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The inner word

26 Apr 2015 - Fourth Sunday of Easter; Good Shepherd Sunday, Cycle B

This Sunday the focus is on leadership and the difference between good and bad leadership. People tend to think of leadership as something that goes either up or down the line: Those in charge want others to follow them, while those getting the directions praise or blame their leaders for the job they’re doing. In this way of seeing things, both sides are looking only at the performance of the other, not themselves. Every leader, though, has to follow something or someone, and every follower has areas of their lives where they must lead. The important thing is to recognize that everyone leads and follows at some point and that leadership is judged by the values laid out in the gospel: care, sacrifice, unity. Where do you lead in your life? What kind of a leader are you? Where or what or whom do you follow? What kind of a follower are you?

Leadership

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Sign & sacrament

29 Jun 2014 - Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles, Cycle A

It is important to note that Saints Peter and Paul, the two men we call the “pillars of the church,” were both flawed and gifted human beings. Peter, the “rock” upon which Jesus built his church, was a simple fisherman who was the first to recognize Jesus as the Messiah and also the first to deny knowing him. Paul, an educated Roman citizen, intended to imprison Christians but ended up becoming a follower of Jesus himself. He was Christianity’s first missionary, establishing communities throughout the Mediterranean world. We are each called to live the gospel message. These stories offer reassurance that our weaknesses are not too much for God to overcome.

discipleship Saints disciples Leadership

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Exploring the word

21 Apr 2013 - Fourth Sunday of Easter; Good Shepherd Sunday, Cycle C

It would be difficult to approach this annual feast of the Good Shepherd without sparing a thought for the freshly installed (and probably still overwhelmed) pope, but the Good Shepherd the church relies on in every season remains the same as always. Many voices claim your attention every day: family and friends, boss and coworker, media and culture. Interior voices speak as well: old injuries, weaknesses, fears, and desires. Listening to all of them can be as frustrating as trying to keep up with the rapid-fire emails, tweets, and texts that continually bid for your attention. But there is a clear hierarchy as to which voices speak the loudest and require your highest allegiance. As the Letter to the Hebrews says, Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. If you’ve been listening to him all along, you’ll recognize his voice at once. If you haven’t, now is a very good time to begin. There’s a small warning from the Acts of the Apostles today. The Gentiles, unaccustomed to the voice of God, hear Paul and Barnabas and are delighted at once by the message. Meanwhile their own community of faith, long-time hearers of the salvation story, seems unable or unwilling to endure one more word of this proclamation and expel the preachers from their territory. They hear the message; they do not recognize the divine voice in it. It’s a tragic day for them. The rejected apostles, by contrast, dust themselves off with joy and continue on their way. It can be illuminating to see the joy on neophyte faces in the Easter season and compare it with lifer-Catholics. Are the rest hearing the same message new members are hearing? The danger of believing you’ve “been there, heard that” grows the longer you’ve been in the pews. The Shepherd is still calling you forward and it’s never healthy to presume you’ve arrived at the pasture to end all pastures and have nowhere else to go. Some are being called farther than they may have dreamed or dared to go in the past. The vocation to leadership in the community of faith stirs in the hearts of a number who are present in the assembly today. It may require assistance to discern whether that discomfort you feel is a summons to the doctor’s office or to the spiritual director’s. Paul and Barnabas took the message as far as they could. Now it’s your turn to supply them with successors to share their joy. Scripture links The Father and I are one: John 18:21-23 Gathering up the fragments: John 6:12 144,000: Rev. 7:4-8; 14:1-5 Weakness is strength: 2 Cor. 12:1-10 Catechism links Vocation: CCC 1-3; 542-546; 825; 836; 1694-1696; 1699

