When it was known at home what Clare had done, relatives and friends came to rescue her. She resisted valiantly when they tried to drag her away, clinging to the convent altar so firmly as to pull the cloths half off. Baring her shorn head, she declared that Christ had called her to His service, she would have no other spouse, and the more they continued their persecutions the more steadfast she would become. Francis had her removed to the nunnery of Sant’ Angelo di Panzo, where her sister Agnes, a child of fourteen, joined her. This meant more difficulty for them both, but Agnes’ constancy too was victorious, and in spite of her youth Francis gave her the habit. Later he placed them in a small and humble house, adjacent to his beloved church of St. Damian, on the outskirts of Assisi, and in 1215, when Clare was about twenty-two, he appointed her superior and gave her his rule to live by. She was soon joined by her mother and several other women, to the number of sixteen. They had all felt the strong appeal of poverty and sackcloth, and without regret gave up their titles and estates to become Clare’s humble disciples. Within a few years similar convents were founded in the Italian cities of Perugia, Padua, Rome, Venice, Mantua, Bologna, Milan, Siena, and Pisa, and also in various parts of France and Germany. Agnes, daughter of the King of Bohemia, established a nunnery of this order in Prague, and took the habit herself.
The “Poor Clares,” as they came to be known, practiced austerities which until then were unusual among women. They went barefoot, slept on the ground, observed a perpetual abstinence from meat, and spoke only when obliged to do so by necessity or charity. Clare herself considered this silence desirable as a means of avoiding the innumerable sins of the tongue, and for keeping the mind steadily fixed on God. Not content with the fasts and other mortifications required by the rule, she wore next her skin a rough shirt of hair, fasted on vigils and every day in Lent on bread and water, and on some days ate nothing. Francis or the bishop of Assisi sometimes had to command her to lie on a mattress and to take a little nourishment every day.
Discretion, came with years, and much later Clare wrote this sound advice to Agnes of Bohemia: “Since our bodies are not of brass and our strength is not the strength of stone, but instead we are weak and subject to corporal infirmities, I implore you vehemently in the Lord to refrain from the exceeding rigor of abstinence which I know you practice, so that living and hoping in the Lord you may offer Him a reasonable service and a sacrifice seasoned with the salt of prudence.”
Francis, as we know, had forbidden his order ever to possess revenues or lands or other property, even when held in common. The brothers were to subsist on daily contributions from the people about them. Clare also followed this way of life. When she left home she had given what she had to the poor, retaining nothing for her own needs or those of the convent. Pope Gregory IX proposed to mitigate the requirement of absolute poverty and offered to settle a yearly income on the Poor Ladies of St. Damien. Clare, eloquent in her determination never to break her vows to Christ and Francis, got permission to continue as they had begun. “I need,” she said, “to be absolved from my sins, but I do not wish to be absolved from my obligation to follow Jesus Christ.” In 1228, therefore, two years after Francis’ death, the Pope granted the Assisi sisterhood a Privilegium paupertatis, or Privilege of Poverty, that they might not be constrained by anyone to accept possessions. “He who feeds the birds of the air and gives raiment and nourishment to the lilies of the field will not leave you in want of clothing or of food until He come Himself to minister to you for eternity.” The convents in Perugia and Florence asked for and received this privilege; other convents thought it more prudent to moderate their poverty. Thus began the two observances which have ever since been perpetuated among the Poor Clares, as they later came to be called. The houses of the mitigated rule are called Urbanist, from the concession granted them in 1263 by Pope Urban IV. But as early as 1247 Pope Innocent IV had published a revised form of the rule, providing for the holding of community property. Clare, the very embodiment of the spirit and tradition of Francis, drew up another rule stating that the sisters should possess no property, whether as individuals or as a community. Two days before she died this was approved by Pope Innocent for the convent of St. Damian.
Clare governed the convent continuously from the day when Francis appointed her abbess until her death, a period of nearly forty years. Yet it was her desire always to be beneath all the rest, serving at table, tending the sick, washing and kissing the feet of the lay sisters when they returned footsore from begging. Her modesty and humility were such that after caring for the sick and praying for them, she often had other sisters give them further care, that their recovery might not be imputed to any prayers or merits of hers. Clare’s hands were forever willing to do whatever there was of woman’s work that could help Francis and his friars. “Dispose of me as you please,” she would say. “I am yours, since I have given my will to God. It is no longer my own.” She would be the first to rise, ring the bell in the choir, and light the candles; she would come away from prayer with radiant face.
