Our mission
as the parish community of
Our Lady of Hope
is to give witness to the love of Jesus in our families, our parish community and the world.
Our parish has a wonderful spirit and all of us together make that possible. Many people, who were here before us, believed that God is bringing us together and guiding our steps. They often asked, "What if …?" or "Why not …?" They gave thanks for what is and they hoped for what could be. We ask the same questions and share the same hope. Those who come after us will continue the same tradition that has been fashioned by the people of Our Lady of Hope, St. Bridget, St. John Vianney, Sacred Heart and Holy Cross.
Our first reaction to this passage (Luke 23:35-43) may often be shock, anger, sorrow. We think about our Lord, Jesus Christ, being treated so cruelly and callously, with scorn and derision, as he endures great pain on his way to death.That is one way to look at the passage, but it’s not the only way, and not, in fact, the most important one.
Why is Jesus being treated this way? He is being scorned, mistreated—even hated!—for witnessing to the Truth. This frightens and angers many people. They have different truths, which they somehow feel are threatened by Jesus’ Truth. And besides, Jesus is so…centered, so connected with a mysterious force they wish they had, or could even believe in.So here is another way to look at this passage. Jesus does have the Truth. And through following Jesus we have the Truth. And that Truth is so great and wonderful that we would not trade it for anything else in the world (as long as we really give ourselves a chance to live in it and savor it). In the great Game of Life—the only game there is—Jesus is the winning team, and when we follow him and his Truth, then we are on that winning team.
We dream of, and work to build, a world in which all are on that winning team, all follow the Truth, all treat each other with love just as Jesus commanded. And, along the way, should we be jeered or scorned by some for following the Truth and showing our Love, it really is a sign that we are on the right road, on the right team.One more point, about the end of the Gospel passage. When the criminal on the cross asks Jesus to “remember me, when you come into your kingdom,” Jesus replies, “today you will be with me in Paradise.” Not tomorrow, or some special time far in the future, but today. Now. Because once that criminal has put his faith in Jesus, in the Truth, he has atoned; he has become at one with God. (And that, of course, is also true for each of us, each time we atone; we become again at one with God.).
Many of us struggle with this week's Gospel passage (Luke 20:27-38). When Jesus tells us, "The children of this age marry and remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage,” it’s easy just to scratch our heads and give up, deciding that this particular passage is too confusing and beyond us. In such a case, it helps to remember that Jesus’ messages are often deliberately deep and complex, meant to be pondered and pondered again, over time, on a number of different levels. I find that if I keep pondering a passage as I go through my day, often some new lights turn on in my thinking, and I can see something I haven’t seen before.
So, what does Jesus mean by “the children of this age marry”? For one thing, I think he is referring to the lives we live in the flesh. In Genesis, Adam is “united to his wife, and they become one flesh”; they are both naked but they feel no shame. This is the physical nature of marital/sexual love, which has been customary, albeit with many variations, throughout our earthly human history. But we do, and must, live on other levels, too. Our soul-lives are quite different from our physical lives, and, despite various articles we may read about “soulmates,” we each have individual soul work to do, working with God on our own soul-life. And if we do that work in a way that is pleasing to God, then we enter into “the coming age,” God’s timeless kingdom, where we are connected, now and forever, with God's Love.This is "the coming age" Jesus is talking about: where there is no fear, no danger, no death. But to get there, you and I have to "walk that lonesome valley" by ourselves. But not really by ourselves; on this faith journey, this path of the soul, we are indeed “married,” in an “intimate union”—another standard definition of “marriage”—with God: with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
This Gospel passage (Luke 19:1-10) may sound as if it’s about other people, from long ago, but really its lessons are equally important for us today as they were to Jesus’ disciples then. Here are a couple of important faith questions that came to me from reading this story of Jesus and the rich tax collector, Zacchaeus.
First question: Why does Jesus tell Zacchaeus, “today I must stay at your house,” even though it’s clear that inviting himself to stay with the wealthy, despised chief of the tax collectors will only serve to anger everyone around, including some of his own followers?My answer: For me, the deepest and most important level of our Christian lives is the level of our inner house of faith and Truth, our soul. On that level, rest assured: because we are all sinners, Jesus must come, will always choose to come and to stay at our inner "house"! Jesus always wishes to stay at the house of a sinner; that is an important part of his mission on earth.
Second question: On a soul level, what actually happens with Zacchaeus as soon as Jesus has told him that he must stay at his house?My answer: He repents, immediately! In a fraction of a second, he rethinks everything and sees the world anew. And he resolves to change his actions. To me, that’s a healing, a miracle. But we need to realize that that healing, that miracle, is not just for Zacchaeus; it's for every single one of us, the instant we repent and open up to the Truth, the instant we wake up and rethink what we truly want and need. (After that, the continuing challenge is to double down on our spiritual practice, to help us not slip back in our old ways of thinking and acting.)
So, I think we are called by God to invite Jesus into our “house,” again and again, and then work really hard to give him a place of honor there!This week’s Gospel passage (Luke 18:9-14) gives us the opportunity and challenge to explore different aspects of our own pride and humility, and teaches us how to pray (and not to pray).
Jesus addresses his parable “to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.” Well, I say to myself, I’m a Christian; I never do that! Oh really?! Not so fast! What about the times I think to myself, ”I sure am glad I’m better informed than that person.” OR “Boy, are they silly! I would never fall for that!” OR “Those ___________ [fill in the blank] are just out for themselves. I’m grateful I’m not like that!” Judgment after judgment after judgment, all to make me feel superior to someone else. Definitely not what Jesus had in mind!As to prayer: Jesus tells us the Pharisee “spoke this prayer to himself.” Yes, in a very real way that is just what he did: not reaching out to God but instead using the form of a prayer while really just congratulating himself to himself, Whereas the tax collector stood off at a distance and prayerfully addressed God, out of his meekness and deep humility. The Pharisee was his own closed world, full of himself, whereas the tax collector was open to God, humble, empty of self-pride. The proud Pharisee was like the nobleman in the folktale who visits the old monk and demands, “Teach me wisdom!” and then proceeds to expound on all he knows. He never pauses even as the monk pours the tea. But he finally stops speaking when he realizes that tea is pouring down off the table and onto his leg. “What are you doing?!” he yells. The old monk calmly replies, “A cup that is already full has no room to receive.”We are called to be open and humble and empty, so that we can receive all that our loving God has to pour into us. When we behave that way—when we are that way—then, says Jesus in the Gospel passage, do we go home “justified" [in Greek dedikaiōmenos, righteous, as we ought to be].
