Weekly Bulletin - September 2007
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- 02 - Twenty-second Sunday of Ordinary Time
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Have you ever been in a group of people—maybe on a tour, at a social gathering, or at church—and discovered that you have just been talking with a well-known author, corporate CEO, great scholar, or politician? Your first thought is the hope that you didn’t say anything to embarrass yourself; but your second thought is how much they seemed like such “regular” folks. What is it that makes people seem so “regular”? Today’s readings give us a clue when they stress the importance of humility.
It is so hard for us not to tell the first person who will listen how busy we are, how hard we work, how much money we donate, and how important our job titles are. We think these accolades make a difference to people, and if we don’t tell them, how will they ever know? But if our actions demonstrate our values, people will recognize our worth on their own. The words of Jesus show us how much better it is to let someone else recognize our worth than to be embarrassed because someone did not.© Copyright, J. S. Paluch Co. - 09 - Twenty-third Sunday of Ordinary Time
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The Good News is that we have all been invited—invited to the Kingdom, invited to be disciples. It’s a life-changing invitation, and like so many other such invitations, it requires a great deal of deliberation and discernment. Whether we choose marriage, ordination, single life, or community life, we know the serious planning and consideration that accompany these profound decisions.
Like the tower-builder in the Gospel, we have weighed both the monetary and emotional cost. We have pondered and planned our lives in the direction to which we believe God has called us. And while we pray for guidance and acceptance of God’s will, we often fail to understand so much. Like Solomon, we turn to God for wisdom and counsel in our life-changing decisions.© Copyright, J. S. Paluch Co. - 16 - Twenty-fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time
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True reconciliation is emotional, dramatic, and cleansing. When two people meet heart to heart and work through old hurts, misunderstandings, and careless words, cleansing tears often flow and the encounter ends with an embrace that fills both with the warmth of a love too strong to fade.
In the reading from Exodus, we see how God refuses again and again to give up on the Israelites. Even though they grow impatient with God and turn to false idols, God still calls them back. Luke’s Gospel assures us that God rejoices when we turn away from sin. Paul’s letter to Timothy encourages us, like Paul, to look back on our lives and recognize where God’s patient mercy has been shown to us.© Copyright, J. S. Paluch
The readings this weekend assure us of this healthy release that comes with reconciliation. They give us the courage to reach out to someone with whom we need to reconcile ourselves, and give us the courage to ask for forgiveness from God, too. - 23 - Twenty-fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time
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The Second Vatican Council has called us to envision the Church as the people of God. As a community of believers we are responsible for our brothers and sisters, their salvation, their journey of faith, their physical well-being. Many of the documents of Vatican II and volumes of work since the mid-1960s give us advice, guidelines, and encouragement to take care of one another: the poor, the elderly, the unborn, the broken, the infirm.
Because Vatican II is part of our recent history—indeed many of us were already born—this may strike us as a new and revolutionary idea. But today’s readings show us the agelessness of the issue of social justice. Eight hundred years before Christ was born, Amos warned the wealthy not to cheat the poor. In Paul’s first letter to Timothy, he encourages all prayers to be for all people; and finally, the Gospel urges the wise use of money.© Copyright, J. S. Paluch Co. - 30 - Twenty-sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time
