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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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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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Who's listening?

21 Aug 2011 - Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

Don't worry," the sign outside the Baptist church said, "God's still in charge." Everyone has experiences of leadership, at home, at work, in politics, and in the church, whether as leaders or, more often, the led. Sometimes our leaders do well, other times they fail miserably. However leaders perform, God's Word this week asks for trust; ultimately our faith is in God to see us through. Both leaders and those they lead face the challenge of modeling their leadership on God, of acting in ways pleasing to God. They do not always pull it off, but in the end we have faith. God's still in charge.

Leadership Faith

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Exploring the word

26 Dec 2010 - Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, Cycle A

LEADERSHIP SKILLS ARE desirable qualities. Girls’ and boys’ clubs promise to develop them. From academic programs to the armed forces, turning lemmings into leaders is a constant theme. We need people to take the lead in families, church, the local community, and government. It raises the question: If being a leader is so important, why do we need followers? Shouldn’t we just transform everyone into a self-propelled leader and let it go at that? If so, we’d have to skirt around that mantra in the gospels: Come follow me. Jesus invites his crew to fish but also to follow. They will lead others but follow their Teacher. That suggests that while we do need every good leader we can get and should cultivate leadership skills in children, we also have to develop their “followership” skills. Discipleship, as it’s more normally called, requires it. What does that have to do with the Feast of the Holy Family? Plenty, as the gospel unfolds. This week Joseph is once more our protagonist, and again the righteous man shows us that following divine guidance is the wisest course—not to mention the route to survival. Joseph’s actions are never the obvious choice: Many would not have married the girl, fled to Egypt, or returned to the danger zone afterwards. Joseph doesn’t reason things out: He trusts in God. He’s a grand follower. And as we learn in Luke’s version of the story, Mary’s not so bad herself when it comes to knowing how to balance self-determination with resting in God’s counsel. She does one at Cana and the other at the Annunciation. She’ll have to do both, grimly, at the cross. Though it may be strange to think of Jesus as a follower, his moral compass pointed to the true north of God’s will and not his own—right up to that final hour in the garden of Gethsemane. We come to appreciate that there is no genuine leadership without dedicated followership first. Even a leader needs to know where he or she is going. That requires a map, a star, a compass—or a Higher Power the leader must consult and to whom he or she must finally consent to bow. The leader who refuses to follow any authority higher than himself or herself has a fool for a guide. Sirach reminds us of the interdependence of generations: First, elders lead children and later are led by them in the natural order of things (another reason to teach the children well!). The Letter to the Colossians offers love as the best needle pointing in the right direction. Those who walk the path of love will not be lost. Related scripture links Fourth Commandment: Exod. 20:12; Deut. 5:16; Mark 10:19; Matt. 19:19; Luke 18:20; Rom. 13:9 Paul and subordination: Rom. 13:1-10; 1 Cor. 7:3-4, but also 11:3-12; Eph. 4:11-16, 5:21-6:9 Subordination in creation: Gen. 1:26-31, 3:14-19 Catechism links Jesus' early life: CCC 525-534 Binding virtues: CCC 1827-1829 Family: CCC 2197-2233

Authors Alice Camille

Leadership followers discipleship

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The inner word

17 Oct 2010 - Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

Be faithful, steadfast, and patient is the message behind all of the day's readings. You have no doubt had your Moses moments, when, exhausted, you persevered in your leadership. Think now of how you could have more Aaron moments where you assist others in fulfilling their duties. Read Paul's words as if he is writing them specifically to you. How well do you heed his advice? Do others hear patience in your words as you try to persuade and encourage them to follow the gospel? Do those who come to you for counsel and judgment receive a just hearing? Where do you see the most injustice within your local community? What small things could you do to assist in justice being done?

Leadership judgment word of god

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Exploring the word

27 Jun 2010 - Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

PEOPLE START ASKING us the question pretty early: What do you want to be when you grow up? We want so many things in the beginning, as much as wonder permits. We want to be superheroes, artists, rock stars, presidents, NASCAR racers, truck drivers, millionaires. Or as my preschool niece used to explain: "First a baker, then a mommy, then a ballerina, and maybe a schoolteacher. I don't know what else later." When it comes to our early dreams for life, our eyes are the limit. Whatever we see, we imagine ourselves becoming—at least for a while. By high school we absorb the deflating truth that we have to take definite steps to become something. And what we become may well preclude other things or everything else. Maybe that's when we define ourselves down to the traditional goals: a good paying job, someone to love, home, family. We get behind the plow and try to keep the lines reasonably straight. We know nothing about Elisha before the day Elijah snapped him up for great things. All we know is what we hear about that particular day: a young man plowing in the fields, keeping the lines straight, his thoughts on his chores and his duty to his family. And then, suddenly, his world gets dis-mantled. A flying cloak is hurled across his shoulders, and the prophet who flung it hurries down the road. A startled Elisha has to run to catch up with him. He knows the authority one must assume with this cloak. He knows the sword of decision hangs right above his head. He knows the classic domestic life he'd assumed for himself is no longer a given. He has to make a radical choice, and make it now. Elisha belongs to the lucky ones because he understands so much about his predicament. Most of us are more like those hapless folks who run up to Jesus along the journey and make half-baked pledges of allegiance to him. "I'll follow you wherever you go," we say—but give no thought to how radical a journey that might be. Or we make conditional statements: "I'll follow later—but first . . . but only if . . . but on one condition . . . ." Jesus exposes these false declarations of discipleship for what they are and rejects them all. Authentic followers don't look back. They turn forward. We can only head into kingdom territory if we first abandon our allegiance to other, smaller goals. Because Elisha is perceptive, responsive, and decisive, he becomes the greatest of the prophets, greater even than the one whose mantle he accepts. We never learn what those other people become who once were offered a great opportunity—and preferred things just as they are. Related scripture links Giving testimony: Acts 2:1-11; 1 John 1:1-4 Called to Christ: Rom. 1:5-7, 8:28-30, 11:29; 1 Cor. 1:1-2, 26-31 Famous calls in scripture: Gen. 15:1-6; Exod. 3:4-10; 1 Sam. 3:1-18; Ruth 1:16-18; Isa. 6:1-8; Jer.1:4-10; Acts 9:1-6; Gal. 1:11-16 "Unequal yokes": 1 Cor. 10-13, 5:6-8, 6:15-20, 7:12-16; 2 Cor. 6:14-18 Catechism links Facing Jerusalem: CCC 557 Human freedom: CCC 1730-1742; 1749

Authors Alice Camille

identity professions Destiny Leadership Journey discipleship

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Homily stories

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

MANY CHURCHES bear the names of Saints Peter and Paul. One of the most prominent is the spectacular Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, the cathedral church of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. In the mid-19th century construction of the church began in an environment when the growth of the Catholic population and the increasing visibility of Catholic institutions gave rise to the suspicion that the Catholic Church and its large number of immigrant members posed a threat to traditional American values. Riots against Catholics and their property were sometimes the result of this attitude. With the potential for violence against the building in mind, the cathedral’s original clerestory windows were placed over 75 feet above the ground, their height, legend has it, measured from the distance the builders—and therefore a potential vandal—could throw a rock into the air. The apostles Peter and Paul suffered their share of persecution for their faith. What is interesting was their reaction: They didn’t retaliate—Peter became a rock rather than tossing one back. They simply had faith, endured, trusted in God—and kept on building the church.

Authors Joel Schorn

Suffering Saints disciples Leadership

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