This week’s Gospel passage (Luke 17:11-19) offers us another puzzle to work through. In the story, ten lepers plead with Jesus to have pity on them, and Jesus does just that. He heals their leprosy (perhaps the most terrible, isolating disease of those times). That healing, by itself, seems like the climax of yet another really-good-news story about Jesus performing a caring, healing physical miracle. Except that it isn’t really the point of this particular Gospel passage.
This passage is about two different types of healing that we need. All ten lepers were “cleansed. ” (The Greek word isekatharisthēsan, referring to physical healing.) Their physical affliction was taken away. But the Samaritan, the one who returned to give thanks and glory to God, was not just physically "cleansed"; he was “saved” (The Greek word is sesoken, referring to a deeper cleansing.) What is the difference between the two healings?
It's that old "spirit and flesh" question: of what use is just a healthy body if your soul is still sick? Those lepers suffered not only from leprosy but also from the same human temptations and soul sickness that challenge all of us. Once their leprosy was healed, they forgot the importance of—the need for—not just receiving gifts but also thanking and praising God for those gifts. By not practicing their faith, not doing what they needed to do to keep their faith strong, they lost an opportunity—the best opportunity of all: to reconcile, to atone, to be "at one" with God. The Samaritan, the "foreigner,” returned to Jesus, “glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him.” And that faith is what saved him, what reconciled him with God and brought him to that safe, wonderful place of peace and joy. His faith brought him a healthy body and a healthy soul. And that is the real lesson of this week’s Gospel, for all of us.In so many of our Gospel passages, Jesus presents us with parables—puzzles, riddles—that push us to break through our "normal," earth-bound consciousness and arrive at the Truth that he came to bring us. This week's passage (Luke 17:5-10) is a good example.
The passage has two parts. In the first, the apostles implore Jesus: "Increase our faith." If we look up the Greek word for “faith,” we find that it also means sureness, certainty. And Jesus makes clear in his reply that once we have that certainty, then everything changes! Instead of feeling somewhat lost in a confusing and confounding life, when we experience certainty (the Truth), life becomes somewhat miraculous: we find ourselves dwelling in the kingdom, connected with God, regardless of how hard our egos, our worries and self-concerns, our temptations, keep trying to mislead us.This takes us to the second part of the passage. When, through our faith (our certainty), we dwell in God's Kingdom, in communion with God, then doing what God commands us (love God and love one another) seems obvious and ordinary—even as it transforms the world. When we have faith and through that faith are at one with God's Love, then we understand Jesus' promise, “My yoke is easy and my burden light,'' and we can live as simple servants of God, experiencing not pride but rather simple joy in carrying out our humble service.Jesus gives us these puzzling, challenging story-gifts so that we don’t get careless or complacent and thereby miss the possibility of transformation that often comes only through being shocked awake.
When Jesus tells us stories (parables) in the Gospel, he is doing that to teach us about ourselves in relationship with God and each other. For that reason, it is often valuable when reading those stories to picture all the characters as ourselves, or as aspects of ourselves. This is particularly helpful in the story he tells the Pharisees this week (Luke 16:19-31) about the rich man and Lazarus.
What strikes many of us about this passage is the awful separation between the rich man and Lazarus after they both die. Poor man Lazarus is “carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham,” while the rich man winds up in “the netherworld, where he was in torment,” and they are separated by an uncrossable “great chasm.” A harsh reality, indeed! But what is it that Jesus is trying to teach the Pharisees and us?This parable of the dishonest steward in this week’s Gospel passage (Luke 6:1-13) has been confounding Christian worshipers for generations. When Jesus says, “I tell you, make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth, so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings,” many of us just throw up our hands and say, “Well, God may know what that means, but I sure don’t!” Let’s see how we can work our way through these seeming contradictions.
First of all, what is “dishonest wealth”? Put simply, it is money and possessions we have accumulated by means that, while they may (or may not) be legal, are still tainted by our own moral dishonesty. To come to terms with whether our “wealth” is honest or “dishonest” takes a good deal of the same examination of conscience that we use before making a confession. After all the soul searching, being brutally honest with ourselves but also clear-eyed and fair, It is we—with the help of the Holy Spirit—who must come to terms with whether or not our wealth is dishonest. Only then can we proceed to the next step.Step 2: what does it mean to say “make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth”? How does that make sense? If we look at the case of the dishonest steward, we can see that right away he starts forgiving the “fee”—the graft—that he has added to the legitimate amounts that debtors owe his master. As he begins easing the burden of those who owe money to his master and himself, using his ill-gotten gains in a restorative, helpful way, he both makes the debtors feel friendlier to him and begins to build for himself a life of moral order that puts him on the strait (narrow) path that leads to the kingdom of heaven.
So, in this parable, Jesus is really laying out for us the value and process of confession, absolution, and penance, which, in one way or another, all of us need to do to be at peace with ourselves and God:Think about how the Pharisees and scribes regard the tax collectors and sinners. To them those people are other, alien, irredeemable; they are permanently lost, outside the fold forever. The scribes and Pharisees demand to know why Jesus welcomes and eats with those bad, lost people. But isn’t that the way, for example, progressive Democrats today regard MAGA Republicans and MAGA Republicans regard progressive Democrats, as enemies, unredeemable, a lost cause, worthy only of disapproval and contempt and a certain amount of fear? Worthy, in other words, only of judgment and condemnation. Isn’t that the tone of opposing sides on issue after issue: abortion, voting, rights, responsibilites, taxes…the list goes on and on. Is that what Jesus taught us? Is that the best we can do, to see others only as enemies, as worse than us, not like us?!
But there is another way of regarding each other, treating each other. We can seek to reunite our flock, our human family. We can regard those with whom we disagree as equal members of our one human flock and reach out to them as brothers and sisters, wanting only the best for them, as we want the best for ourselves. We are taught that God loves all of us and that we are to do the same: “love one another as I have loved you.” We can certainly want others, and encourage them, to repent (that is, rethink their positions on issues)—as long as we strive to do the same, that is, repent (rethink our positions on issues). We can help and encourage each other to repent (rethink our relationship with each other and with God).But how do we do that with those with whom we strongly disagree? By first seeking common ground, in our common humanity, in our simple, everyday concerns, and only then trying, with care and good will, to address our areas of disagreement. If we are, indeed, to love our neighbor as ourself, then we can do this, should do this. No lost sheep, no divided flock, “one Nation, under God, with Liberty and Justice for all.”Reading this week’s Gospel passage (Luke 14:1, 25-33), we may be shocked and confused by what Jesus seems to be saying. He tells us that whoever comes to him without hating his family, hating his own life, carrying his own cross, and renouncing all his possessions cannot be his disciple. Then he talks to us about planning carefully before starting to build a tower or marching off with your troops into battle. How is all this connected and what is Jesus, who loves us all more fully than we can possibly understand, really telling us?
