Daily Reflection January 1st, 2009

Daily Reflection January 1st, 2009

by Eileen Burke-Sullivan

Theology

Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God

World Day of Prayer for Peace

The Naming of Jesus: Titular Feast of the Society of Jesus

Numbers 6:22-27

Psalm 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8

Galatians 4:4-7

Luke 2:16-21

During the Fifth Century, Mary, the Mother of Jesus, was accorded the title of “Mother of God” (Theotokos) as a way of reaffirming the unity of Jesus’ personhood. Throughout the Fourth Century the whole Church, East and West, struggled to find vocabulary that adequately named the experience of Jesus’ human presence and the powerful post-Resurrection experience of his divine presence. What did it mean for God to become human? One of the ideas that emerged was that Mary of Nazareth, his human Mother was mother of his humanity only, but if that was asserted, then Jesus’ two natures would be seen to divide his personhood. The title of Mother of God became a way of appreciating a profound unity in Jesus, as well as the wonder of what God was doing within a human person, Mary and all other human persons by extension. As with all the feasts in the Christmas season, this wonderful celebration invites us to keep the mystery of God becoming human in our hearts and reflect carefully on what we have been told.

God, by entering into historical reality and participating in human time and place as a specific human, is blessing and keeping us. By living with human limitations and striving with human challenges he is letting his face shine upon us, and by giving his life to us and for us he is giving us peace, itself. Our response to these overwhelming gifts can only be praise and gratitude if we have any humanity within us.

As with all feasts of Mary, this is an ecclesial feast and points us to the meaning of the Incarnation for the life of the Church. In the second reading today, Paul assures us that by entering human life through birth from a human mother, Jesus takes each of us into a relationship of sibling with his humanity and his divinity which are inseparable.

At every celebration of the Eucharistic Liturgy, the presiding priest mixes water with wine during the preparation of the gifts. This simple action is a symbol of the “great exchange” that the early Fathers of the Church understood that by God becoming human each human who enters sibling relationship with Jesus becomes divine. He took on our human nature so that we could receive his divine nature.

The Eucharist is one of the primary actions of God’s Spirit to carry out this great exchange. We think of the bread and wine being consecrated into the Body and Blood of the Lord, but we must see beyond that to understand that the bread and the wine are ourselves. For this reason they (the gifts) must come from the assembly. By giving them over we give ourselves over, and God takes the gift of bread and wine (ourselves) and changes the very substance of the gift and the giver into divine life. We seal the gift with the enactment of eating what we have offered – we bond it to ourselves so that the gift we have given is truly ourselves and therefore we truly have become recipients of divine nature.

The Word, of God, the Second Person of God, was conceived in the body of a human woman taking on all the dimensions of humanity that belong to human nature as God created it, without the broken addition of sin which human failure added on, so that he could reconcile us perfectly to the Father and make us heirs to divine life. Dare we ponder this as Mary did in our hearts? Dare we believe that Christ lifts us into a familiar relationship with God, so that we can address the creator of heaven and earth as “Abba” or papa? Dare we consider that God has indeed let his face – his whole being - shine upon us and be gracious to us?

What word can we utter but . . . thanks?

Daily Reflection December 28th, 2008

Daily Reflection December 28th, 2008

by Larry Gillick, S.J.

Deglman Center for Ignatian Spirituality

Feast of the Holy Family

Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14 or Genesis 15:1-6; 21:1-3

Psalm 128:1-2, 3, 4-5 or Psalm 105:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9

Colossians 3:12-21 or 3:12-17 or Hebrews 11:8, 11-12, 17-19

Luke 2:22-40 or 2:22, 39-40

We have celebrated the days of preparing for Christmas; there is little need to prepare for this-weekend’s liturgy. Some might be saying under their voices, “Do we have to go to church again? We just went!” It is not so much fun to do the “have-tos”, and preparing for them is a dutiful process. In family life, the business world, and even in the social-relationships of our lives, there are many “have-tos” and we do them, even when we “just did them” recently. These few days between Christmas and this liturgy, we might reflect on the spirit with which we do the dutiful, the required, and the expected. We may even ponder how we experienced the “have-tos” of Christmas. God has-to, because God cannot be God. We do not have-to and that is what changes “dutiful” to “beautiful”.

REFLECTION

Our First Reading is an instruction from a “Wisdom Figure” speaking to his son concerning his, the son’s, relationship with God, not directly about his relationship with his parents. The first seventeen verses of this chapter deal with reverencing God through reverencing parents. This is central to the spirituality of ancient Israel. Begetting human life is experienced as a participation in Divinity from Whom all life ultimately flows and returns. Mothers and fathers are revered for their being instruments of sharing God’s Life by bringing forth life.

Children are encouraged to relate with God in many earthly ways, but prime among them is honoring, not shaming their parents. This is in no way a “power-proof” text. This is a “Wisdom” text by which the solidity of family life will assure the religio-social life of the nation. The duty of the parents is to acculturate their children into this way of relating with God. The duty of the children is to incarnate the teachings as a spirituality lived into their being parents themselves some day and givers of life.

The Gospel is centered around the holiness of the “New Family” which holiness is their exact compliance with the Law and traditions of their faith. To better understand the presenting of Jesus in the temple and the offerings of little birds, one must read from the Book of Leviticus, chapters twelve and fifteen. These chapters might give the impression of being up-tight about sexuality, but the contrary is true. A couple becoming pregnant and their giving birth is so related to God’s promise of fertility and to the divine power of giving life, that there is a mysterious human experience of humanly being that close to God.

The divine is so ultimate, transcendent, other-than-ugly that sexual activity is not unclean, but rather the human, who by entering into the birth-adventure, is experienced as unclean compared with God. Proper sexual activities of the body and within human relations are sacred, because it participates and continues the experience of God’s fidelity to the Covenants. The Laws protect the sacredness of living within the covenanted community of Israel.

