Gospel Reflections for Challenging Times

Tuesday – 30 th Week in Ordinary Time Gospel – Luke 13:18-21 The Science of Prayer Anointing Stone, Church of Holy Sepulchre   For such a short Gospel reading today, there are a number of beautiful visual images – mustard seed, birds of the air, yeast, wheat flour and dough.   But you already know where this is going.   Let’s talk about baking!! I have become reasonably proficient in baking my ‘peasant bread’. Even so one little mistake can make the bread a complete disaster!   Too much water, too little yeast, not enough time to rise or too much time in the oven!   It’s a delicate balance and all the ingredients have to work in the right proportions and the proper combination for the bread to be beautiful to look at and delicious to eat.   Baking really is a science.   There is a recipe to follow and you must do so religiously.   There is no room for experimenting with a pinch of this or a splash of that!   You can’t just throw things together!   It just won’t work!   

  Monday – 30 th Week in Ordinary Time Gospel – Luke 13:10-17 A Compassionate Life My Dad’s Store My dad began working in this little country store next to our family home at the age of 16.   He retired from that same store over 50 years later.   It was part gas station, post office, part ice cream stand, part deli and liquor store, supermarket and local gathering spot.   During all those 50 some years, he ran the store on his own, hardly ever took a vacation, working roughly from 5 in the morning to 10 at night, at least 6 days a week.   During the school year we basically say him only at dinnertime for about an hour.   And in the last 10 years of the store’s existence, he was also doing double-duty as the postmaster, taking over after my grandmother passed away. But what I remember most are those many times, after hours or on Sundays, times when the store was closed, but how he would graciously re-open the store for someone in need of a quart of milk or a dozen eggs,

  30 th Sunday in Ordinary Time Gospel – Matthew 22: 34-40 Send in the Lawyers Wailing Wall, Jerusalem Last Sunday the Pharisees continued their attempts at trying to trap Jesus by asking if they should pay the Roman temple tax.   They fail miserably when Jesus produces a coin and tells them to give to man what belongs to man and give to God what belongs to God. Today they try again; this time they send in the lawyers asking a seemingly simple question – what law is the greatest!   It seems simple enough until you realize that in the Torah there are a total of 613 separate laws and precepts.   613!   Every faithful Jew then and now knows that to be true!   If you look closely at today’s pic, you will see a man wearing a Jewish prayer shawl, a tallit!   It is worn by Jewish men every time they pray.   If you notice, there are a lot of tassels and knots!   If you were to count them all up – it would total 613!   So symbolically whenever they pray, they wrap the Law aro

  Saturday – Sts Simon and Jude Gospel – Luke 6:12-16 Hey Jude! Renewal of Baptism Vows, Jordan River Today we celebrate the Feasts of Sts. Simon and Jude, Apostles!   Simon, but not Peter!   Jude but not Judas!   Except for Simon being called a Zealot and Jude speaking to Jesus at the Last Supper, we have very little details about their life and mission.   One apocryphal text has them preaching and being martyred in Persia. So what do we know?   Jesus spent the night on the mountain to pray.   He calls each of the Twelve by name!   And he gives them a mission, to be apostles – to hear His words and teachings and then to spread that same word. Sounds a lot like Baptism!   Hopefully, those of us who are parents spent time praying and preparing for the Baptism of our children, reflecting on the meaning of becoming a child of God and the demands of raising that child in the faith – teaching them and praying with them,    Then at the beginning of the Rite, the priest/deac

  Friday – 29 th Week in Ordinary Time Gospel – Luke 12:54-59   Peace Be With You Church of Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem Pope Francis at the end of his general audience last Wednesday morning announced a day of penance, fasting and prayer for an end to the Israel-Hamas war.    “I have decided to call for a day of fasting and prayer on Friday, Oct. 27,” the Pope said. It will be “a day of penance to which I invite sisters and brothers of the various Christian denominations, those belonging to other religions, and all those who have at heart the cause of peace in the world, to join in as they see fit,” the Holy Father continued. “Our thoughts turn to Palestine and Israel,” the Pope said. “The number of victims is rising and the situation in Gaza is desperate. Please, let everything possible be done to avoid a humanitarian disaster. The possible widening of the conflict is disturbing, while so many war fronts are already open in the world. May weapons be silenced, and let