One thing Jesus is telling us is that It takes care and planning and commitment to give yourself, really give yourself, to Jesus, to God. On-again-off-again commitment will not get the job done. Remember the parable about the seed falling on rocky soil? Just as seeds need supportive, reliable conditions to germinate, so it is with our faith lives. Each of us needs to commit ourself to Jesus, as thoughtfully and thoroughly as we are able at any given moment, and then continue to recommit, repent (re-think), again and again, step by step, throughout our lives. We may have spikes of faith, but commitment to God is not a 60-yard race, but rather a slow, steady, wonderful lifelong walk with Jesus.When Jesus asks us to hate our family, hate our life, carry our cross, renounce all our possessions, he is talking about turning our back on the old, small, self-centered life so that we can walk in his light and love. We still have our families, our lives, our crosses, our possessions, but now we regard them very differently, because we are looking through the eyes of Christ, and so we see so much more than we saw before when we look at all these familiar things in our lives with new sight..There is an old Buddhist expression: “Before enlightenment, chop wood and carry water; after enlightenment…chop wood and carry water.” Same wood, same water, same family, same life, same cross, same possessions, but all now transformed into parts of our journey with Jesus. We still make our way through our lives as best we can, but, if we let him, Jesus will lead us, helping us to love and enlighten the world as we go.
In this week’s Gospel passage (Luke 14:1, 7-14), Jesus offers what seems like a simple choice: exalt yourself or be humble. Before we answer too quickly, “Oh, I would never exalt myself,” let’s look a bit at what is involved.
Being humble is actually a challenge. It’s not as simple as just not seeing ourselvesf as great. Nor is it about seeing ourselves as unworthy, insignificant, or second rate. It’s not about being subservient to others. It’s not the same thing as feeling insecure. (“I’m not smart enough, talented enough, good enough….”) No, being humble is about trying to see ourselves and others only through the eyes of Christ. It is about loving God and our neighbor—and ourself!—with the mind of Christ, so that worldly victories (winning, receiving praise, being “right”) or defeats (losing, feeling rejected, being “wrong”) become much less important to us than the calm, quiet joy that comes from just dwelling with God, in the “kingdom of God,” and giving up worrying so much about all the rest. Easy to say, challenging to do.We know all too well from our life experience that our preoccupation with our small “self”—as opposed to the greater Self that we share through Christ—is not so easy to overcome. That clever dragon of self-concern finds a way to rise again and again no matter how often we think we have slain it. That tempter keeps warning us to watch out, to guard ourselves against those “others,” the ones who can’t be trusted, the ones who may be trying to take something away from us—even though in the Gospel passage Jesus tells us to “invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to pay you back.”
Wait a minute! Does that mean we should just give our money or other possessions to anyone who asks, or let clever people cheat us out of what is ours? Perhaps not, but let me suggest that maybe we do want to look a little differently at those individuals and groups whom we have judged to be unworthy of our trust and love and concern. W.W.J.D.? What would Jesus do? How would Jesus regard them? Where would Jesus place them at his supper table? And is not our goal to imitate Jesus?I do find that patience, determination, and laughter—our own laughter at our own foolishness—provide us with powerful weapons for this ongoing battle against our inner tempter. And I do think we have to be vigilant, but much less against the snares of others than the snares we create for ourselves.
So many times we have heard those stirring words at the beginning of Mary’s Magnificat: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior.” But what do these words have to do with us?
Let us be clear that Mary is not proclaiming just for herself when she says these words; she is proclaiming for all of us, giving all of us a mighty call to faith. And it is not just that her spirit is rejoicing in God; it is a call for our spirits to do the same. In her words, as in her actions, Mary is opening a door for each and every one of us, a wondrous door that leads to a transformed life of joy and love and power in the service of the Lord.
How do we experience the greatness of God? Do we give ourselves time (in the morning, in the evening, during the day) to open to the myriad wonders around us? We can do this important inner work while praying or sitting quietly or taking a walk, driving a car, doing our chores. God’s greatness is around us everywhere...and, of course, is in us, too! And we can, with practice, find our own ways of letting our souls proclaim God’s greatness, whether through spoken prayer or singing or silent adoration. But we do need to allow ourselves the time and space to do the experiencing and the proclaiming.
Mary cries out, “My spirit rejoices in God my savior.” St. Paul reminds us to “rejoice always!” As a friend recently corrected me, we are not being asked to experience joy every minute; we are being called to be active, to engage in the act of rejoicing, of celebrating and delighting in the God who saves us.
We have a great God, who saves us from what sometimes feels like a painful, frustrating life in a broken and bewildering world, who offers us instead a life of service to God and neighbor that pays us back big time. It is a life of loving and being loved, being forgiven and forgiving, comforting and being comforted, a life in the eternal kingdom of God, doing what good works we⁷7 can and being always loved, forgiven, lifted up. And that is worth rejoicing, always!
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Bruce's Notes for the 11th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Here is one of the parables Jesus tells in this week’s gospel:
This is how it is with the kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day and through it all the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how. Of its own accord the land yields fruit, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once, for the harvest has come.
There are, of course, several important questions here. Who is the man? What is the seed? What does it all mean? Here is one approach: God has planted in my soul the spirit, the word of God. Night and day this spirit sprouts and grows and yields fruit, we know not how, in the course of our lives. It ripens to fullness and God harvests this ripened word, this ripened spirit. And what is the harvest? Some people see that as death, as God wielding a sickle, ending our earthly lives and bringing us to an accounting.
But I want to suggest another approach. Just as on a farm the seed is planted, ripens, is harvested, and then the process begins again with the new planting of the seed, so it is with our spiritual lives. A seed of spirit, of hope, of love, is planted in us by God’s grace, perhaps by some other person’s act of love or kindness, and that seed grows and ripens until we harvest it, as joy and love -- at which point we are in (at one with) the kingdom of God. This planting-to-harvest process has no set length; it can happen in an instant (as it did with St. Paul, for example), a day, over the course of a lifetime.
For many of us, we go through this cycle again and again. We plant our seeds of love and joy out in the world, (into other people’s “soul-soil,” to coin a phrase), and those seeds grow and become ripe and are harvested, and then those people plant their seeds of love in new people, and so on. We disciples are “soulfarmers,” spreading out all over the world, planting the seed of spirit, the word, love, and joy in others, one by one, working and hoping for the day that the joyful harvest will include everybody.