Luke presents Joseph and Mary as being faithful Jews. Mary has no physical reason to present herself for purification. A lamb is to be offered for the ritual sacrifice of atonement, but in the case of a poor couple, two turtledoves and two pigeons would do. The first child to be born is sacred and presented to the Lord, because that child opened the womb so that other children may also take their turn in being born. The ritual is complete, but two elders of the temple become witnesses and like the Magi and shepherds, they become early prophetic figures in accepting and proclaiming that Jesus, the One-Waited-For has come.

Simeon and Anna say some powerful words to Mary and Joseph about their Child. For Mary some are becoming familiar. The angel Gabriel, the shepherds, the Magi had all indicated the something special about the birth and the life He would live. Mary also heard for the first time that a suffering was going to be a part of her life as well. She took this all in and it matured in her heart and soul as Jesus matured in Galilee. Pondering is not the same as worrying; pondering leads to maturing, worrying leads to more worrying.

The Holy Family was a law-abiding group. This is a good model for Catholic and Christian families. We do not observe all the Jewish rituals, but we are invited to experience sexuality, birth, life, family-relations in the same spirit of sacredness. Original sin did not have its origin in our families-of-origin, though it was the place of our first experiencing its effects in the lives of others in our families. In my family, we never prayed Grace before meals, unless a Jesuit had been invited. We seldom went to Sunday mass together, though we all went faithfully. My parents never attended “devotions” or special parish activities, except “Sports nights”. We did not say a prayer upon beginning a long trip, though I think I heard my father mention the Lord’s Name during the trip now and then. I learned night-prayers kneeling as a child at my mother’s chair, but faith and love were lived by my parents and that is how we learned about God and church and Jesus.

For all the experiences of Original and actual sin in the life of my family, all six of us siblings knew more and more as we grew up, that our parents absolutely loved each other and that was the Law! They would kiss, three! Times! upon leaving each other and returning. They would lie together on the couch in our living room and “fool around” and we would laugh, be embarrassed, and stand in awe and amazement. The roof could be figuratively falling in, and at times, did, but we stood it all, because we knew that we were participants in their love. That was the Law!

“Our God has appeared on earth, and lived among men.” Bar. 3, 38

Daily Reflection December 27th, 2008

Daily Reflection December 27th, 2008

by Pat Callone

Institutional Relations

Feast of St. John

1 John 1:1-4

Psalm 97:1-2, 5-6, 11-12

John 20:1a and 2-8

1 Jn 1: 1-4

Beloved:

What was from the beginning -- what we have heard -- what we have seen with our eyes -- what we looked upon and touched with our hands concerns the Word of life; for the life was made visible;We have seen it and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was made visible to us; what we have seen and heard – we proclaim now to you, So that you too may have fellowship with us; for our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.We are writing this so that our joy may be complete. (My punctuation)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

St. John’s First Letter tells us exactly why he is writing: “… so that you too may have fellowship with us… so our joy may be complete”.

Two days ago, the Christian nation celebrated the birth of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, from the womb of Mary. The world rejoiced and rejoices.

Today, St. John reminds us that the only Truth the world needs to know is that the Savior has come and that we -- brothers and sisters together -- are to live in fellowship with him and the Father…through the Spirit.

A New Year approaches…a new Presidential Team for the USA takes office in January 2009. Once again we have opportunities to make resolutions to help bring God’s peace and fellowship into our lives and the lives of others.

Again, we have opportunities to propose new ways to bring real peace and fellowship into the world by our sacrifices, words, actions, and prayers. Can we do it? Yes, we can! Will we do it?

It is not enough to make resolutions or to propose new ways. We must act in the Spirit of Jesus and DO more to bring peace and justice to our families, communities, countries, and world.

Dear God -- Father, Son, and Spirit -- help us answer Your daily invitations of how we can serve You in our brothers and sisters. Empower us to make Your world a better place for all in 2009. Amen

Daily Reflection December 26th, 2008

Daily Reflection December 26th, 2008

by Jeanne Schuler

Philosophy Department

Feast of St. Stephen

Acts 6:8-10; 7:54-59

Psalm 31:3cd-4, 6 and 8ab, 16bc and 17

Matthew 10:17-22

Full of Grace

Yesterday we celebrated the light that came into the world.

Today we remember Stephen, the first martyr.

Did some gloomy cleric slip this saint into the liturgical calendar right after the Nativity?

As if Christmas cheer were a bubble that must pop. Back to work. Back to this dreary world. The Gloria already is fading.

Stephen was among the first deacons commissioned to serve the fractious community in Jerusalem. The patron of bricklayers and headache sufferers, Stephen was known for his eloquence, healing powers, and his challenge to the Mosaic tradition. He forgave his indignant brethren even as they stoned him for impiety.

Stephen lived in the light. In the midst of factions and mistrust, he didn’t give up on this world. The spirit that moved through him was not disdainful. Stephen didn’t seek suffering as a sign of holiness. He shared his glimpse of God’s glory as a farewell gift. Stephen is remembered for joy.
The stable in which Jesus was born seems nearer this year. Many face the loss of their home or jobs. In frustration, we may be tempted to pick up a stone, but where do we throw it? We remember a savior who was homeless and at the mercy of strangers. Like Stephen, we are accompanied through the time of troubles. Again and again we realize how we are not alone. We are surprised by a joy that does not make us forget.

Daily Reflection December 21st, 2008

Daily Reflection December 21st, 2008

by Larry Gillick, S.J.

