Gospel Reflections for Challenging Times

  18 th Sunday in Ordinary Time Gospel – Luke12:13-21 Raising the Barn Ruins, Caesarea Maritima Years ago when I was in high school, I had a summer job working on a local pig farm.   Yes it was difficult and rather dirty work but all in all there was a certain sense of satisfaction and ‘job well done’ when we got to the end of the workday.   One day we went over to a neighboring farm to lend a hand building a new barn.   The leader of the build was a middle-aged Amish gentleman who was accompanied by his 2 little sons, probably only about 7 or 8 years old.   Dressed in black pants, white shirt and suspenders, and a wide brimmed straw hat, those 2 boys were fearless.   I still remember them walking, actually almost dancing, along the main roof beam on the very top of the structure.   Their father must have been used to their antics.   He just continued on checking in his little black book for measurements and angles and such.   In the end, that barn was magnificent, perfectl

  Saturday – 17 th Week in Ordinary Time     Gospel – Matthew 14:1-12 Obsessed! Qumran, Essene Settlement A group of tourists sits in a bus that is passing through gorgeously beautiful country; lakes and mountains and green fields and rivers. But the shades of the bus are pulled down. They do not have the slightest idea of what lies beyond the windows of the bus. And all the time of their journey is spent in squabbling over who will have the seat of honor in the bus, who will be applauded, who will be well considered. And so they remain till the journey’s end. Ever had that experience?   So caught up in something ultimately trivial that we end up missing the big picture?   So obsessed with one thing – a person, an object, some activity or interest – that you lose interest in anything else?   That is where we find Herod Antipas in today’s Gospel.   He is so focused, so enamored of Salome, that he loses any perspective on life and he promises to give Salome anything.

  Friday – Feast of St. Martha, Mary and Lazarus       Gospel – John 11:19-27, Luke 10:38-42 Family Matters The Holy Family, Nazareth You will pardon me if I have to stop and think what day this is!   The past 10 days have been a bit of a blur!   Last Wednesday I headed to Louisiana for a 4-day Tekakwitha Conference, an annual gathering of Native Catholic communities in the US and Canada.   It was the first opportunity to gather in person in the past 3 years.   Needless to say it was a wonderful chance to reconnect with old friends and to forge new bonds for the future. We returned from the conference late Sunday night, just before midnight.   And I was right back to O’Hare 5 hours later to fly out to Edmonton Alberta to attend Pope Francis’ Mass of Healing and Reconciliation for the Native Peoples over the tragedy of the Residential Schools.   And then I returned home late Wednesday.   Needless to say, I am glad I won’t have to see another airport or security or customs

  Thursday – 17 th Week in Ordinary Time     Gospel – Matthew 13: 47-53 Gone Fishing A Great Catch, South Haven, Michigan I love fishing!   I very rarely get the chance to actually go fishing but what’s not to love!   Endless hours of sheer boredom and waiting followed by maybe 15 minutes of excitement!   The 2 most exciting moments for me were a week-long fishing trip years ago up in Canada with my best friend Dennis when I caught a 36 inch northern pike and an early morning Lake Michigan charter off South Haven with Jaime, Josh and baby Josh a few years ago where we hit the jackpot (see the pic)!   And that big catch in South Haven doesn’t even include all the fish that got away, the ones we had on the line but lost and the ones that were too small to keep and we had to let them go. Which brings us to today’s Gospel and Jesus’ story of a big catch of fish; some were kept and some were tossed away, good fish and bad fish, the keepers and the ones that got away!   The on