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Bruce's Notes for Corpus Christi
In the Mass, when the priest elevates the paten and chalice, the bread and wine, you can almost feel people hold their breath. It is so extraordinary, so strange and wonderful! Why is that? It’s not just that we have been taught about consecration and transubstantiation since we were children; it is that in that moment, at the core of our being, there is an awareness that we are in the presence of something deep, mysterious, fundamental, something that can and does transform our very lives.
Throughout his life, his ministry, his death, his resurrection, and beyond. Jesus taught us and showed us the importance and the power of spirit. Just as in the wilderness he rebuked the devil’s physical challenges and temptations with spiritual answers, he demonstrated, again and again, that the spirit can overcome the mere physical. He has helped us disciples see more clearly that we are spiritual beings, not just physical bodies, and he has shown us the extent of the power of God and His Spirit by defeating even physical death. He has helped us see that through following, believing in, and really taking Christ into our own being, we can be and do so much more than just these physical bodies could ever be and do on their own.
This is the new covenant: the physical united with and transformed by spirit to become so much more than we could ever perceive with our physical eyes: transformed into that which redeems and regenerates (breathes new life into) the world. As we focus in our prayer lives on that most holy union, the effect on us grows and multiplies. Our spiritual vision perceives this re-union of spirit and body, of heaven and earth. We hold our breaths in wonder and joy -- while in our hearts we shout “Hallelujah!” And then we go out and let our Christian joy and love help redeem the world some more.
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Bruce's Notes for Holy Trinity Sunday
First we have God the Father, the Creator of this vast, marvelous, incomprehensible Creation, which consists of all that exists, including all that we perceive (and all that we do not yet perceive). For this incomparable gift, our hearts, souls, and minds cry out in love and joy and gratitude.
Second, we have the Son. I think we need to keep trying to our understanding of who Jesus is to us, so that we may love him properly. For example, we know that he is God's only begotten son, but what does that mean? Well, many of us remember that as children, we giggled when we read or heard about all the "begats” in Genesis 5: how Seth begat Enos, and Enos begat Cainan, and Cainan begat Mehalaleel, and so on. “Begat" is just an old-fashioned word for fathering a child with/through a woman... which is what God does with/through Mary. So besides loving Jesus as our savior, our teacher, our friend, our Lord, we can also remember to love him as our brother.
Third, we have the Holy Spirit. And how are we to love Him, the Teacher, the Advocate, the one who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who was sent to us, given to us as the Spirit of Truth, to support and advise and comfort us? Let me suggest that the best way to love the Holy Spirit is to listen to Him (as God told the crowd at Jesus's baptism to do with Jesus). The Holy Spirit calls to us, always. We just need to open our ears and listen, and allow him -- ask him -- to guide us!
As we practice, on a regular basis, loving the Three-in-One, as Three and also as One, with all our hearts, all our souls, and all our minds, we fulfill the first of Jesus's two great commandments. And, of course, this leads us, naturally and inescapably, to his second commandment: to love our neighbor (one another). As Jesus tells us, “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
We are asked to love God with all our hearts, our souls, and our minds. So let us explore how we go about understanding and loving God the Holy Trinity.
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Bruce's Notes for Pentecost Sunday
In one of this week’s gospel readings for Pentecost (from John 15 and 16), Jesus tells the disciples (translated directly from the Greek): “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes forth from the Father, he will bear witness concerning me. Also you will bear witness, because you are with me from the beginning… And He will glorify me.”
This Helper, this Advocate, this Holy Spirit: of God, from God, there from the beginning but also given to us and commended to us in a special way by Jesus. The Holy Spirit bears witness about Jesus: about his truth telling, about his compassion, about his ministry and his willingness to offer all his life for the sake of the world he loved. And in bearing that witness, the Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus, gives glory to God.
We, Jesus tells us, are also to bear that witness. We are also to give glory to God. But how are we to do that? Certainly not just by words, but also in what we do, in the lives we lead. And when that gets to feeling hard to do -- “When you’re down and worried and you need a helping hand, and nothing, nothing is going right,” as the old song says -- we have the ever-present Helper, the Holy Spirit, to guide and support us. Whenever we are feeling unsure, worried, afraid, alone, He is always there, the Spirit of truth, always ready to remind us that God made us loved and loving. All we need to do is love and allow ourselves to be loved. That is all we are called to do, our only task: to give and receive love, all our lives...and beyond. That is how we bear witness to Jesus and give glory to God.
Pentecost, the Holy Spirit. What a gift!
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Bruce's Notes for the 7th Sunday of Easter
Jesus gives us more of an explanation when he says to God the Father, “I do not ask that you take them out of the word but that you keep them from the evil one.” Remember that when the evil one tempts Jesus in the desert with promises of power in “the world,” Jesus responds with what is greater than worldly things: God’s word, God’s truth. That is what the evil one does: tempt us and plague us and try to convince us that the physical, spiritless world is all there is all that there is. But as disciples of Christ, as striving Christians, we know better.
Jesus contrasts “the world” with “the truth.” He says, “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s.” Caesar -- in any form, whether King or President or Chairman or Supreme Leader -- may be on the coin, may be leader of “the world,” but God is leader of the truth, of what is most powerful, most important, most real. As God says to Job, “‘Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?...Who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy?” That is real power, God’s power!
And so Jesus, talking about us, his disciples whom he dearly loves, asks God to “consecrate them [us in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I sent them [us] into the world” (Remember that Jesus is the Word of God, sent into the world.) So, then, that is the message for us! That is the mission we are given! We, consecrated in the Truth, in God’s Word, in Jesus, are not of this world, not somehow caught in it and subject to its many vagaries, but rather sent into it to make it more truthful, more loving, more joyful. (“...that they may share my joy completely.”) Step by step, kindness by kindness, we work, with God’s help, to heal the world. Amen.
In this week’s gospel passage (from John 17:11), Jesus, while addressing God the Father, teaches us about Christian discipleship and “the world.” He says, “They [we] do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world.” If that doesn’t shake up our normal way of thinking, nothing will. Don’t we live in “the world”? Isn’t everything we see around us “the world”? So what can Jesus mean when he says we, as Christians, as disciples of Christ, do not belong to it?
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Bruce's Notes for the 6th Sunday of Easter
If I had to choose one gospel reading to explain to someone the appeal of our Christian faith and practice, I might well pick this week’s gospel reading (John 15:9-17). It is Jesus’s extraordinary, life-altering explanation of Christian love, packed full with power and meaning.
Here is what Jesus tells his disciples (which, remember, always includes us):
Picture a world in which, with God’s help, we all go around treating each other in such a loving way. “And I think to myself, ‘What a wonderful world!’ ”
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Bruce's Notes for the 5th Sunday of Easter
In this week’s gospel, Jesus says, “Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing.” What do we think Jesus means by that? What does it mean to remain in Jesus? What does it mean to be without him? .