Deglman Center for Ignatian Spirituality

Fourth Sunday in Advent

2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16

Psalm 89:2-3, 4-5, 27, 29

Romans 16:25-27

Luke 1:26-38

PRE-PRAYERING

Finding presents to give is a great adventure, if you love the one to whom you will give the gift. The degree of difficulty depends on the depth of love. A gift for the mailman or business associate is no problem. When we get down the list to family members and then those who are so close to our hearts we don’t know where they begin and we end, well that is more than a problem.

Gifts are expressions of a kind of poverty. The greater the love, the less the gift says it. The greater the love, the longer one looks for and can never find. The greater the love, the more imperfect the gift and accompanying card can say.

These last few days of Advent we can pray while making lists and checking them twice find out whose more than nice. We can pray with the poverty of our gestures of love and smile at the impossibility of our being God. This Thursday, the Feast of the Nativity of the Divine Gift, we will celebrate the Perfect Gift Whom the Giver gives again and the Gift does say it all. We can pray with our being the recipients of that Love wrapped in poverty bundled in abundance. We can pray as well with the reception of love expressed in cards, emails, notes and smiles which are little sacraments preparing us to be more receptive within our own stables.

REFLECTION

King David has a bit of a “housing crisis” in today’s First Reading. He is back from the wars, living in luxury while the “Ark of God’ is in a portable container. David has returned the Ark to Jerusalem in a great procession as related in the previous chapter from which our reading is taken. Jerusalem is now the Holy city because of this presence.

David begins thinking that a temple ought to be built expressing this holy presence. Nathan, David’s “private-eye”, receives a message from the Lord. We hear what Nathan heard from God.

There is a significant word-play or double-meaning embedded in this reading. David talks about “house” in terms of building and the Lord speaks of “house” in terms of “descendants” of David. God scoffs at the poverty of David to build a place; God is not localized. There is a prophetic twist then, the “House of David” the family line will bring forth a special personal presence. “When David comes to die God “will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins and I will make his kingdom firm. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. The “house” then is to be the family down through the ages until this special person (the Messiah) takes up residence in the world and forms us into His House.

The Gospel is familiar to us. Jesus takes a fleshly position in favor of Mary and as a favor for us. Mary has a most human response; she is troubled and frightened. As with most of the “call narratives” in scripture, Mary has the perfect excuse in response to the invitation to be a mother. She is not married. The visitor has the perfect solution around her excuse. God will do something that involves faith. She is aided by a pregnant bit of news that her cousin, who herself is advanced in age, is going to have a child as well. Mary’s response to all this is a kind of, “Well, if Elizabeth can then so can I, by the favor of God.”

The messenger shares with Mary the name and mission of this child-to-be. We hear that He will be from the “House of David”. He will be “Joshua” or “He Who Saves”. His kingdom will never end, which fulfills the prophesy of Nathan in our First Reading. The stage is set then. All the ancient prophetic roads lead directly to Nazareth.

I would say that having a visit from an angel with high praise for her and an exact part to play would make it somewhat easy to decide to go along with the program. WE all have had experiences of having to make decisions angelically-unaided. WE get senses or little urgings to move on down the road of faith and we wonder why Mary gets lots of credit, but are not our faith-jumps even more of trust. WE do move though and it is this life-walk, faith-leap that allows for the angels’ visits.

Mary went to visit Elizabeth after Mary had agreed, submitted, responded or simply believed. She took the road home and then in time took the road to Bethlehem where there were angels again and she heard about them from the shepherds. All the time Mary was pondering, listening, reflecting, discerning not only what had been said months before, but what was being offered, revealed, given, and created for her and through her.

This is our pattern as well. Discernment does not lead to decision, that is only the beginning. The God Who calls is faithful and so we are invited to ponder, reflect and sense, as the road unfolds before our feet or wheels. There are “angel-moments” which are real, but not winged and feathery. They are faith-charged with a glimmer of light which indicates and urges gently.

I would like some kind of God-o-gram reassuring me that I am doing God’s Will by being a Jesuit priest in Omaha, at Creighton University and the this-and-that’s of my life are, well what is best, whatever that means. There are little “angel-moments”; I want bing-bang biggos though. The whole problem for me and us and was even for Mary, is that we want certainty, “Gabriel-moments” and more than once. We want map-quest clarity and GPS guidance and then call that journey, FAITH. David wanted to build a house for God. God wanted to build a house among us and did so by entering the house of Mary, taking up residence in the house of her womb, and now pitches His Tent among us as we walk the road of watching.

“The virgin is with child and shall bear a son, and she will call him Emmanuel.” Is. 7, 14

Daily Reflection December 9th, 2008

Daily Reflection December 9th, 2008

by Deb Fortina

Academic Affairs

Tuesday of the Second Week of Advent

Isaiah 40:1-11

Psalm 96:1-2, 3 and 10ac, 11-12, 13

Matthew 18:12-14

Isaiah 40: 1-11 “…Cry out at the top of your voice, Jerusalem, herald of good news! Fear not to cry out and say to the cities of Judah: Here is your God!...”

Psalm 96: 1-2, 3 and 10ac, 11-12, 13 “…The Lord our God comes with power.….”

Matthew 18: 12-14 “…In just the same way, it is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost.”

Saint Juan Diego (1474-1548) was a deeply spiritual man who was drawn to our Lord in the Eucharist. So much so, he traveled 15 miles on foot to go to daily Mass, and on this day 477 years ago in 1531 he was visited by Mary, later called Our Lady of Guadalupe. As he was about to pass Tepeyac Hill in Mexico, he heard music and saw a “glowing cloud” as well as a woman’s voice who beckoned him to come to the top of the hill. There he saw Mary and she gave him this instruction, she said "I vividly desire that a church be built on this site, so that in it I can be present and give my love, compassion, help, and defense, for I am your most devoted mother . . . to hear your laments and to remedy all your miseries, pains, and sufferings." Juan told the Bishop who of course wanted some kind of proof. The proof came in threes, while enroute to meet Blessed Mary, Juan found out his uncle was dying so he missed that meeting with Mary, to go get a priest. But Mary met him on the road and told him his uncle had been cured. Then she told him to climb to the top of Tepeyac where he found Castilian roses growing out of the frozen ground (unusual since they didn’t grow in that area even during the summer). He gathered these up to take to the Bishop, and when he opened his cloak to show him the roses, a glowing image of Our Lady was revealed on the inside of Juan’s cloak. The Bishop gave Mary her church, and thousands converted to Christianity. Our Lady of Guadalupe was declared the patroness of the Americas.

