Search

Results

The inner word

14 Jun 2015 - Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

The readings this week show that what is small, hard to see, and even invisible can have vast importance. Whether it’s the tender shoot of the cedar tree or the tiny seed of the mustard plant, what seems slight now will become something mighty. “We walk by faith, not by sight,” the second letter to the Corinthians says; we hope in that what is unseen and in the future will come to pass. The important thing, though, is to realize how the present still matters. How you tend that invisible seed makes a difference; what you do “at home in the body” now has consequences for when you are at home in the Lord, so “aspire to please him” at all times. Think of the little seeds, shoots, and easy-to-miss places in your life where more attention and cultivation “shall bear fruit,” as the psalmist says, in the kingdom of God.

Faith patience

Restricted
The inner word

19 Oct 2014 - Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

Preaching in a diverse or divided parish or faith community can feel a bit like stepping into the line of fire, with Pharisees off to the side waiting to entrap you. If you choose to speak on a controversial topic, you are sure to hear about it. In fact, no matter the topic, as a rule critics are a lot more vocal than supporters. Would that we were all as wise and skilled as Jesus in parrying a critic’s arguments. Meantime, a dose of humility mixed with patience and a thick skin doesn’t hurt.

Humility patience

Restricted
Sign & sacrament

13 Jul 2014 - Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

The mustard seed is small even for seeds, too small perhaps for birds to see as they fly. Yet this is the seed that Jesus picks out to represent his kingdom. The seed that birds cannot see eventually becomes a home for them. In the full-grown tree the birds will not consider how their place of rest came to be from an invisible seed. Our situation is much different from the birds’, however, for in our lives our place of rest, our hope must be in that mustard seed. Saint Paul wrote to the early Christians: “Hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” Today take rest in the invisible.

Hope parables patience

Restricted
Exploring the word

15 Dec 2013 - Third Sunday of Advent, Cycle A

I learned one valuable liturgical lesson living in the southern California desert for nine years: Deserts do bloom! It’s not a miracle but a fact of nature. A desert is geologically defined as a place that is very short on water, so some years spring comes and there is no bloom. You have to wait for the flowers. You have to be patient. You have to believe in the colors and soft textures that seem impossible to produce out of brown sticks and sand. But when there’s enough water, maybe in two years or three, the desert will bloom. Cactuses, shrubs, trees of many arid varieties will summon up purples, pinks, yellows, golds, and scarlets you can hardly imagine. Soft, gentle petals out of prickly, uninviting places! With only a little water, and a lot of patience, a barren land becomes a riot of beauty. The same is true of every human heart. We’ve all been hurt. Some of us carry deep wounds and scars that the people sitting next to us do not suspect. Some of us wait long years for love, for something to relieve the pain and loneliness and barrenness of time. We may wait through seasons of boredom, purposelessness, illness, recuperation from some terrible loss or difficult betrayal. We wait through times of anxiety. We drift. We rage. We feel nothing at all. And nothing blooms in us during these lost seasons. It’s as if we’re sleepwalking through our lives and not really living them. I’ve had seasons like that—I had a decade like that once! The desert was inside me, swallowing up hope as months passed and nothing on the landscape changed. It’s hard to believe in the blooming time when you don’t seem to give or receive love; when kind words are not heard, tender touch is not felt, and soft eyes are never turned your way. The desert may seem stagnant, but it isn’t. It continues to encroach and engulf all terrain along its borders, battling even the towns with wind and sand, trying to claim more territory. The inner desert threatens faith, hope, and love. It tells you to stop waiting, nothing is coming, no one is listening. John the Baptist, a man of the wilderness, understood the desert very well, so he came bearing the gift of water and watched as desert people all around him burst into bloom. Jesus praises John for being a prophet, for seeing what the rest of us might have missed. Then Jesus astounds us by saying we can see farther than John if we accept his invitation to see with Kingdom eyes. From the Kingdom perspective, we’ll perceive the bloom hiding in every desert and rejoice as we await its bursting through. Related scripture links Possessing our souls in patience: Luke 21:19 [KJV] Other harvest meanings and metaphors: Exod. 34:22; Ps. 126:5-6; Prov. 22:8; Isa. 9:2; Hos. 8:7; 10:12-13; Matt. 9:37-38; 13:36-40; John 4:35-38; 1 Cor. 9:10-11; Heb. 6:7-8; Rev. 14:14-20 The virtue of Christian hope: Rom. 5:1-5; 8:24-25; 12:12, 15:12-13; 1 Cor. 13:13; Heb. 3:12-15; 6:11-12; 11:1 Catechism links Faith and doubt: CCC 26; 142-175; 2087-2089