“What Would Jesus Do?” has become a common expression in American popular culture. But I think many of us Christians also find it a really valuable question to consider when trying to make difficult moral/ethical decisions, and I think it does help us explore what Jesus is talking about in this passage. However, the challenge often is: how do we apply the question to any given situation? How do we know what Jesus would do? How do we know how to follow him?
Through reading and studying the gospels, we can gain new insights about Jesus' actions and words and the principles and themes behind them, and that can help tremendously as we try to live good Christian lives. But I think to “remain in” Jesus, to be with him and not “without him,” we need to go further. I think we also need to build into our daily routine times to be really quiet, to let Jesus enter into us and to enter into him, to focus on nothing but his joy (in the Father and in us), and to let that joy and love permeate our being so that following him and imitating him, by sharing his joy and love with others, becomes bit by bit an natural part of ourselves.
We can do this, if we make it a part of our daily practice. We each have a way that works for us. For some of us, it’s saying a particular prayer. For others, it’s focusing on a particular revered image or object. Watching the stream go by, or the clouds. Closing our eyes. Meditating. Whatever it is, we all find ways to let the world fade into the background and let Jesus come to the foreground.
It’s a matter of deciding that we will do this, that being without Jesus is just too painful. When Jesus talks about throwing the unfruitful branches in the fire, we all know what he means. We have all felt the burning pain of feeling lost, without Jesus, without defense against a world that can feel cruel and unfair and just too much to bear. That’s not what we want, and not what Jesus wants for us. He wants us to remain in him and bear much fruit. We just have to do our part to help make that happen.
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Bruce's Notes for the 4th Sunday of Easter
In this week’s gospel, Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd.” Now we know that Jesus calls us to be his disciples, to follow his path, his way. (“I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit.”) So, then, Jesus is calling us to be good shepherds, too, imitating him, following his example. We need to understand this calling, since it has great import for us and for how we live our lives as Christians.
First of all, who are my sheep? Jesus tells us that “there will be one flock,” by which he means, of course, everyone, all of humankind. That is his flock, and so, too, that is my flock, and yours. It is simply another way of saying "love your neighbor as yourself." Not some neighbors, but every neighbor, each and every member of humankind: the one flock.
And what do we need to do to be good shepherds? Jesus tells us: “I will lay down my life for the sheep.” He calls you, me, indeed each and every one of us, to lay down our lives for each and every other one. But what does that mean, to lay down my life?
This is easily misunderstood, and can be a source of unnecessary confusion, doubt, and guilt, until we discover that the Greek word for life (psuche) used in this particular gospel passage means soul-life, not physiological life. Jesus is not asking us to physically die for each other. (Though in rare, extreme situations that is what our loving each other with all our hearts, minds, and souls may actually lead us to.) What Jesus is asking is that we lay down (offer) our soul-lives to each other, that we set aside our preoccupation with ourselves and offer our interest, our concern, our compassion, our love, to other people, in fact, to every other person in our human flock. You meet an old friend; you offer your love. You meet a beggar in the street; you offer your love. You meet someone angry, you offer your love. Not just the good sheep, the easy sheep, but all the sheep.
And when we do lay down our life, as Jesus does, “in order to take it up again,” the life we take up again is enriched many times over. Offering love freely to others not only enriches others’ lives, it also greatly enriches our own. Each time, we have a little bit more love, a little richer soul-life, to offer, and take up again, and offer again, in an endless dance of love.
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Bruce's Notes for the 3rd Sunday of Easter
In this weekend’s gospel, Jesus tells the disciples (us included) that “repentance, for the forgiveness of sins” will be preached in his name to all the nations. Remember that “repentance” literally means "rethinking," so Jesus is telling us that rethinking, reordering our minds, is the straight gate, the narrow way, to forgiveness of sins.
So what are those sins to be forgiven? Well, what are Jesus’s commandments? There are two: love God and love your neighbor as yourself. Therefore, to sin is not loving God or loving your neighbor as yourself, in each and every particular moment in our lives. Yes, we have to ask the Holy Spirit to help us know just what loving our neighbor means in any given situation, but remember that “on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
However, also remember that when we do forget, when we do slip, when we do sin-- as each of us does so many times in the course of a single day -- we have, as John tells us, “Jesus Christ the righteous one,” who is expiation for our sins and the sins of the whole world. What does that mean?
When we repent (rethink) and open ourselves to Jesus and to the Holy Spirit, then our sins are expiated; they're just gone. We come back into Atonement (at-one-ment) with the love of God in the very moment (in every moment) that we do keep His Commandments, in thought, word, and deed. In that moment the love of God is perfected.
Can life really be this simple, that all we have to do is rethink, love God and love our neighbor (each and every one)? That's it?! Well, if you believe Jesus -- always a good idea, I would suggest! -- yes, that's it! So let us go forth, leading joyful and loving lives, knowing that since He has redeemed the world, we should do the same. Amen
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Bruce's Notes for the 2nd Sunday of Easter
Over the years, the story of “Doubting Thomas” has grown on me. It is really a lovely, instructive tale of how a person can grow in faith and discipleship.
Remember that when Jesus announces that he is going to return to Judea to wake Lazarus, the disciples urge him not to go, since the people there have already tried to stone him once. But Thomas says, “Let us also go and die with him.” What a brave and loyal thing to say! He may have trouble taking things on faith, but he is willing to give up his life in support of Jesus his Lord.
When the disciples tell Thomas, “We have seen the Lord,” Thomas expresses his doubt in those famous lines, “Until I see the marks of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” Hence the nickname “Doubting Thomas.” But why is Thomas doubting? Why does he not believe?
When Thomas does finally see Jesus, he has not trouble saying, “My Lord and my God.” Pretty strong belief, I would say. And Jesus chides him,”Have you come to believe because you have seen me?” But the other disciples, too, believed only after they had seen Jesus. So what is Jesus chiding Thomas for? What is Jesus’ point?
Jesus is not childing Thomas for doubting the word of the others; he is chiding him for something else. Jesus told them at that last supper that after he was raised up, he would go before them to Galilee. For the other disciples, it was different: Jesus just appeared before them; they didn't have an opportunity to do anything but believe. But Thomas not only doubted their testimony. He didn’t give himself time to pray. He didn’t give himself time to remember what he did know about his Lord, which had led him to be willing to die at his Lord’s side. He didn’t give himself time to be open to the fearsome and wonderful news that his Lord had returned from death to be with them again, just as he had promised.