This is a beautiful feast day in the midst of Advent, as we await the coming of our Saviour; so too many people received the Lord for the first time way back in the 16th century. Fast forward to today, and we find ourselves in no less need for our Saviour Jesus Christ, than the people who lived in Juan’s day and age. And so every year, we start over again in the season of Advent; we retell the story and relight the fire within us.

In the first reading in Isaiah we are encouraged to cry out from a mountain top, “Here is your God”. He is both powerful and compassionate as he gathers his lambs in His arms. From the Psalmist we sing about how all the earth rejoices at His coming, and that God will rule the earth with justice and constancy. In Matthew’s Gospel Jesus talks about how faithful is God’s love, because not only does God not give up on us, He goes in search of those who stray; and He rejoices when that one who has been lost is returned to the fold. So we go through the dark time of the year, with shorter days and longer nights, and we listen to our story again, in the hopes that our hearts will be ready to receive the precious gift. The story is told over and over, so as to light our lights, in order to be light to others.

One day we pray, the light will stay lit, and there’ll be no questions, for they will know we are Christians by our Love. St. Juan Diego, pray for us.

Daily Reflection December 8th, 2008

Daily Reflection December 8th, 2008

by Dick Hauser, S.J.

Theology Department

Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Genesis 3:9-15, 20

Psalm 98:1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4

Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12

Luke 1:26-38

Listen to Paul attempting to articulate the unfathomable mystery of God’s love for us: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him.”

Today we celebrate the feast of Mary’s Immaculate Conception: from the first moment of her existence Mary is sinless, the single member of our race conceived without original sin.

How over-whelming for Mary! Before the foundation of the world God chose Mary and gave her every spiritual blessing — and chose her to be mother of God’s Only Son. Mary, this young, unknown, and already betrothed peasant virgin!

But how over-whelming for Paul also! Before the foundation of the world God chose Paul and gave him every spiritual blessing —and chose him to be the apostle to the Gentiles. Paul, this former Pharisee and intrepid persecutor and slaughterer of Jesus’ followers!

And how over-whelming for us. Before the foundation of the world God chose us and gave us every spiritual blessing — and chose us to be God’s own dwelling place and the Body of Christ on earth. Ourselves, so ordinary, unworthy and flawed!

How can we respond adequately to God’s choice of us?

From generation to generation we have looked to Mary as our model: “May it be done to me according to your word – Fiat!”

Mary — model, mother, advocate — help us with our Fiat! On your feast we beg for your intercession that your son may be born anew in us this Advent!

Daily Reflection December 7th, 2008

Daily Reflection December 7th, 2008

by Larry Gillick, S.J.

Deglman Center for Ignatian Spirituality

Second Sunday in Advent

Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11

Psalm 85:9-10-11-12, 13-142

Peter 3:8-14

Mark 1:1-8

PRE-PRAYERING

When there is a messiness around us it is hard to know just where to begin the cleaning. Beginnings are not easy all the time. How to begin a speech or important paper, how to begin a conversation with the passenger seated next to you on a plane or bus, how to begin preparing for Christmas, how to begin praying, are all such human struggles.

Advent is a beginning of the liturgical year and the beginning of our learning about this person of Jesus. The feast tomorrow of the Immaculate Conception is the dramatic and unusual continuation of the divine beginning. Grace is always taking new places within us and so our little lives are seemingly always beginning. We had Advent last year and the year before and we are not sure that did any good.

We prepare to celebrate this Second Sunday of Advent by allowing grace into the mess, into the wonderings of how to enter into the always-conversation which God began by being seated next to us on this flight of life. We have to make room, not easy. God desires gracefully to sit right down in the mess and bless us by our getting to know the Word of God spoken once and for all. This week as we prepare for the liturgy, could we pause at the most messiness-time, and listen to hear if we are really alone in it.

REFLECTION

We hear a familiar passage from the prophet Isaiah in our First Reading. This begins a sixteen-chapter section of this book, known as The Book of Consolation. Israel has been exiled in Babylon for a long time, because of their sin. It opens with a poetic calling from God to the prophet. The entire book of Consolation is a preparation of the people, through the words of the prophet, to be ready for the return trip home.

The prophet receives his call and his duties or mission. He is to speak tenderly to the inhabitants of Jerusalem that their time of punishment is soon to be over. We can read this whole section as a “new exodus”. They will be forgiven as God passes beyond the remembering of their guilt and shame. They will pass beyond the mountains which will be leveled and the valleys which will be filled-in. They are to be readied to go beyond what they fear from God and beyond what they remember of their pasts.

There is a quieting pastoral image at the end of the reading presenting God as the shepherd who will lead the flock back carrying them armfully.

This is a prophecy of hope. They hear it all as the word of God, but as they listen, they are still in bondage; nothing has changed, except that this is all from God Whom they failed to trust in their pasts. They are beginning to learn all over again, beginning with the Great Exodus by which they entered their identity as God’s people. They hope it is all going to come true and as long as the prophet sings his songs, they will grow in trust until they return, and they do.In Arthur Miller’s play, “The Death of a Salesman” the title gives a hint to the audience that Willy Lowman, the salesman, is going to die. During the action we understand that maybe the death is not physical, but of Willy's salesmanship. Only near the end of the play do we find out exactly what “death” means.