During her life and after her death there was disagreement at intervals between the Poor Clares and the Brothers Minor as to their correct relations. The nuns maintained that the friars were under obligation to serve their needs in things both spiritual and temporal. When in 1230 Pope Gregory IX forbade the friars to visit the convents of the nuns without special license, Clare feared the edict might lead to a complete severing of the ties established by Francis. She thereupon dismissed every man attached to her convent, those who served their material needs as well as those who served them spiritually; if she could not have the one, she would not have the other. The Pope wisely referred the matter to the minister general of the Brothers Minor to adjust. After long years of sickness borne with sublime patience, Clare’s life neared its end in the summer of 1253. Pope Innocent IV came to Assisi to give her absolution, remarking, “Would to God I had so little need of it!” To her nuns she said, “Praise the Lord, beloved daughters, for on this most blessed day both Jesus Christ and his vicar have deigned to visit me.” Prelates and cardinals gathered round, and many people were convinced that the dying woman was truly a saint. Her sister Agnes was with her, as well as three of the early companions of Francis-Leo, Angelo, and Juniper. They read aloud the Passion according to St. John, as they had read it at the death-bed of Francis twenty-seven years before. Someone exhorted Clare to patience and she replied, “Dear brother, ever since through His servant Francis I have known the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, I have never in my whole life found any pain or sickness that could trouble me.” To herself she was heard to say, “Go forth without fear, Christian soul, for you have a good guide for your journey. Go forth without fear, for He that created you has sanctified you, has always protected you, and loves you as a mother.”
Pope Innocent IV and his cardinals assisted at the funeral of the abbess. The Pope would have had her canonized immediately had not the cardinals present advised against it. His successor, Alexander IV, canonized her after two years, in 1255, at Anagni. Her body, which lay first in the church of St. George in Assisi, was translated to a stately church built to receive it in 1260. Nearly six hundred years later, in 1850, it was discovered, embalmed and intact, deep down beneath the high altar, and subsequently removed to a new shrine in the crypt, where, lying in a glass case, it may still be seen. In 1804 a change was made in the rule of the Poor Clares, originally a contemplative order, permitting these religious to take part in active work. Today there are houses of the order in North and South America, Palestine, Ireland, England, as well as on the Continent. The emblem of St. Clare is a monstrance, and in art she is frequently represented with a ciborium.
Saint Clare, Virgin, Foundress of the Poor Clares. Celebration of Feast Day is August 12th by the pre-1970 liturgical calendar and August 11th (the actual date of her death) by the present one.
Are We Prepared? ~ The Rev. Lady Sherwood, OPI
Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your belongings and give alms. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be. “Gird your loins and light your lamps and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival. Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them. And should he come in the second or third watch and find them prepared in this way, blessed are those servants. Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour when the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be prepared, for at an our you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”
Then Peter said, “Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone?” And the Lord replied, “Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward whom the master will put in charge of his servants to distribute the food allowance at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing so. Truly, I say to you, the master will put the servant in charge of all his property.but if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, to eat and drink and get drunk, then that servant’s master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour and will punish the servant severely and assign him a place with the unfaithful. That servant who knew his master’s will but did not make preparations nor act in accord with his will shall be beaten severely; and the servant who was ignorant of his master’s will but acted in a way deserving of a severe beating shall be beaten only lightly. Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.”
If we look at today’s Gospel reading, we are being instructed that we need to prepare and to be in readiness for the Lord Jesus’s return. Despite many preachers having given exact dates for the return of our Lord, which were not correct, the Holy Scriptures tell us that Jesus will return soon.
None of us knows when this blessed event will occur and therefore, we need to be found in readiness.
So when we look at our lives can we say that we are truly prepared should Our Lord Jesus return today? We need to ask ourselves what should we truly be doing? What changes should we be making in our daily lives?
If we look at what we are told in Matt 24:3, we are indeed in the “last days” of civilisation as we have come to know and understand it. Jesus has informed us about the signs to watch for in regard to the last days before his return. False Prophets, wars, famine, disease, earthquakes and as we are well aware, these things are already well under way. Also under way, is the breakdown of decent society which was described to us by the Apostle Paul in 2 Tim 3:1-5.