That is what Jesus means by “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” It is not just Thomas he is addressing but rather all of us. All of us who have not physically seen Jesus -- which is pretty much all of us! -- need to take the time, whenever we can, to pray, to consider, to be open to the Good News that the Holy Spirit is always ready to bring us. That is what strengthens our faith and helps us believe. This is what Jesus has called us to. And, he tells us that if we do that, we are blessed!
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Bruce's Notes for Easter Sunday
Last week, looking at Jesus’ betrayal and arrest, I said that I need to “confront, love, and forgive” my “inner Judas.” (That is the part of me that distrusts the efforts of my true, higher Self because it cannot believe that all we are asked to do is to trust God, love all our neighbors, and be joyfully open to God’s will.)
But because that Judas part does betray me, just when I need encouragement and reassurance the most, I am thrown into a prison of my own making, condemning and ridiculing myself for all my imagined failures and errors in judgment. The pain is excruciating, a kind of inner crucifixion. I struggle on my cross of anguish and self-doubt, getting weaker and weaker...until finally -- finally! -- I let go and give it all up to God, to the Holy Spirit. “It is finished,” I say. I can’t fight any more; it’s all in God’s hands now.
And what happens next? God’s Love comes and finds me, rolls away the stone, raises me from my tomb, makes me whole and new again. God lets me know that He never abandons me, no matter how many times I put myself through this cycle of self betrayal and self torment. And each time it gets just a tiny bit quicker and easier to confront, love, and forgive my inner Judas and return to a state of grace in the kingdom of God (which, of course, in God’s eyes I never left).
So, at this, the start of the Easter season, we see again how Love confronts and overcomes all, even death, transforming us and setting us free to love others and renew the face of the earth. Happy Easter!
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Bruce's Notes for Passion Sunday
As I read and re-read the Passion story in Mark’s gospel, I realize that Jesus’s journey from the supper table at Simon the leper’s through his arrest at the Mount of Olives really reflects my own inner spiritual journey (and struggle), one that I have taken many times in my life.
So, picture me (or yourself, if you prefer): in a moment of peace. I, my higher self, am loving God, loving my neighbor, and rejoicing at God’s goodness. And a part of me (a soft, tender, feeling part) wants to celebrate. But another part (a zealous, rigid, judgmental part) bitterly objects. My higher self understands that we will always have the poor whom we must try to help but that if we do not also tend to and anoint our inner Christ, God’s Love within us, something in us will dry up and be gone. ( “If I give all I have to feed the poor but have not Love, I gain nothing.”)
But my inner Judas loses trust and becomes bitter, finally even hating that higher self that lives to join this “world of woe” with the “kingdom of heaven.” That inner, judgmental zealot at last seeks to destroy the inner Jesus, even though in doing so it will destroy itself. I need to confront, love, and forgive that inner Judas, again and again, in order to become the kind of person, the kind of Christian, that God wants me to be.
Next week, on Easter, we see in John’s gospel how Love confronts and overcomes all, even death, transforming our world and setting us free.
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Bruce's Notes for the Fifth Sunday of Lent
So, this is how the raising of Lazarus plays itself out in my life. Perhaps it applies to yours as well.
I am ill. And the Mary and Martha parts of my nature (the practical-and-loving/head-and-heart parts) reach out to Jesus (my Master who loves me) and ask for help and healing. Jesus gives assurances that this illness will not end in death, and then waits for the right moment to act in the way that will most reveal (to me) the true glory of God. (Notice the similarities to Job, who winds up worshiping and praising the Lord out of the very depths of his suffering.)
But, despite all that my head and heart try to do to pull me out of my soul illness, I grow worse, sicker in my soul, which is becoming darker and colder and empty of life. And slowly but surely I feel myself pulled into the depths of inner darkness, no ray of light able to shine into my dark, cold tomb of doubt and despair and desolation. Inwardly I have died, and the soul stench is palpable to all.
And then, Jesus comes. I hear him call me by name. He is calling me back to life. I stagger out, still tied with my inner burial bands, my soul’s death garments, that have been holding me in bondage: in fear and guilt and all my other dark feelings and thoughts.
When Jesus says, “Untie him and let him go,” in my life story Jesus is telling this to my inner demons (the same way he told the demon to leave the possessed man in the synagogue [in Mark 1:21-28]). And as I emerge from the darkness into the light, I see with new eyes! This is glorious! I see that this life, this real life, with Jesus, will never die, cannot die. I am born again in my belief, and my love and my joy. Jesus has set me free, again!
I know my inner demons will attack again, and yet again, and try to drag me down, but I also know that Jesus will always answer and will never let me die, if I only call out to him, “Master, the one you love is ill.”
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Bruce's Notes for the Fourth Sunday of Lent
“One thing I do know is that I was blind and now I see.” These words, spoken by the blind man in this week’s gospel, are full of meaning and import; they, and the whole story of the healing of the blind man, can be an ongoing source of inspiration.
This blind man is a wonderful model for us in terms of Christian behavior and spiritual growth. He is modest and honest, and he reacts and behaves appropriately. At first he answers simply, and solely when asked, and he doesn't give his opinion unless called on to do so. It is only after being provoked -- asked by the Pharisees to repeat exactly what he has told them already (as if they still don’t believe him or trust him after all their investigating) -- that he becomes impatient and indignant and begins to challenge and question his questioners (even though they are, remember, the authorities).
And as he engages with these powerful, learned men in the temple (most likely for the first time in his life), we watch him begin to grow into this new person: a man increasingly sure of what he has seen (in more ways than one!) and what he knows. By the end of the story, he has become a believer, a Christian, a disciple! He has truly "seen."
This man has gone from being blind to: 1.seeing physically 2.seeing with his mind 3.seeing with his heart. The Pharisees, by contrast, can see only physically and, to some degree, with their minds. (After all, they are good at learning and disputing points of Jewish law.) But they don’t have the sight that Jesus gives, that he gave the blind man: the ability to see on a deeper level, and so to believe. That is the sight Jesus offers each of us, now and always.
“I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.” I love these words from “Amazing Grace” (for me one of the most beautiful and important songs of our Christian faith). As I stay open to Jesus’ teaching and healing, may I come to see on more and more levels.
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Bruce's Notes for the Third Sunday of Lent
In a recent homily, Father Mali reminded us that before we can change the world's evil, we must confront the evil in ourselves. So here is how I look at this week's gospel from that perspective.
Inspired by Jesus’s example, I scrutinize and confront everything I find in the Temple of the Spirit (my body) that gets in the way of the Holy Spirit. (What better time than Lent for a deep and thorough scrutiny?) I lash out, seeking to drive out my selfishness and greed, my carelessness, those corrupt areas in me where I cut corners and treat others, my neighbors -- even the earth itself -- with anything other than love, respect, appreciation, and kindness. It is hard work, but I persist with zeal.