In today’s Gospel, which is composed of the opening verses of Mark’s account of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus the surprise is taken away. The play-goer might ask, “What is this play actually all about?” The very first line of Mark’s Gospel tells the reader, that this whole Gospel is about Jesus the Christ or messiah, who is the Son of God. It is as if Mark comes out on the stage and clarifies and highlights that Jesus is the main character and He is the Son of God and if you watch the whole play, (read the Gospel) you will come to the knowledge and acceptance of these beliefs.

We are beginning then in these early days of the new liturgical year to be open to the on-coming of Jesus.

We can hear the words as addressed to us that we should “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight His paths.” We know these words from the First Reading. Here’s the reversal. We can think that Advent is the time for us to shape up, straighten up, and get rid of our ways to make a place for Jesus. That is very nice, but not exactly what is meant. The prophet Isaiah images God as predicting that God will do this for the people. God will straighten and level the way for the people’s return.

We can picture John the Baptist’s shouting at the people that they should clean up their acts. This does not sound anything like “Speak tenderly” from the prophet. The people have come for cleansing according to their Jewish tradition. John calls to them about something new. We know, because Mark has told us, exactly what’s so new. The New is the awaited-for Messiah and He will cleanse, (baptize) with water, but with a gift, the Holy Spirit who will tenderly, gently, straighten and level. The “gospel” is the “Good News” that the Son of God and the Holy Spirit of God has embraced our human condition. We do not, all by ourselves, have to clean up our acts so that God will free us and tenderly bring us back.

Advent is not the waiting for Christmas, nor the celebration of Christ’s birth in Bethlehem, but the time we give to letting Jesus come closer and closer to us and our unstraightened and roughness. The closer we allow His birth in us, the straighter and smoother our ways become. It is all very good news.

“Rise up Jerusalem, stand on the heights, and see the joy that is coming to you from God.” Bar. 5.5

Daily Reflection December 6th, 2008

Daily Reflection December 6th, 2008

by Eileen Burke-Sullivan

Theology Department

Isaiah 30:19-21, 23-26

Psalm 147:1-2, 3-4, 5-6

Matthew 9:35–10:1, 5a, 6-8

As we bring the first week of Advent to closure there is a conjoining of the season of Advent with the traditional feast of St. Nicholas – from whom the tradition of Santa Claus is at least partly derived. The figure of Nicholas as gift giver and generous servant of the poor is the background to the medieval tradition of giving treats to children and gifts of food to those who are especially hungry in the early days of December – finally settling on December 6. Various accounts about Nicholas indicate that he was a passionate, even hotheaded, defender of the faith when he knocked Arius to the ground with a physical blow during a session the Council of Nicaea, defender of the poor and powerless when he prevented an imperial servant from carrying out a sentence of capital punishment on three poor aliens, and intervened on behalf of poor families with the Emperor Constantine, whose taxes were crippling the city of Myra.

Nicholas has come through the tradition as a gentle and generous gift giver, but the true story makes him much more of an Advent figure in the tradition of Isaiah. Today’s first reading, taken from the “second Isaiah” or the Isaiah of the early Babylonian Exile, presents the Reign of God as the reason for our hope. In this time of the onset of winter (in the northern hemisphere where the liturgical year was formed) as the darkness lengthens and the cold intensifies, we are invited to pray with those who feel a sense of despair about their lives or their futures, and to recognize where all of our hope comes from. The prophet reminded those exiled far from home and without the security of needs being met, that God alone will bring them relief. If they will count on God, their physical and spiritual needs will be attended to. Water , the sign of human flourishment, will flow, bread, staff that upholds human life, will be abundant, the guiding hand of God will remain ever vigilant for God’s people. The prophet does not promise that it will ever be as it was – but rather that it will be better. If we but claim God as our Lord, and live justly as God has instructed, we will not only be provided for, we will flourish in a rich and delightful way.

The promise of God’s reign is, for us Christians at least, assumed to be fulfilled in the coming of Christ. But the liturgy challenges us to ask why God’s reign remains unavailable to many - perhaps even ourselves today? Are we terrified by this economic crisis? Are we brought low by the specter of not enough food to eat? Are we afraid about tomorrow’s wounds or the economic blows that we will suffer? Then let the prophet’s voice ring out in genuine hope and consolation: “No more will you weep; He will be gracious to you when you cry out, as soon as he hears he will answer you.” Further – let us hear Jesus tell us in the Gospel for today that God will accomplish this by the cooperation of those who believe in Him. God will respond to the suffering of those brought low by the various blows of human life, through the agency of the disciples of Jesus. We are challenged today to pray for laborers in the field of the harvest of God’s reign. For many years, this passage has been quoted as reason to pray for vocations to the priesthood and/or vowed religious life, but what if we hear it this Advent as an invitation to pray for bankers who believe in Jesus and practice just banking practices, or automakers who believe in God’s reign and are committed to the service of humankind rather than taking people for all they are worth. What if we prayed for employers and employees, for legislators and governors, for teachers and scientists, for doctors and lawyers and farmers all committed to proclaiming God’s reign in their own “fields” of endeavor – establishing a rich harvest of promise at least partially fulfilled within the human community on earth, “as it is in heaven.”

That would be a gift to the world worthy of Christ – and of his servant St. Nicholas!

Daily Reflection November 3rd, 2008

Daily Reflection November 3rd, 2008

by Dick Hauser, S.J.

Theology Department

Philippiansl 2:1-4

Psalm 131:1bcde, 2, 3

Luke 14:12-14

Tomorrow is Election Day in the United States. Americans are in the process of discerning the right candidates for both national and local elections. We are asking, “Who can do the best job for us?” Implicit in our thinking is the question: Which candidates can best contribute to our personal prosperity. More starkly put: Who can do the most for me?