Authors Alice Camille

john the baptist Desert patience belief

Restricted
Homily themes

27 Oct 2013 - Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

The humble will be exalted—there seem, however, to be two kinds of humble going on in the readings this week. On the one hand we’re told that God hears the cry of the poor, those on the margins of society, who did not choose to be there. Yet we’re also called on to seek the place of the lowly, not only show mercy toward them. Will people follow the example of the Pharisee, who was an oppressor, arrogant, and a man of hate toward sinners whom he placed beneath him, or that of an unpretentious outsider, like the tax collector, to whom God listens and stands by? To patient, humble, and prayerful people will go the “crown of righteousness.”

Authors Joel Schorn

Humility pharisees patience tax collector

Restricted
Homily themes

06 Oct 2013 - Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

Faith is obviously the major piece of business in the readings this week, but we see different sides of it—and there is actually a bit of a crisis of faith going on: The psalmist wonders if God is still able to deliver on the old promises. The hearers of the epistle seem to have some faith-issues as well: reluctance, shame, and even fear about testifying to God. In the gospel the apostles clearly feel they need more faith. So what does the same Sunday scripture say to this problem? Having faith means first of all having patience; God’s plan will come to pass. Faith is also powerful; it can take a thickly rooted tree and plant it in the ocean—not a usual place for growing trees! Faith, finally, is a gift of God. Diligence, courage, and enthusiasm are important, but they can’t overcome the fact that faith starts with something God gives.

Authors Joel Schorn

Faith patience

Restricted
The inner word

12 Dec 2010 - Third Sunday of Advent, Cycle A

Are we waiting in joyful hope, or just watching the clock? Patience is one of those virtues that are in short supply in a society in a hurry to get what it wants. Faster Internet dial-ups and quick pizza delivery are only two symptoms of our inability to "wait a minute" for good things to happen. When have you seen the flowering of a "desert" situation? Are there deserts in your life that you would like to see bloom? How does God till the soil of your life, and what responsibility do you accept for the person you are becoming? When have you hesitated, like John the Baptist, in your certainty of Jesus? What signs have you seen that he is "the one who is to come"? Are you a hopeful person, or cautious or pessimistic? How does your ability to be hopeful influence your announcement of the good news?

Desert patience

Restricted
Homily stories

13 Jul 2014 - Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

FOR MANY, last winter was one of the worst in recent memory. We had experienced colder temperatures and deeper snows, but the sheer tenacity of this past winter—it just didn’t want to let up—wore a lot of us down. Seniors were shut in for weeks. Cars stalled. Arms broke in slippery falls. That and more repeated week after week from Thanksgiving to Easter. Scarves covered faces, eyes were cast down. We shared little or no contact with each other as we hurried through the elements. But somehow we knew that springtime would come and summer follow. Deep bulbs and seeds were first to show through the soil, some planted years before, our perennial favorites, survivors of the bitter cold. Some seeds we planted after the last frost, flowers and vegetables to grace our table and fill our souls, tender shoots in small gardens and windowsill pots, growing signs of the ebb and flow of life. It is summer we are enjoying now, maybe even complaining about the heat. As in nature, the seeds of faith in us lay dormant and then spring to life over and again in the same way. That’s God’s way.

Authors Father Dominic Grassi

Hope patience seasons

Restricted
God's patience ...

Holy Year of Mercy reflections for your bulletin or website - The Holy Year of Mercy: Reflections

God's patience has to call forth in us the courage to return to Him, however many mistakes and sins there may be in our life. ... It is there, in the wounds of Jesus, that we are truly secure; there we encounter the boundless love of His heart. Thomas understood this. Saint Bernard goes on to ask: But what can I count on? My own merits? No, "My merit is God's mercy. I am by no means lacking merits as long as He is rich in mercy. If the mercies of the Lord are manifold, I too will abound in merits." This is important: the courage to trust in Jesus' mercy, to trust in His patience, to seek refuge always in the wounds of His love. — Pope Francis

Holy Year of Mercy patience

Restricted
The inner word

03 Oct 2010 - Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

Patience, love, self-control, and steadfast love are the themes of today's readings. Assess the presence and strength of these virtues in yourself. Even small doses will serve you well, Jesus says, if you remember them when you need them. Habakkuk, Timothy, and the apostles all receive lessons in leadership. What kind of leader are you? What kind of leader do others expect you to be? What kind of leader would best serve the people to whom you minister?

patience Love strength virtue

Restricted

← Previous 1 2 3 Next →