EVERYONE GETS BY WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM THEIR FRIENDS

Commentary on Luke 13:1-9

March 3, 2013

      The message in this Gospel is everyone gets by with a little help from their friends.  

     Repent, repent, repent, Jesus says, if not you will perish…but then he tells a story of salvation.  God seems to be looking for those who do not “exhaust the soil.”  I’d hate to be thought to be in that category but, essentially, I am…and, so are you.  There are periods in our lives when we do not produce much.  Maybe we are weighted down by illness or fatigue or depression.  Maybe the weight of the world creates in us a dark night of the soul.  Maybe our joys do not balance our afflictions.  Maybe, just maybe, we have decided this life is too hard and there must be an easier way.

     We are like the fig tree barren of fruit, day after day or month after month or even year after year.  But, if we are lucky, someone comes along who is willing to cultivate the ground around us.  A trusted friend, a mentor, an example of kindness and compassion, a circumstance, an experience fertilizes our thirsty, barren soil of a soul and brings us back to life. 

     God puts people in our path like the gardener in today’s Gospel who see in us a grain of hope.  They come to our rescue when we need them the most.  All we need do is trust them.  I’m reminded of the story of a person stranded on the top of a house during a flood with the waters rising.  A canoe comes along and invites him in.  “No, he says, God will save me.”  Then a rowboat offers assistance. “No, he says, God will save me.”  Then a motorboat. “No, he says, God will save me.”  He drowns then chastises God

for not saving him.  To which God replies…“My dear child, I sent you three boats!”

     Our rescuers don’t always come in nice little packages.  Sometimes they have to say hard things and issue challenges we don’t want to hear.  The one necessary thing is that all is done in a spirit of love and true concern.  We don’t get by with a little help from our enemies…we get by with a little help from our friends.

     Cultivate good friends then look to them to help you grow and bear fruit that will last.  They will help you get by.

Sr. Mary Luke Jones, OSB

    

    

A SIX YEAR OLD GETS IT RIGHT

Sr. Ann Patrice of our community has a beautiful Godchild named Clare.  Clare’s mom, Annie, and Sr. Ann Patrice are lifetime friends.  Annie had told Sr. Ann Patrice that Clare had given up chocolate for Lent.  Sr. Ann Patrice was surprised as Clare LOVES chocolate.  The next time Sr. Ann Patrice saw Clare she said, “Clare, I heard that you have up chocolate for Lent.  I’m so very proud of you.”  Little Clare looked up at Sr. Ann Patrice and said, “A (that’s what she calls her) I want to show God how much I love him.”

Amazing words from a little girl – I WANT TO SHOW GOD HOW MUCH I LOVE HIM.

That’s what Lent is all about!  Making space and taking time for God so that we can grow more deeply in our love for the One who loves us more than we can fathom!

Reflection

How are you showing God how much you love him?  Where do you need to make space or take more time for God?  Let’s each try to do a little something extra during the third week of Lent.

Loving God,

Our hearts are filled with gratitude for your deep love for us.

We love you and desire to love you even more.

Open our hearts to your grace so that

            Our lives might be filled with desire for you.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

FIRST IN LINE

First In Line

When I taught elementary school, I would always smile at how the children loved to be first: first in line, first in the bus, first in the front seat.  I would smile and think how common this desire is for all of us.  The desire to be first can stand in the way of being for others.  In today’s Gospel the mother of the Sons of Zebedee asks Jesus that her sons sit on his left and on his right in the Kingdom of Heaven.  Jesus tells her that this is not his to give.  He also says,  the one who is great is the one who serves.  

As Christian disciples we are called to serve in the kingdom.  This calls us to reach out beyond our tiny world and see to the needs of all people.  By putting others in first place, we create a space where the good news of Jesus Christ can be heard.

Reflection

How do you serve Christ in the people you meet?  Do you feel called to serve in a new way.

God of all people,

Help us reach beyond our tiny world

            so as to open our hearts to all your people.

May our service in your Name

            Be a gift in your world that is so in need of your mercy.