But in his letter to the Philippians Paul suggests a quite different criteria, a criteria that has less to do with personal self interest and more to do with the welfare of the community: “Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but also everyone for those of others.”

As Christians approaching the election booth aren’t we encouraged to keep uppermost in our minds candidates embracing programs fostering the best interests of our neighbors, and especially of our neighbors most in need? As Christians aren’t we asked to look beyond narrow self interest and to ask who is advocating programs that can most contribute to the common good of our local and national communities?

Scripture asks voters to transcend a cultural American individualism that focuses on personal interest and asks us to consider what best serves our communities.

Daily Reflection November 2nd, 2008

Daily Reflection November 2nd, 2008

by Larry Gillick, S.J.

Deglman Center for Ignatian Spirituality

31st Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed

Wisdom 3:1-9

Psalm 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6

Romans 5:5-11 or Rom 6:3-9

John 6:37-40

PRE-PRAYERING

We have a little saying that when you get a lemon, you make lemonade. This means generally that when something sour or displeasing comes our way, we just try to make something good out of it. Now everybody who knows anything about making lemonade knows that you put in the lemon rind after you squeeze out all the juice, just for more flavor.

There are so many distasteful events which come into our lives and we try to make sense out of it all. We get advice, look for “silver linings”, and for the most part, not everything works out perfectly - there is always the rind, always the memory, and the lingeringness of the lemon.

This week begins for us with the celebration of those whom we have loved and lost. They have passed through our lives and then past on. We can pray with the juice and enjoy the flavor of the blessings they have been and are to us. We pray as well with the rind and pain of not having them around any more. They are in the “hand of God” we say, but we long to have them close at hand, hand in hand with us. No, we do not always make lemonade out of lemons, at least not immediately, nor easily. We might have to pray with just the rinds in our hands this year.

REFLECTION

(READINGS FROM THE FIRST MASS FOR THE DAY)

I write this with some tenderness. My younger brother died this past June, suddenly of a heart attack. I am sure most of you have lost close-ones. To be more than honest, I could not choose this First Reading for his funeral. The authors are struggling obviously to make sense of the deaths around their lives. They must have suffered and when they asked the natural question “Why?” they came up with an understandable answer. God was testing them like gold in the fire. No! Our theology cannot support this kind of spirituality. Our faith might be tested by our intellects as we struggle to make sense of loss and death, but we cannot hold that God, Who is infinite love, would torture for the sake of purification.

There are some comforting lines in this reading, we can pray with them. There are other lines which speak of those who are faithful and elect will be in God’s care. Are these the ones who suffered their illnesses well, but those who lost heart, lost God’s mercy? The souls of the “just” are in the hand of God. My brother was a “just” man, in our eyes, but this reading can make us question whether God knew him in the same way.

This is Wisdom Literature which makes many attempts at explaining the mysteries of love and life, of beginnings and endings. This year I need more comfort than this Reading gives me.

Ah, here it is in the very first line from the Second Reading. Hope! It has been poured out on us We do not have to prove anything of our lives; rather God has proved lovingly faithful in Jesus. This picks me up; this Reading we could use for Terry’s funeral. Here is Terry’s justice, which takes away our wondering about whether he made the final cut or not. We are all reconciled, saved, included and we hold this now while we are living each day closer to our own funerals. We belong! What a holy relief is our belief in Jesus!

The Gospel for this celebration is the exact same Gospel we read yesterday for the Feast of all Saints, amazing. These seven invitations to holiness are the orientational program for those who will follow Jesus through this life into the next. This would be a good Gospel for Terry. As I said at his funeral, “Terry had many problems with God; God did not have any problems with Terry.” It is a good check-list for our examining the lives of those whom we grieve, even now, even for years. How did he/she live a spirit of sharing, receiving, spreading life around? Were they aware of their gifts and not keep them to themselves? My brother gets a straight A for this first one. How about your departed?

I judge that the kingdom of God is theirs as Jesus has said.

Did my brother mourn? When our mother died, Terry, then thirty, could not go into the funeral parlor for the wake. He just stood outside the room and kept saying, “She loved me like a rock.” If our siblings, friends, parents loved, then they mourned. Terry gets a second “A” for loving enough to grieve the losses of life because of injustice and cruelty. You give a grade to your lost-ones and rejoice that they now are being comforted.

Meek? The meek are not the weak, they are self-possessed enough to withstand insults and keep standing for what’s good and true. A plus plus for T. Patrick on this one. The meek inherit the land, by not having spent their lives fighting for turf. What’s the mark for your lost to you?

The merciful and peacemakers have experienced peace in their lives by experiencing mercy. Terry labored hard to unite family-members, unite Catholic young Americans with Protestant teens from Northern Ireland. A big Irish A I hear Jesus saying as Terry sees God. Jesus is shouting His acceptance to those who allowed peace and mercy in and spread it around. How do your past-ons hear the shout you give them?

Well enough; the Readings did get a lot better for our celebrating our lives which were so touched by those who did more than just visit this earth. We pray, perhaps with tears, gratefully for the gifts of not having been left alone, but accompanied by such souls, such saints.

“Though I walk in the valley of darkness, I fear no evil, for You are with me.” Ps. 23

Daily Reflection October 29th, 2008

Daily Reflection October 29th, 2008

by Cathy Weiss Pedersen

Campus Ministry

Ephesians 6:1-9

Psalm 145:10-11, 12-13ab, 13cd-14

Luke 13:22-30

As engaged couples approach the completion of the marriage preparation process, their discussion centers on what is meant by the pledge to be faithful to and with one another. As a marriage preparation facilitator of the FOCCUS process, I encourage the couple to step back and remember what it is about the other that brings/gives them the confidence and courage to promise love, no matter what, to and with the other person. The momentous promise and commitment in marriage is a life long journey with another that demands a solid foundation of mutual love and respect and realistic acceptance of one another, in order to grow into the reality of day to day living out of our pledge of love and faithfulness.