Authors Alice Camille

Leadership Good Shepherd

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Exploring the word

29 Apr 2012 - Fourth Sunday of Easter; Good Shepherd Sunday, Cycle B

HOW OFTEN DO you pray for the president? It doesn’t matter if you didn’t vote for him—maybe you should pray harder for those you didn’t want to elect! Have you ever prayed for the leaders of Europe, or Russia, or China, or the Middle East? Would you lift up a prayer for a poor leader or one you deemed outright evil? Leadership might be one of the world’s most neglected vocations. There will always be folks who grab power, but leadership is something else again. When we look to the gospel for direction, we see that a leader must first of all be a servant. To serve at the top, one must be familiar with the bottom. To know how and where to lead, you have to know where your followers are to begin with and where they need to go. The church teaches something called the "common good.” If leaders want to serve their people best, they should determine what’s best for all, not only for the strongest, smartest, or loudest. “Survival of the fittest” is not a principle that serves the common good. “The last will be first” is more like it. This is why, on this World Day of Prayer for Vocations, we might consider the example of Saint Peter, the church’s rock. Even if Jesus hadn’t appointed him as head over all, perhaps he might have been voted in by popular acclaim. It’s hard not to like Peter: bold, passionate, articulate, impetuous. Above all, he’s very human. Peter makes sense to us. He also wakes up our inner hero and makes us aspire to be like him. Consider his speech today, delivered after a night spent in jail under custody of the religious authorities. These are the same authorities who mere weeks ago dragged Jesus before Pilate and demanded his crucifixion. Peter has every reason to be afraid. If ever there was a time to soft-pedal your dogma, this is it. But Peter’s learned some things from his time at the bottom—about the true cost of compromise and the grief of denying your friends and yourself. He’s not going to take the safe way out and refuse to acknowledge the one he denied before. So he declares that he comes in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, the crucified one, the Risen One, the stone rejected, the cornerstone, the name that saves. Clear enough? Such courage garners a collective gasp from the Sanhedrin. They instinctively know they can’t contain this determination. So they let their captives go. If we want to see this kind of courage in the world again, all we have to do is pray for it. Today’s a good day for that. Every day is. Related scripture links Jesus is the same: Heb. 13:8 Trusting in God: Ps. 32:10; 37:3; 40:4; 131:1-3; Prov. 3:5; 20:22; Isa. 26:4 The paradox of the Resurrection: 1 Cor. 15:42-44 The strength of the kingdom: 2 Cor. 10:3-5 In weakness, power reaches perfection: 2 Cor. 12:7b-10 Catechism links The good shepherd: CCC 551-553; 606; 609; 649; 753-754

Authors Alice Camille

leaders Leadership common good World Day of Prayer for Vocations

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Exploring the word

29 Apr 2012 - Fourth Sunday of Easter; Good Shepherd Sunday, Cycle B

HOW OFTEN DO you pray for the president? It doesn’t matter if you didn’t vote for him—maybe you should pray harder for those you didn’t want to elect! Have you ever prayed for the leaders of Europe, or Russia, or China, or the Middle East? Would you lift up a prayer for a poor leader or one you deemed outright evil? Leadership might be one of the world’s most neglected vocations. There will always be folks who grab power, but leadership is something else again. When we look to the gospel for direction, we see that a leader must first of all be a servant. To serve at the top, one must be familiar with the bottom. To know how and where to lead, you have to know where your followers are to begin with and where they need to go. The church teaches something called the "common good.” If leaders want to serve their people best, they should determine what’s best for all, not only for the strongest, smartest, or loudest. “Survival of the fittest” is not a principle that serves the common good. “The last will be first” is more like it. This is why, on this World Day of Prayer for Vocations, we might consider the example of Saint Peter, the church’s rock. Even if Jesus hadn’t appointed him as head over all, perhaps he might have been voted in by popular acclaim. It’s hard not to like Peter: bold, passionate, articulate, impetuous. Above all, he’s very human. Peter makes sense to us. He also wakes up our inner hero and makes us aspire to be like him. Consider his speech today, delivered after a night spent in jail under custody of the religious authorities. These are the same authorities who mere weeks ago dragged Jesus before Pilate and demanded his crucifixion. Peter has every reason to be afraid. If ever there was a time to soft-pedal your dogma, this is it. But Peter’s learned some things from his time at the bottom—about the true cost of compromise and the grief of denying your friends and yourself. He’s not going to take the safe way out and refuse to acknowledge the one he denied before. So he declares that he comes in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, the crucified one, the Risen One, the stone rejected, the cornerstone, the name that saves. Clear enough? Such courage garners a collective gasp from the Sanhedrin. They instinctively know they can’t contain this determination. So they let their captives go. If we want to see this kind of courage in the world again, all we have to do is pray for it. Today’s a good day for that. Every day is. Related scripture links Jesus is the same: Heb. 13:8 Trusting in God: Ps. 32:10; 37:3; 40:4; 131:1-3; Prov. 3:5; 20:22; Isa. 26:4 The paradox of the Resurrection: 1 Cor. 15:42-44 The strength of the kingdom: 2 Cor. 10:3-5 In weakness, power reaches perfection: 2 Cor. 12:7b-10 Catechism links The good shepherd: CCC 551-553; 606; 609; 649; 753-754

