Sunday Reflections

During the Last Supper, in the Gospel of Luke, the disciples are arguing among themselves as to whom is the greatest. Jesus points out that among the rulers of the world, people lord it over one another and make their authority felt. Jesus is disappointed in their actions and points to his presence in their midst “as the one who serves.” This is the model that the disciples are to embrace in their leadership: “let the greatest among you be as the youngest, and the leader as the servant” (Lk 22:24-26).

We are quickly approaching the end of the Liturgical Year and our readings lead us to thoughts of the end time, i.e., The Day of the Lord is coming!  Our second reading 1 Thessalonians 5:1-6 tells us that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.  As labour pains come upon a pregnant woman so will be the cataclysmic Day of the Lord or perhaps first for many: our personal day of the Lord.  We are not called to be afraid of the darkness or not knowing the time or the hour but we are called to live as children of the light and children of the day.  Howev

When we think of God, most of us take God for granted.  No matter what we do, most of us expect God to be good to us!  This can easily give rise to a sloppy relationship whereby we take advantage of God and at times not even be aware of how unrespectful this is.  Oh, my God! How can I have done this so callously?? (Falling to my knees,) I pray, “Oh my God, I am heartily sorry for…”.

Use the above as the background and environment for the following thoughts.

Road maps are very much a thing of the past in 2020.  You google where you want to go and your phone or computer tells you every step to take to get from ‘A’ to ‘B’.  I always think of the Beatitudes, in today’s gospel, as a road map to the kingdom of God.  When we follow these virtues/activities/values we are ‘on our way’ to the kingdom of God.  Our human condition, our sinfulness, may make us detour or make the wrong turn, but the grace of God is more abundant and calls us back to the way of Jesus, the Lord.  He IS the Way!  Then we are preparing ourselves to

The Charism Statement of the Congregation of the Resurrection maintains that we are called “to respond with great love to the Father’s great love for us” and “to work together for the resurrection of society, bringing his life and love to all.” In these statements, we find the great commandments of Christ to love God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our minds, and to love our neighbor as our self.

Today’s first reading is from Isaiah 45:1, 4-6 where God tells Jacob that he is God’s servant and that Israel is God’s chosen.  By extension the same thing is true for us.  We are called by God to be God’s servants!  We are handpicked and chosen by God.  God calls us by our name even when we don’t know that God is doing so or choose to ignore God’s voice.  God invites us not to go seeking for other God because as God says: “there is no one besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other.”

In psychology there is a principle that states the more we like/love someone, the more we want to show them who we are; we are eager to let them know who we are.  Keep this principle before you as you look at today’s readings and biblical texts for today’s liturgy.

Today, as often, Jesus Christ is the focus of the relationship between God and humankind.  And we are one with Christ in the Eucharist.  Today’s Gospel invites us to choose to enter God’s Kingdom where true love flourishes.

Hans Christian Anderson wrote about an ‘ugly duckling’, who was rejected for being different from the other fowl that it found itself surrounded by.  Rejection is central to the parable of this weekend, the rejection of Jesus, the Christ.  His words and actions, although powerful, were rejected by many, especially those who should have recognized them as signs of the presence of the Messiah.  The image of the vineyard, shared by Isaiah in the First Reading, is a rich one, which calls us to be workers in that vineyard of the Lord, and to prepare the produce for the harvest.&nb

            Our second reading from Paul’s letter to the Philippians contains one of the most ancient texts of the New Testament. In this reading, Paul is quoting a pre-existing hymn to Christ. Most Bibles give evidence to this by indenting the text.

Please read today’s commentary with the following statement as a background: we are not happy with God because we want our just deserts from God and this does not happen as we want.