Today’s readings focus on faithfulness. The psalmist praises God’s faithfulness in all that God is and does. The psalm invites us and all of creation to give thanks to God, to proclaim God’s goodness and faithfulness. God is ever present to and with us, lifting us up, always ready to raise us up out of our down times. (Hmmm…. sounds like the ‘faithful’ vows of marriage!) How are we to be present to our God, as God is faithful/present to us? What is it in each of our day to day living that calls us to live as God’s image/present to one another?

In the letter to the Ephesians, Paul speaks to each person, calling him/her to be faithful in their calling: Children, obey your parents; parents do not provoke your children to anger, but teach them the ways of God; Servants or those in authority, serve God from the heart…knowing that all are called to be faithful and that there is no partiality with God. Again, the message is strong: God is present to each of us and we are called to respond with faithfulness/presence to God and one another in our walk of life.

In the gospel, the question, “Who will be saved?” prompts Jesus to respond that people will come from all directions of the earth and are called to God’s kingdom/table: “For, behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.” (In the passages surrounding this reading, Jesus continues to talk about God’s kingdom as one in process…the mustard seed; bread with leaven; mother hen gathering her chicks.) Again, the theme seems to be….All are called into faithful relationship with God. But life is a process of living into that relationship with God and others. It is the journey and process in which one prayerfully discerns God’s presence and faithfulness by walking/being with God, inviting God into our daily struggles, celebrations, and interactions with others.

And so the question really is…can I walk my daily path of ‘ups and downs’, knowing that God’s love and faithful presence is with me? Can I trust that God is really with me as I meet the demands and schedules, worries and joys of life? How do I live out my presence to God’s call…faithful to my calling to be the person/ God’s image, that I am?

In the United States, we will soon elect a new president. As we go to the polls, how will each of us answer the call to be faithful citizens? Who/what are the choices that will bring each of us, and all of us together for the common good…the good of God’s creation? How will we live into our faithfulness with our God? Let us pray that we may be faithful citizens, not only at the polls, but that we will work for the common good of all of God’s creation into the future.

Daily Reflection October 27th, 2008

Daily Reflection October 27th, 2008

by Eileen Wirth

Journalism Department

Ephesians 4:32–5:8

Psalm 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6

Luke 13:10-17

“This daughter of Abraham whom Satan has bound for eighteen years now, ought she not to have been set free on the Sabbath day from this bondage?”

This passage from Luke shows Jesus at his common sense best. Follow the law, of course, but don’t let petty literalness trump its spirit. As I think of the whole question of Sabbath observance, however, we’ve reversed the situation.

We may literally observe the Sabbath by heading to church but as a society we’ve gotten away from the spirit of Sabbath observance.

I grew up on a farm where Sunday was the only day my Dad took off and he loved it – a real Sabbath observer, except for one unvarying interlude that Jesus would have approved of.

As soon as we returned from 7 a.m. Mass, Dad donned his work clothes and headed out to the feedlot where a lot of hungry Angus awaited him. Our Sunday brunch was delayed until after theirs.

“No matter what happens you have to feed the cows,” Dad said.

Our afternoons were quiet – boring, you might say, but Sunday had a rhythm like no other day.

As I think back on those childhood Sundays, I wonder how many of today’s kids will have a strong sense of Sunday as a day set apart even if it includes a trip to church.

Drive by a shopping center parking lot and the only way you’d guess it is Sunday is that it’s probably more crowded than during the week. I’m as guilty as anyone else. Just this afternoon, I made an appointment to go shopping with my daughter tomorrow (a Sunday).

So what does the Sabbath mean to us today? If Jesus showed common sense in bending the Sabbath rules to perform a good deed, maybe we should show common sense by consciously reserving part of every Sunday to worship, rest, reflect and restore ourselves as God intended even if, like my Dad, we can’t avoid “feeding the cows.”

Daily Reflection October 26th, 2008

Daily Reflection October 26th, 2008

by Larry Gillick, S.J.

Deglman Center for Ignatian Spirituality

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Exodus 22:20-26

Thessalonians 1:5c-10

Matthew 22:34-40

PRE-PRAYERING

Flattery will get you, not everywhere, but at least inside the front door. We love to be appreciated for what we do. We can become embarrassed while being appreciated, but just below the blush is a rush of warmth. We, in this culture at least, are so scared of being proud or conceited. It all is a bit of tension for us, we love being recognized and even honored, but we do not wish to appear fishing for compliments or doing things for our own praise.

There is a spirituality within the Jesuits about “all for the greater glory of God.” How does this square with Jesus’ once having said that we should set our personal lamps high on a stand to be seen? We are not to hide our light, because our lights are gifts and when others see those gifts shining they will praise us and God without their necessarily knowing it. There is no pride in God’s gifts being seen by others, it would be pride to hide them under a bushel of humble.

This week, as we prepare to celebrate the wonderful gift of the Eucharist, we might pray to let His light shine and if others honor us, it can be a prayer of praise to the Source of those lights. Humble is being honest and if we are appreciated, honored, lauded and then suck it all in gratefully and prayerfully blow God’s praise, even silently, even if it looks like you’re being petted like the family kitten. The greater glory of God is the on-going display of creation, including our talents and great deeds.

REFLECTION

The First Reading for this liturgy flows with particularity from the Ten Commandments which begins this section of the Book of Exodus. Three chapters before, the great Law of behavior is set down. There are laws about almost everything accompanied by the severe consequences upon their being violated. Everything is tended to so as to insure and preserve communal and cultic order.