People are lovers of themselves, lovers of money and of worldly material things. the boasters, the proud, the blasphemers, the disobedient ,the unthankful, the unholy, the unforgiving, the despisers of good and those who love worldly pleasures instead of lovers of God our Father and Our Lord Jesus.
So what should we be doing to ensure we will be fully prepared and not found wanting when Jesus returns?
We must truly repent and turn away from self-indulgence and worldly lifestyles, we must ask God our Father to help us to sincerely change all and any unholy ways that will hinder our readiness.
We need to more fully rekindle our faith as many of us seem to become only luke-warm in our faith lives.
Many of us have not attended church; Bible reading and prayer seems not to be being learned as it once was.
We need to get the fullness of our relationship with the Father back on track.
We need to listen and understand more what the Lord is telling us in the holy scriptures. We must ensure the teachings of our lord are not just read but are also lived out in all aspects of our lives and only then will we be truly prepared.
We must proclaim the gospel around the world, the good news of the love and salvation our God brings. We need not only to prepare ourselves but also to give the truth of the lord to all so that they also may get themselves into readiness.
Let us pray:
Father God, I come to you to repent of my sins and confess them before you Please forgive me. I have decided to shun the lures of sin and the love of the world. Help me to recognize deception and to resist every lying spirit sent by the devil to derail my faith in you. Help me to remain true and obedient to your command. I ask for divine wisdom to understand and believe your word and to act on it. I have made up my mind to come and to stay and walk with you.
Amen.
Transfigure Yourself??? ~ Feast of the Transfiguration ~ Br. Michael Marshall, Novice
A couple of contestants on this season of “America’s Got Talent” are magicians, and they are just awesome! One act has done a performance in which clothing outfit changes occur within seconds multiple times, and for some reason this form of magic fascinates me. As I was reading the readings for today, this magic trick came to my mind because the woman goes through multiple “transfigurations” within 90 seconds. In fact, in the many years that I have been Catholic and heard the readings for the Feast of the Transfiguration, I somehow get wrapped up in the image of the Transfigured Lord, like how I got wrapped up in the magic of the woman switching outfits; as if it is some magic act performed by Jesus. I am like Peter who gets wrapped up in the moment of the awesomeness of what he witnesses before he hears the voice of God saying, “This is my chosen Son; listen to him.” Yet, this is not what the readings for today are about at all!
In the Second Letter of Peter, we read that Peter is reminding the early Christians that they have been told by God the Father that Jesus, as His Son, has a very important message to be heard. Fortunately, the message was heard and what was taught in the Gospels was spread, or else we would not be practicing our Christian faith today. Yet, unfortunately, the message has fallen upon so many deaf ears over the past 2000 years; and still falling upon deaf ears, even within the Christian community. People may see the words when reading Scripture, or hear the words at Church; BUT they are not truly attentively listening, hence have deaf ears. What is this message????? It simply can be stated in one word… LOVE! So much hatred, prejudice, and bigotry have happened because of the message of love falling upon deaf ears.
The questions I have are, “What are YOU going to do when hearing or reading these readings for today? Are you going to attentively listen or allow yourself to let the message fall upon deaf ears? What are you going to do to become ‘transfigured?’” I will admit that it is not easy to like somebody or like their actions, because of what they might have done to you. I even have displayed hatred toward people because of things I have been through because of what they have done to me, but that is not what I have been called to do. I have been called to love my neighbor regardless of liking their actions or not. WE ALL are called to listen to what Jesus taught… Practice and teach love, and hopefully those who have deaf ears will eventually come to hear the message. We are ALL called to be ‘transfigured’ so that we can spread the message of Christ.
Lord, may we have open ears to attentive listen to what Jesus taught us, and give us strength to continue to teach that message to others even during the tough situations in life. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Got Stuff? ~ The Rev. Dcn. Dennis Klinzing, Novice
Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.” He replied to him, “Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?”
Then he said to the crowd, “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.”
Then he told them a parable. “There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest. He asked himself, ‘What shall I do, for I do not have space to store my harvest?’
And he said, ‘This is what I shall do: I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones. There I shall store all my grain and other goods and I shall say to myself, “Now as for you,
you have so many good things stored up for many years, rest, eat, drink, be merry!”’