Authors Alice Camille

leaders Leadership common good World Day of Prayer for Vocations

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The inner word

29 Apr 2012 - Fourth Sunday of Easter; Good Shepherd Sunday, Cycle B

This Sunday the focus is on leadership and the difference between good and bad leadership. People tend to think of leadership as something that goes either up or down the line: Those in charge want others to follow them, while those getting the directions praise or blame their leaders for the job they’re doing. In this way of seeing things, both sides are looking only at the performance of the other, not themselves. Every leader, though, has to follow something or someone, and every follower has areas of their lives where they must lead. The important thing is to recognize that everyone leads and follows at some point and that leadership is judged by the values laid out in the gospel: care, sacrifice, unity. Where do you lead in your life? What kind of a leader are you? Where or what or whom do you follow? What kind of a follower are you?

Leadership leaders

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The inner word

29 Apr 2012 - Fourth Sunday of Easter; Good Shepherd Sunday, Cycle B

This Sunday the focus is on leadership and the difference between good and bad leadership. People tend to think of leadership as something that goes either up or down the line: Those in charge want others to follow them, while those getting the directions praise or blame their leaders for the job they’re doing. In this way of seeing things, both sides are looking only at the performance of the other, not themselves. Every leader, though, has to follow something or someone, and every follower has areas of their lives where they must lead. The important thing is to recognize that everyone leads and follows at some point and that leadership is judged by the values laid out in the gospel: care, sacrifice, unity. Where do you lead in your life? What kind of a leader are you? Where or what or whom do you follow? What kind of a follower are you?

Leadership leaders

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The inner word

30 Oct 2011 - Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

Much of scripture for "Leadership Sunday" indicts religious leaders for their sins. For leaders, the readings can serve as a kind of examination of conscience. Another approach, however, is to ask yourself not only where you have erred, but also where you do well. How have you kept faith with God--and therefore with one another? When has your presence been a blessing? How do you serve the community with humility (don't be humble!)? When have you taught the people well?

leaders Faith service humility

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Who's listening?

30 Oct 2011 - Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

Shock, anger, disappointment, disgust, and apathy are the main emotions the priest abuse scandal and its aftermath elicit from people in the pew. As the gospel is read, many listeners will very easily make a connection between the readings and the scandal. They may also think of recent corporate and political scandals. They themselves may be leaders caught up in questionable activities. Be aware of and try to acknowledge all of these concerns. Through your actions more than your words do what you can to assure your congregation of your ability to lead with humility.

Humility abuse leaders

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Homily stories

30 Oct 2011 - Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

A number of years ago comedian Billy Crystal had a running gag portraying Fernando, a quintessential Hollywood character. Crystal would come on talk shows and greet the host with an enthusiastic, "You look mahvelous!" When the host would ask how he was doing he'd say, "You know, it is better to look good than to feel good." The joke of course was a send-up of the image-conscious Hollywood celebrities for whom looking good was life's overriding concern. Jesus knows that if our outsides are not informed and illuminated by our insides, we are no better than the Pharisees for whom the externals were everything. That leads to hypocrisy, constant judgment of others and ourselves, and spiritual death. You can almost hear the Pharisees, the image-obsessed religious leaders of Jesus' day, greeting one another in the synagogues, "You look mahvelous!" Jesus had a challenge for them, and for us: "It is better to be good, than to look good." And that starts on the inside.

billy crystal pharisees leaders

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