We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

HOLDING ONTO JESUS EACH AND EVERY DAY

            Today we have the powerful story of the Transfiguration.  Jesus takes Peter, John and James up the mountain to pray.  While Jesus is praying his face change in appearance and his clothing become dazzling white.  Moses and Elijah are conversing with Jesus when Peter and the others wake from sleep.  It is not surprising that Peter wakes up with an action plan.  That bold disciple who is always ready to jump in or speak out is overcome with the glory of it all and declares, “Master, it is good that we are here; let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”   Of course he did not know what he was saying.  He did not know what would come next.   A voice from heaven says, “This is my chosen Son, listen to him.”            

            We, like Peter, have all had mountaintop experiences.  Those moments in our lives when we are so deeply aware of God’s shining presence in our lives.  Knowing that Christ is the chosen One and, that in listening to him, we become his chosen disciples.  I think it is natural to want to stay on the mountaintop, to freeze those moments, to make them last forever.  It is interesting to note that this encounter comes as the disciples are on their way with Jesus to Jerusalem.  We, too, are called to walk with Jesus, not only on the mountaintop but also on the road of life and sometimes that’s difficult and painful.  We are called to make real the gift of the mountaintop experience in our everyday life.  It is when we can hold onto the experience of knowing God’s light so clearly even in the midst of our road Jerusalem that Jesus’ message becomes real in our lives.

            As I prayed with this Gospel it had a meaning for me that it has never had before.  Maybe it’s because it will be read at Mass tomorrow, which is also my parents’ 51^st Wedding Anniversary.  Last year we celebrated their Golden Anniversary with great joy and celebration.  Their love for one another was so evident and we rejoiced in it and thanked them for their faithful witness to the vows they had made to one another.  God’s presence in their love for one another was so very clear. It was a wonderful celebration and it was good to be there.  This year my mom will go to visit my dad and he won’t recognize her.  As she shares memories of their life together, he won’t remember that he was a part of all those memories.  Tomorrow when my mom goes to spend time with my dad it won’t be the mountaintop experience that it was last year.  She now walks that difficult road that we are all called to walk in different ways and in different circumstances.  She must hold onto the promise that God is just as present to her in these painful times as God was on the mountaintop.  The blessing and grace in all of it is that the One who is part of those mountaintop experiences, the shining light that holds us all in love, walks with us on the road to Jerusalem.  We are never alone and can count on the Chosen one who chooses us to walk beside us companioning us along the way.

            As we journey through this season of Lent, may we remember the mountaintop experiences of our lives.  Let us be grateful that just as God was with us then, God is with us now holding and sustaining us in love.

Reflection

What are some of the mountaintop experiences of your life?  How do you take those experiences into your daily life even when some days are difficult?

God of all time,

We thank you for those mountaintop times in our life

That help us know your deep presence to us and your powerful love for us.

Give us the grace to not forget this same presence and love

As we journey through each day of our lives.

We ask this through your Son in whom you are well pleased.

Amen

UNITING OURSELVES TO JESUS

This morning during my prayer I read something from Mother Teresa that touched me deeply.  In talking about faith and trust, she told the following story.  She and her sisters would feed four thousand people each day.  One week they found they had no rice to give these people.  Without food given to them by the sisters, these people would have nothing.  Then, about 9:00 a.m. on that Friday morning, two truckloads of bread were delivered to the sisters to share with the poor.  It turns out that school was canceled that day and they didn’t want the food to go to waste.  There was more bread in those truckloads than most of them would see in a lifetime.  Mother Teresa said that when we trust and have faith God will provide for us in ways we would never expect.  Even if means closing the school for the day! :)  It reminded me that even in the hardest of circumstances I am called to trust and have faith, uniting myself to Christ in prayer and in action. 

Reflection:

Can you think of a time when you have trusted God in a situation that seemed hopeless and God surprised you?  Where are you called to have faith and trust right now?

Christ,

You penetrate our inmost depths,

And there you perceive an expectation.

You know that, without having seen you we love you,

And still without seeing you we give you our trust.

Amen.