And then, in alarmed and indignant reaction, that part of me that is not born again in the Spirit, the self-centered part that insists that I remain obedient to the “real world” and all its rigid, ”’practical” laws of self interest, demands that I provide a sign, a justification, for what I am doing.
And so I answer with what Jesus has taught me and the Holy Spirit confirms, day by day, moment by moment:
Amen!
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Bruce's Notes for the Second Sunday of Lent
This week’s Transfiguration gospel, while thrilling and inspiring, also raises some profound questions about our ability -- and inability -- to see.
When Jesus is transfigured before Peter, James, and John, they become so agitated, so terrified that Jesus “hardly knew what to say.” God had to send a cloud to overshadow them and calm and subdue their inner turbulence (as Jesus calmed and subdued the turbulent sea for those same terrified fishermen).
But what is this story really saying about God and us? When we see the real Jesus, the true Self, not just in our inner vision but also in another person -- every other person! -- and in ourselves, it is startling, transfiguring, and terrifying, too. We are so used to walking through life with our eyes clouded over, not by God but by anxiety, worry, fear, prejudice, that to see others as they really are in God’s eyes can be shocking, blinding. If we really let ourselves see the glory that is God and the glory that is the Beloved Son (the true Self), we would be dazzled, and we would be terrified, and maybe, just maybe, we would let ourselves listen to the Beloved Son and see ourselves as transfigured, as the beautiful butterflies God sees in each of us all the time.
And here is a sign of some small progress revealed in the story: when Jesus charges the three disciples not to relate what they have seen, they do obey him -- a big step up from the cured leper who, not heeding Jesus’s command, spread the news all over town. So the disciples’ obedience to Jesus’s charge demonstrates the slow, hardwon progress we all can make through diligence and perseverance: to move, step by step, away from being willful and disobedient to the Holy Spirit to heeding that transfiguring advice a bit more all the time. Small progress but good progress...a pilgrim’s progress.
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Bruce's Notes for the First Sunday of Lent
So, applying a personalized approach to this Sunday’s short but profound gospel story, I come to this:
The Holy Spirit drives me into the desert. But this is a desert in my soul, an inner desert of my own making. Trapped in my inner desert, I am tempted by my lower self, with all its hunger and cleverness. There I am, among all the wild beasts of my lower nature, and the “better angels” of my higher nature minister to me.
Which of us has not been there? Caught in our personal desert, dry and lifeless, where our personal Satan, our personal master of lies, tempts us, tricks us, mocks us, tries to pull us down and make us feel weak and vulnerable, guilty and despondent.
What can we do? Here’s something that works for me. The next time you find yourself trapped in your inner desert, start creating, in your imagination, your own private place: a safe space, a sacred space. Carefully construct it, with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. Take your time! Picture building the walls and windows exactly the way you want them to be. Inside your sacred space, arrange everything just the way you need it, for your own comfort, and the comfort of a very honored guest. And then, when your space is all ready, invite that very honored guest in: the Holy Spirit Himself*. Sit together with Him* and talk with Him*. (Even better, maybe let Him* talk and you listen!)
Every time you feel trapped, you can return to that safe space, relax, breathe, and ask the Holy Spirit for help. I notice that as I practice doing that, I can -- a little bit more easily every time -- walk out of my desert and re-enter the world refreshed and renewed. And every time I do that, it feels just the way Jesus proclaims it to be: a time of fulfillment, with the kingdom of God at hand! And when I follow Jesus's call to repent (rethink) and believe in the gospel, that good news becomes my good news, which is that God loves me and wants me to see myself as God sees me: whole and joyful and loving.
*Please note: One language challenge when talking about God is gender. As we know from the Catechism, God has no gender. If it works better for you to invite in the Holy Spirit and talk with and listen to “Her,” no problem!
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Bruce's Notes for the 6th. Sunday of Ordinary Time
In this week’s personalized version of the gospel story, I, Bruce, a “leper” (someone who hates but cannot cure my own unclean condition), beg Jesus to make me clean. Jesus, moved with pity, touches me and says, “I will do it. Be made clean.” And immediately I am made clean. Then Jesus gives me clear instructions about what to do AND not to do. He says, “See that you tell no one anything.” A clear, explicit instruction. And what do I do? I willfully ignore -- disobey -- Jesus’s warning and begin to publicize the whole matter, so broadly, in fact, that it is now impossible for Jesus to go places openly without being mobbed. I have, in effect, made it more difficult for Jesus to carry out His mission.
And what is Jesus’s mission? To set us free from our lower nature, our “sinfulness,” so that our true, higher Self can be freed to love God and others and thereby dwell in peace, harmony, and joy with Jesus in the kingdom. That is a wonderful mission! So why in the world would I do what I (the leper) did?! Why would I disregard Jesus and thereby cause that kind of trouble for everyone, including myself? Because in happily, thoughtlessly going around and telling people about my good fortune (my freedom from the condition that was upsetting me) I have somehow temporarily forgotten my belief in the One and His mission: to really free me, to free everyone. I may have gained the lesser prize but lost the much greater one.
This gospel story is not, then, really a story about healing; it is a story about willfulness, disobedience, loss, and LISTENING. I need, we need, to stop and LISTEN to Jesus, not just to charge ahead with what seems like a good idea to us at the time. We really don’t want to win the small “victories” but in the process lose the greater Victory. We need to keep our eyes, and ears, on the Prize, the real Gift God has prepared for us. Let’s try to be careful and help Jesus fulfill His mission for the world, not carelessly hinder Him.
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Bruce's Notes for the 5th. Sunday of Ordinary Time
In this week’s gospel story, Jesus presents us with a question, a challenge, and a solution.
On leaving the synagogue, Jesus is almost immediately called upon to heal. He heals and heals, hour after hour after hour. Then early the next morning, he goes off by himself to pray. When the others come to find him, he tells them, “Let us go on to the nearby villages that I may preach there also. For this purpose have I come.”
First, a wonderful, challenging question for each of us: for what purpose have I come? Second, the challenge: how do we go about answering such a question? Third, Jesus’s solution: First, he does a hard day's work (in this case, healing), trying to fulfill his true purpose. Then, he gives himself time to pray, by himself, opening himself to God. As a result, his connection to his true purpose is reviewed, renewed, and strengthened. And he continues to do that, day by day, all the way to his death (and beyond).
I think we would do well to follow Jesus’ example. First, work hard and apply yourself to whatever you currently feel called to do. Then, stop to pray and ask the Holy Spirit for His wisdom, listening very carefully, being open to any changes in the call. And then, gird your loins -- yes, women can do that, too! (see Proverbs 31:17) -- and continue to fulfill whatever purpose you are called to. And we would do well to do this day by day, step by step, all the way to our deaths (and beyond!)
