• Bulletin Board, Announcements, Calendar
• Editorial - Op Ed
• Welcome and Website Protocol
• Article Archive

Print this page

Article Categories

• Book Reviews
• Open Letter
• Editorials
• Notes, Quotes & Comments
• Pastor's Study
• Project Millstones
• Sidebar Comments
• Weekly Message

Links

Liturgy
This link will keep 'parishioners-at-large' in touch with current creative liturgy sources and resources that respect a variety of 'traditions' within the Church.

COMMONWEAL Magazine
A 'lay' Catholic weekly publication with an accent on an intelligent analysis and commentary on curent issues, trends and concerns of interest to Catholics.

National Catholic Reporter
A national Catholic lay newspaper covering events not usually covered or presented with a clerical bias in the local diocesan press or but of concern and interest to Catholics.

Survivos' Network for those Abused by Priests or Religious
A National Network of self-help support groups for people abused by clergy or religious.

Bishop Accountability
Vital information about the disclosure of sexual abuse and related issues affecting Catholics in the pew and the manner in which Bishops continue to exempt themselves from accountability

Voice of the Faithful
A 'movement' of lay Catholics 'inspired' by the abuse scandal calling for greater accountability of bishops to 'Catholics in the Pew.'

Search

Daily Scripture

+ 20th Week in Ordinary Time

I’ll do it myself.

Readings: Ezekiel 34:1-11 Psalm 23:1-6 Matthew 20:1-16

Therefore, shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: because my shepherds did not look after my sheep, but pastured themselves and did not pasture my sheep, I will claim my sheep from them and put a stop to their shepherding my sheep. I will save my sheep, that they may no longer be food for their mouths. [Ezekiel 34:10]

There is much talk about a vocation shortage—fewer young men entering the seminary and fewer still persevering to ordination. Not withstanding some notable exceptions this has resulted in the lowering of standards for ordination. Moreover, priests and candidates for the priesthood are being ‘imported’ from other countries whose needs are as urgent as ours.

The prevailing accent seems to be on the need to have a sufficient number of priests to ‘say Mass’ and provide for the sacramental needs of the faithful. But surely in the light of the Second Vatican Council, priests need to be more than presiders at Mass and providers of the sacraments, as important as are these roles.

The earliest experience of the Church can be instructive in this regard. The notion of presbyter provided the early church with presiders for worship and leaders for base communities. Celibacy was not an issue and there was no clerical caste. The gifts of the faithful were recognized in such a manner that men and women, married and single fulfilled the spiritual needs of the community including the sacramental needs.

Notwithstanding the inadequacy of the notion of shepherding people (sheeple?) the need remains for qualified men and women to minister to the needs of the community.

Ezekiel warned the priests and assured the people of Israel that God would find away to pasture his people.

Ezekiel’s words need to be taken to heart again and in fact we already see that God is indeed providing a way through the action of the Holy Spirit in the lives of men and women, married and single, who are tending to the needs of the faithful.

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 'C'

Sunday July 29, 2007

“Welcome. Please listen to the voicemail prompt”

“Hello! You have reached the voice mail box of Father Lasch. At the sound of the tone, please speak your name and phone number slowly and clearly before you start your message. It will be helpful if you repeat you name an phone number at the conclusion of your message, spelling your name if necessary—slowly and clearly Thank you.”

How many callers do you think are attentive to this prompt? My current estimate is 5%! Not infrequently, I receive a message like this. “Hi. It’s Mary or John. I’m calling to speak with you about …” and then a minute or two later, “Oh, yes, my phone number is 817-365-4378!” spoken with the speed of lightening! I have listened to some messages five times before getting it straight. My being a bit dyslexic doesn’t help. But to be fair and balanced, I must indict myself in this regard. When I make a phone call, more often than not, I am so concerned about the clarity and brevity of my own message I fail to observe my own protocol.

This observation has applications to other ordinary daily conversational exchanges that are more often monologues on the part of one person or the other. Extroverts tend not to be good listeners; but neither are introverts in their own comfort zone. And once again, in the interest of fairness and balance, I find it difficult to listen to someone without rehearsing mentally what ‘I’ want to say.

The readings for this weekend require not only a listening hear but an attentive heart. In fact, someone has said that the ears of an attentive mind and a sensitive heart are far more important than the ears attached to the head because these internal faculties enable us to “hear” more than what is being said or read.