(A prayer by Brother Roger of Taize

RESTING FROM OUR BUSYNESS

I have found that when I ask people how they are doing there response is often “I’m busy”.  Sometimes this is followed by a list of what they need to do or a sense of frazzledness (is that a word?!).  I often find myself saying the same thing.  So . . . I’ve been paying attention to how often I respond that way . . . and I realize it’s way too often.  Is there anything wrong with being busy?  I don’t think there is if we are busy about the right things.  And yet, even when we are busy about the right things, if we don’t take time to rest, the Sabbath God talks about, we will crash and burn or just run around in a frenzy.

Sr. Juliann enjoying art

Taking Sabbath time is not always as easy as it sounds.  What does Sabbath time mean?  Often when I’ve been running too hard and for too long, I crash and move into inactivity which is not what I believe Sabbath time is all about.  Sabbath is about resting and renewing.  It’s finding what helps you rest and be renewed.  This is different for everyone.  For me it is a conversation with a good friend, praying and worshiping with our community, a long walk in the beauty of God’s creation, taking time for art and journaling, sharing a movie with community and talking about it afterwards.  It’s not about doing nothing.  It’s about doing something that renews my spirit and opens me up to receive God’s grace.  When I take time for Sabbath, I am more ready to do God’s work and not my work of busyness. 

Reflection:

Do you take Sabbath Time during the week?  Even if you can’t take a whole day, can you take a couple of hours of time to rest and be renewed?  When you think of things that are restful and renewing, what are they?  Can you incorporate at least one in your week?

Holy God,

You call us to take Sabbath time

So that we can rest and be renewed in you.

Help us remember that all life comes from you.

May all we do glorify you in the life that you have given us.

We ask thin in your most holy Name.  

Temptation

Reflection on the Gospel for the First Sunday in Lent -- Luke 4:1-13      by Sr. Carol Falkner, OSB

“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, then returned from the Jordan and was conducted by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, where he was tempted by the devil.”  Here we have a passage that is definitely linked to the days of Lent and Lenten disciplines.  Not eating for forty days was Jesus’ test while for us it could be giving up something that is difficult to do or reaching out to someone in need. No matter what, it is to be a time of prayer and spiritual discipline in some form.

Our story today is the story of Jesus being tempted by Satan. The key word is “tempt or put to the test.”  One finds that word appearing several places in the gospel tradition as in the Lord’s Prayer, “Lead us not into temptation.”  We all wish to be delivered from the time of testing however this manifests itself in our lives, but how aware are we when we pray for this very grace each day at the Liturgy of the Hours or the Eucharistic Liturgy – “…lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

The first temptation to turn stones into bread comes after forty days of fasting.  Jesus is very hungry as were the chosen people in the wilderness.  The latter get their hunger satisfied when God sends manna from heaven.  Although there is no indication that Jesus gets bread, He does respond to Satan by quoting Deuteronomy when He says, “A person cannot live on bread alone.”  We, too, experience a hunger only satisfied by God.  Lent is an ideal time to ask God to satisfy this hunger by what Benedict says we are to do “…devote ourselves to prayer with tears, to reading, to compunction of heart and self-denial.”

The second temptation is that of power.  Satan shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the world in a single instance and offers them to Jesus if he will only worship him.  Power is seductive.  Often people in authority are perceived to have great power.  Jesus answers, “You shall worship the Lord, your God, and God alone shall you serve. “  Real power is anchored in humility because one realizes that real power is rooted in God.  Let us summit to humility as Benedict would encourage us to do and allow it to teach us about real power.

During the third temptation Jesus is asked to throw himself down from the temple leaving God to save him.  This temptation asks Jesus to use the power of God to do miracles that would be in his own self-interest putting God to the test.  Jesus warns Satan, “You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.”  Jesus reminds us in the Garden of Gethsemane: “Pray that you may not enter into the time of testing.”   Lent serves as a reminder to surrender our lives to God.

Let us then allow these forty days of Lent to be our time in the desert, our time to make God the center of our lives.  Then we will be able to “look forward to holy Easter with joy and spiritual longing.”