But God said to him, ‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’ Thus will it be for all who store up treasure for themselves but are not rich in what matters to God.” Luke 12:13-21
At this point, a man in the crowd interrupted Jesus and asked Him to solve a family problem (feud). Rabbis were expected to help settle legal matters, but Jesus refused to get involved. Why? Because He knew that no answer He gave would solve the real problem, which was covetousness in the hearts of the two brothers. As long as both men were greedy no settlement would be satisfactory. Their greatest need was to have their hearts changed. Like too many people today, they wanted Jesus to serve them, but not save them.
Covetousness is an unquenchable thirst for getting more and more of something we think we need in order to be truly satisfied. It may be a thirst for money or the things that money can buy, or even a thirst for position and power. Jesus made it clear that true life does not depend on an abundance of possessions. He did not deny that we have certain basic needs. He only affirmed that we will not make life richer by acquiring more of these things.
Mark Twain once defined ‘civilization’ as ‘a limitless multiplication of unnecessary necessities,” and he was right. In fact, many Christians are infected with covetousness and do not know it. They think that Paul’s admonition in 1 Timothy 6 applies only to the ‘rich and famous.’ Measured by the living standards of the rest of the world, most believers in America are indeed wealthy people.
Jesus told this parable to reveal the dangers that lurk in a covetous heart. As you read it, test your own responses to this farmer’s various experience.
How do you respond to the wealthy farmer’s dilemma? Here was a man who had a problem with too much wealth! If we say, “I certainly wish I had that problem! we may be revealing covetousness in our hearts. If suddenly you inherited a great deal of wealth, would it create a problem for you? Or would you simply praise God and ask Him what He wanted you to do with it?
There are perils to prosperity. Wealth can choke the Word of God, create sinners and temptations, and give you a false sense of security. People say that money does not satisfy, but it does satisfy if you want to live on that level. People who are satisfied only with the things that money can buy are in great danger of losing the things that money cannot buy.
This farmer saw his wealth as an opportunity to please himself. He had no thoughts of others or of God.
How do you respond to the decisions of the rich man? Are you saying, “Now that is a shrewd business!”Save and have it ready for the future!” But Jesus saw selfishness in all that this man did, and He said the man was a fool. The world’s philosophy is “Take care of Number One!” But Jesus does not endorse that philosophy.
There is certainly nothing wrong with following good business principles, or even with saving for the future. Jesus does not encourage waste. But neither does Jesus encourage selfishness motivated by covetousness.
How do you respond to the farmer’s desires? Are you saying, “This is the life! The man has success, satisfaction, and security! What more could he want?” But Jesus did not see this farmer enjoying life; He saw him facing death! Wealth cannot keep us alive when our time comes to die, nor can it buy back the opportunities we missed while we were thinking of ourselves and ignoring God and others.
Jesus has made it clear that true life does not come from an abundance of things, nor does true success or security. This man had a false view of both life and death. He thought that life came from accumulating things and that death was far away.
Finally, how do you respond to the death of the boastful farmer? We are prone to say, “Too bad this fellow died just when he had everything going for him! How tragic that he could not finish his great plans.” But the greatest tragedy is not what the man left behind, but what lay before him; eternity without God! The man lived without God and died without God, and his wealth was but an incident in his life. God is not impressed with our money.
Service: The Feast of St. Martha ~ The Rev. Lady Sherwood, OPI
Today we come together to commemorate the life of St Martha.
We should all have knowledge about the story of Martha and Mary who welcomed Jesus into their home. Martha busies herself with the hospitality needs of our Lord Jesus whilst Mary sits at the feet of Jesus listening to his words. Martha complains to Jesus because she wanted Mary’s help but Jesus replies to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.” (Lk 10:38-42)
Jesus’ reply was all about listening to his message. We can then see in ourselves and in our lives, what Jesus points out in Martha – is that we can be easily distracted and worried by worldly tasks and Through Martha’s story, Jesus is reminding us that there is one thing that is of importance: that is to follow Jesus’ message and his individual calling that he has for each of us.
In John 11:17-27, Martha meets Jesus as soon as she learns he is coming after hearing that her brother Lazarus had died. Immediately we see a change in Martha. She purposefully goes to Jesus and when he asks her about his belief in him she responds, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”
Martha has the opportunity to serve Jesus again.