At first shot, the message seems to be about persistence and perseverance in prayer. In fact, it is more about the persistence of God than of Abraham. He really didn’t need to assure God that he was worthy of God’s favor or, on the other hand, confess his unworthiness in order to win God’s attention and favor.

Although he held God in ‘awe,’ Abraham was not afraid of God. The biblical word for ‘fear’ is properly translated as ‘awe’ or deep reverence’ rather than ‘fear.’ The author of the Book of Genesis last week and this week has been attempting to demonstrate God’s endless patience, mercy, and compassion. “Oh, do not let the Lord be angry if I speak just once more. Suppose ten are found there. The Lord answered, ‘For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.’” This is all hyperbole—a sort of biblical cartoon, if you will.

What would it be like if Pope Benedict were to pray in the manner of Abraham, “Lord, if there are even ten innocent children in that country, the site of the ancient garden of paradise where the Tigris and Euphrates meet in Iraq, will you destroy the whole nation for the sake of the ten?” What might the Lord reply? Is not the compassionate God of Abraham the same as the God of Isaac, Jacob, Jesus and our God? The message is not about our need to bargain with God but about the incomparable compassion of the God of all ages; the God who ultimately instilled this compassion in the person of Jesus who in fact embodied the Spirit of God, Jesus the obedient one, i.e., the one who “listened” attentively to the heartbeat of God deep within his being and responded to every situation in a manner consonant with God’s will and God’s love. God want intimacy with humanity. This is amply demonstrated through God’s incarnational love for humanity in Christ.

It was not surprising then that as John the Baptist and other religious leaders taught their disciples to pray, Jesus would be asked by his disciples to do the same.

The prayer is intimate and immediate and deals with the present. “Our Father, you are holy; let your dominion be honored and respected today… Give us the sustenance we need to get through the day!” Forgive us now and help us to be forgiving toward others; do not let us be tried beyond our endurance.”

Jesus prayed in his native Aramaic. Spoken Hebrew had died out about three hundred years before Jesus.

The words of the Our Father are among the most quoted in English and in the languages of Europe. But there is more to their prayer that the English or Latin or another other western language are able to convey. It was a prayer that truly ‘engaged’ Jesus with the mystery of God. The Lord’s Prayer in Aramaic contains the hidden wisdom of Jesus. They are a lens into his thinking and into his mystical thought. The Lord’s prayer helps us to create our own sacred space as we pray and to consecrate our day and our life to God, and dedicate ourselves to holiness and a healthy self, a healthy “I am.” As we become conscious of our breathing as we pray, we reconnect with God as the source of life within the context of nature and the entire cosmos.

The example given by Jesus in the ensuing parable again seems to be about perseverance and persistence but in reality it is about intimacy with God. Friends can wake one another up in the middle of the night and when they ask for fish, they are not going to receive a snake; when they ask for bread, they are not going to receive a stone. Get the point? God wants us to have everything we need for life’s journey. More than this, God wants us to be filled with the same spirit that filled Jesus. Indeed, God wants us to be his other self too.

Author and spiritual mentor, Neil Douglas klotz in his excellent retreat entitled “Original Prayer – Teachings and Meditations on the Aramaic Words of Jesus” offers this alternative translation that is faithful to the core of the Lord’s Prayer:

O Breathing Life, your Name shines everywhere!

Release a space to plant your Presence here.

Envision your “I Can” now.

Embody your desire in every light and form.

Grow through us this moment’s bread and wisdom.

Until the knots of failure binding us,

as we release the strands we hold of others faults.

Help us not forget our Source,

yet free us from not being in the present.

From you arises every vision, power, and song,

from gathering to gathering.

Amen: may our future actions grow from here!

[Sounds True, PO Box 8010, Boulder Co 80306 www.soundstrue.com]

So, if you are hearing what I’m hearings, the message is about the persistence of God’s love and the greatness of our call to become like God in Christ. Prayer than is more a disposition of mind, heart, and soul rather than a pattern of words and or a series of petitions. It is the attentive listening and acceptance of all that God wants for us. Nothing less!

May that same Spirit that beats in the heart of Jesus’ reign in your minds and hearts today and always that others may come to know the faithfulness of God.