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Bruce's Notes for the 4th. Sunday of Ordinary Time
Looking at this week’s gospel, I find it valuable once again to see the story as my own personal experience, as follows:
There is a man with an unclean spirit. (That’s me.) When Jesus comes to me, my unclean spirit (my ego, my fear, my anger, jealousy, envy, pride…) cries out: “What do you have to do with us, Jesus? Have you come to destroy us?” And Jesus commands all of them to be quiet and come out of me, and I cry out...and in that moment I am free!
And in that moment I am free! When I let the Holy Spirit work in me to drive out that unclean spirit, those demons, those areas of “stuckness” that bind me (and all around me); in that holy instant of true freedom I am born again, I am re-baptized and made clean again. I am as God made me and always intended me to be. (And even the people around me notice the difference.)
Same old question: but how do I do that? Same old answer: practice. As often as I can, I call on the Holy Spirit, who helps me see myself, and every other person, through His eyes. His eyes see, not this odd mixture of bad and good that I so often see in myself and others, but see each of us as we really are: whole, innocent, and loved by God.
I work hard at this practice, of calling on the Holy Spirit as many times a day as I can, and it is almost always a boost, a jolt of strength and joy and security, which in turn lets me love my neighbor as I feel loved. My goal: through prayer and grace to learn to command my own unclean spirits so they obey me, the real me, the me God intended me to be, my true Self.
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Bruce's Notes for the 3rd. Sunday of Ordinary Time
So often, we think about Jesus in the past, what he did or said. Or we think about him in the future, about his coming again. But in this week's gospel, Jesus makes it clear that his listeners need to focus on the present.
In Mark 1:15, Jesus says straight out, “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel!” Pretty unequivocal: Jesus is telling all who are able to hear that the kingdom is NOW, that NOW is when God’s word is fulfilled, that NOW is the time to repent (rethink, change your mind, start anew). But if he said that then, is he still saying it today?
We forget sometimes that as Christians, we are a people of NOW. Our liturgy is primarily of the moment. From the very beginning of the Mass, we give glory in the present. We ask for (and receive) forgiveness in the present. We praise God in the present. The priest consecrates in the present. Communion happens in the moment. The Mass is not a recreation of an historical event; it is new each and every time, in the present.
So what is “the time of fulfillment,” here and now? What is fulfilled? WE are fulfilled! We are completed. We come to fruition, to ripeness, to fullness, every moment -- every holy instant -- we accept Jesus into our hearts. In that moment there is no past to regret. There is no future to fear. There is only Jesus, with us, in the Kingdom of God. And all we have to do to be there is repent; that is, to change our thinking, to accept God’s great gift to us, the children that He loves. Now. And now. And now.
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Bruce's Notes for the 2nd. Sunday of Ordinary Time
In this week’s gospel, John, describing Peter’s first encounter with Jesus, tells us, “Then they brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said ‘You are Simon son of John; you will be called Cephas.’ “ Wow! With loving authority, Jesus sees -- I mean really sees -- the inner person he is speaking to and gives him a new life.
As I think about Jesus speaking to me like that, a couple of questions come to mind. First, what do I have to do so I can hear Jesus speak to me the way he spoke to Peter? Second, what happens when I do hear him speak?
First, then: what do I have to do to encounter Jesus? Do what Peter did! Peter went to Jesus. (It’s true that he was led there, but he did agree to go.) And so I need to go to Jesus, with all my heart, all my soul, and all my mind. That means making space in my day, in my life, whatever it takes, for these encounters. We all have different ways of making that space, but we need to do it, regularly. We need to go to Jesus and let him in.
And second, what happens when I do let him in, and Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, does speak with me? When I am really, really listening, then I feel no guilt, no shame, no regret, no “should do this or should do that.” When I am really listening and paying attention, I feel only loved and newly empowered. Deep joy and strength and praise well up in me, and at that moment I do feel ready to take on this new life that Jesus has for me, this new life of devotion: to loving God and all my fellow human beings/neighbors as much as I can, every time I can.
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Bruce's Notes for the Feast of Baptism of the Lord
Since we have heard it so many times, we think we know the story of Jesus’ baptism in the River Jordan (as recorded in Mark’s gospel this week). We think the story tells us that as Jesus came up out of the Jordan, a dove descended on him and a voice from heaven proclaimed him the Son of God. And that’s close… but not quite accurate. And the difference, the part we don’t remember accurately, is importance for us and our faith life.
What the gospel actually says is: “On coming out of the water he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit, like a dove, descending on him. And a voice came from the heavens, ‘You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.’ ” That day at the Jordan only Jesus saw the Holy Spirit (dove) descend and heard the voice from heaven. This was an individual revelation and communication with the Father.
Why is that distinction important? Because Jesus, in the course of his ministry, opens the eyes of one individual person after another (Peter, the Samaritan woman at the well, the blind man, the woman crippled by a spirit...the list goes on and on). He opens the eyes of each: to God’s love, to God’s mercy, to the simple (though often very challenging) commandment to love God and one another.
All this applies to each of us just as much as it did to each individual person in Jesus’ time. Each time we strive to open up and really hear and accept that we are loved, we are forgiven, we are held and cared for by God, something truly remarkable happens: the Holy Spirit descends on us. And each time we strive to love each other, to forgive each other, to hold and care for each other, something else remarkable happens: a voice from God -- one that only each of us can hear -- says, “With you I am well pleased.”
And more good news: this amazing God-given cycle, of baptism with the Holy Spirit, of receiving and giving, giving and receiving, happens over and over and over and over. Now and forever.
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Bruce's Notes for the Epiphany of the Lord
This week, in the third chapter of his letter to the Ephesians, Paul explains that the Spirit has revealed “that the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” What does that mean? And why is it important?
First of all, we need to understand that the phrase “the Gentiles'' refers to all people who are not Jewish. So if the Jews and the Gentiles are coheirs and copartners, that means that everybody is a coheir and a copartner, because Jews and Gentiles are all the people there are; there is no one else!
Next, if the Holy Spirit has revealed that we are all members of the same body and all coheirs and copartners in the same promise, then we all are truly brothers and sisters, truly “neighbors.” And if we are to love our neighbors as ourselves, that means we are to love everyone as ourselves: no exceptions, everyone.
But what is this “promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel”? It’s this: that Jesus came to set us free Free from doubt, free from fear, free from anger, and shame...and death. Free to rejoice, knowing that God loves us, always and unconditionally. And free to love everyone in our hearts and to share that love with them, with all our fellow coheirs and copartners, with anyone we meet, with the whole world. Pretty good promise, I’d say.