Six days after the Passover (John 12:1-8). She does so with quiet humility. We come to understand Martha’s role is a different calling than that of Mary and this is much like it is in our own lives. we are each called into different service for the Lord’s glory, we each are blessed with different skills and talents with which to serve him. Martha chose to serve with love instead of with bitterness and arrogance.
Martha’s story gives us hope and is a good example for our own lives. Even though we can fall into the trap of trying to complete tasks without God’s assistance, there is opportunity in the Grace of the Lord to retry. When Jesus speaks to Martha, he is not unkind. His response is one of love. As the sinners we each are, we can only strive to learn and grow from our mistakes to make the next opportunity filled with Christ.
Martha is known as the patron saint of cooks, homemakers, and servants, St. Martha reminds us to thank all in our lives who serve us in whatever way. This can be our parents or those who cook for us, those who work in public service, our friends, our church clergy or even indeed anyone at all. As a way to celebrate St. Martha’s feast day today, we can pray to serve Jesus better:
Saint Martha, pray for us that we might serve Jesus better. Help us to overcome any distractions and worries that we may face in this world and to listen to his words and be present to him in our daily lives. May we remember that although we are called and blessed in different ways, that we are still all members of the same one body of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Contradictions and Commitment ~ Br. Chip Noon, Novice
“So the last shall be first, and the first last.”
In Saint James, whose feast we celebrate today, we have a complex character and an important lesson. The Gospel today recounts the incident where the Apostle’s mother, Salome, beseeches Jesus for a favor: that her sons, James and John, be seated at his right hand and left hand in the kingdom.
If Jesus were to answer in today’s vernacular he might say, “You still don’t get it!”
Yes, James was a fisherman who, along with his brother John, was called by the Lord to drop everything and follow him. But he was not so poor, because we know that his father was successful in the family business and his mother was one of the women who were financiers of Jesus’ mission. So perhaps he felt a little superior to some of the other disciples? He did get to witness the Transfiguration, he offered to call down fire on a Samaritan town, he was the first Apostle to be martyred, and he and his brother were called “Sons of Thunder,” probably for his fiery temper. So he was something of a big deal.
But he was also trying to put himself first. He and his brother put his mother up to asking Jesus for a favored position, probably because he knew it was bold and misguided. Jesus rebuffs the request.
James was also the target of one of the Eight Rebukes of Jesus in the incident of offering to destroy the Samaritan town mentioned before.
And yet even though he still didn’t “get it,” he was one of the twelve Apostles and important to the mission of Jesus. And so he is an important lesson to us: nobody’s perfect, but we are still loved by the Lord – and even given great responsibility to spread his word.
Throughout the Gospels, we learn that your station in life, your wealth or lack of it, your talents or lack of them make no difference in the final calling. And what proof do we have of this teaching? It is the life of Jesus…and his suffering and death. Time and again we are taught that we must be servants, even those of us who are of the highest station, and we must be willing to sacrifice ourselves for others, rather than seek glory and riches. Because that is exactly what our Lord did: he sacrificed himself on the cross for our sins and our redemption. His was the ultimate commitment, and he asks no less of us.
Just as Saint James embodies contradictions of pride and humility, so we find Paul, in the first reading, telling us that we will also be faced with, and live within, contradictions. Our weak bodies, breakable earthen vessels, will be
afflicted in every way, but not constrained;
perplexed, but not driven to despair;
persecuted, but not abandoned;
struck down, but not destroyed;
always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus,
so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body.
The last shall be first, and the first last.
Paul says, “We who live are constantly being given up to death for the sake of Jesus.” In other words we may fall over and over, we may succeed over and over, but what we are living is the spirit of redemption every hour of every day. And so if we fall, we know intimately that we will be raised up if we ask for it, because God’s mercy is everlasting.
Although this life may seem like the life of Sisyphus, constantly pushing a boulder uphill only to have it roll to the bottom time after time, when we really contemplate our lot, we can always remember that Jesus told us the truth: our yoke is easy and our burden is light.
Lord, help us today to renounce our pride or our consternation, our smugness or our fears, our complacency or our anxiety and remind us that everything is for you and you are everything for us. And like Saint James, though we may at times deserve rebuke, we can be assured of our salvation.
Amen.
The Order of Preachers, Independent 
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