Exodus opens with the history of Israel’s coming out of slavery in Egypt. There is the call of Moses at the Burning Bush. The Passover and wanderings in the desert are all told in fine detail. There are promises made, tested, and kept. God has proven faithful and so there is the necessity of laying down the proper way to respond to this fidelity. There will be the blessings of growth within family and field, but there has to also be order, reverence and care for these families and within the total community or nation. When these laws are not kept the prophets will speak out loudly and if not heeded there will be national disorder and shameful exiles and removal from land and family.

What we hear is but a very few verses concerning the caring for some others, namely the alien, the widow and orphan. There is the law about lending money without demanding interest. The compassion of God must extend to all particular aspects of family and communal life. These verses and many others go to form the proper way to relate to the saving and provident God. The people recall the goodness of God to them. These laws are meant to preserve that goodness. At the center of them all is the request to be reverent, respectful and caring for each other as God has been good and compassionate to each. These can be seen as expectations/ laws/ demands, but they are reminders of how God has treated creation, the nation Israel, and each person of the nation. They each are to do the same as a reminder of the good God’s care.

In today’s Gospel we hear more from the Pharisees who were silenced by last-weeks religio/political debate with Jesus. They are trying to trap Him by His Own words, just as we are, here in the United States, hearing candidates doing to each other. The religious leaders of the people want Jesus to pick out the very highest or greatest law of all the many contained in the tradition. Jesus lets them have it, clean, straight and simple.

The whole Law is summed up by our loving God, (what does that really mean?) and loving the neighbor as we are to love ourselves. I know what that means, but I don’t always like it. It is easier to act accordingly, or strictly interpreted. “Tell me what I have to do!” This exactness allows for wiggle-room. “You didn’t tell me I couldn’t do this, or had to do that.” Jesus is speaking this to His neighbors, the Pharisees. He knows they are threatened by His teachings, His ways, His increasing popularity, yet He reveals that He loves them as neighbors, as He loves Himself.

I recently read a book about five different love-languages. Basically, if I love you, it would help the relationship greatly if I knew what vocabulary you were using. Perhaps you experience love in the transmission of material gifts. Maybe kind words and encouraging words convey love to you. You might experience being loved by being touched physically. There are others, but we love being loved. We are able to hear it more clearly and personally when spoken according to our ways of receiving love flowing from our history and present condition. God knows our ways of being loved, summed up in the person of Jesus.

As religious persons we grow in love for ourselves by allowing God to speak our love-language. We are not appreciated by God, but loved! We have to learn the difference first off. The truth is that when I experience being loved, loving the neighbor flows more easily. Loving God is allowing God to be the Lover, Giver, Finder and Freer.

So Jesus, tell us more definitely what it means to love God. Tell us particularly how we are to love Your brothers and sisters, whom we sometimes allow to be our neighbors.

I make very bold to speak on behalf of Jesus now. “You will find it easier to love your neighbor when you love yourself because you believe and experience God’s love for you. Loving the mysterious God is learning how you need to be loved and allowing God to speak that love to you, right there. God’s love for you will freely flow through you and splash upon those around you. Do not keep looking for loop holes and particular definings for love of neighbor. Stop worrying about who is your neighbor. You are responsible for the receiving and distribution of God’s love when ever and where ever you can. Above all, remember, we cannot be commanded to love and receive love. We are invited to do what God knows is ultimately best for us. Loving is an invitation rather than a demand.”

“Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering to God.” Eph. 5, 2

Daily Reflection October 24rd, 2008

Daily Reflection October 24rd, 2008

by Nancy Shirley

School of Nursing

Ephesians 4:1-6

Psalm 24:1-2, 3-4ab, 5-6

Luke 12:54-59

It is once again a beautiful fall day – full of evidence of God’s love for us! As I reflected upon these readings the last few days a number of areas came to mind. However, as I sit here now thinking about my newest granddaughter born not quite 10 hours ago, my thinking is taking some different directions. Our first reading encourages us (“urges” us) to walk the talk while the responsorial psalm reveals our desire to see the face of the Lord. Lastly, Jesus chides us to read the signs of our times and take appropriate steps.

As I consider the first reading, I think about how easy it is to say words, even words that we really mean. Yet, when it comes down to the actions that need to accompany these words, we frequently fall short. In our day-to-day activities with strangers, friends, and even family, we make promises and say many words, but do we always live those words out? When it comes to living our faith, it is even more challenging. I find I am saying the same things at reconciliation – usually related to not being “Christian” enough toward others. Certainly, my intent is not to discount anyone or be unkind. Yet, some of my actions and, more notably, my omissions give witness to my failings! Oh, to be rid of these feet of clay. The words of St. Paul are so simple and clear, “one Body and one Spirit.” For me, it is a matter of changing perspectives and the lens through which I view others. As soon as I ascribe to them their role as children of God, I am hard pressed to treat them in a way not worthy of God.

The thought of seeing others as children of God flows nicely into the responsorial psalm. We repeat over and over our desire to see the face of the Lord. We (I) forget that we “see” the Lord every day, that is, if we take the time to do so. Today, it was quite easy for me! I rushed to my son’s house about 2 am as he and his wife rushed to the hospital. I looked at my sleeping two-year granddaughter – her hair spread on her pillow, her cute little legs in strange positions (way more flexible than Nana!). Then I had the extraordinary opportunity to hold my newest grandchild. How could I not see the face of God? How could I not feel his presence? While this day was exceptional, the presence of God was not. My willingness to see and feel him may change but not His presence. In conjunction with the first reading, it is in living our faith, that He blesses us with countless ways to see the Lord. As we reach to others with open hearts and minds, we are aware of His presence.

The gospel provides us so much for reflecting about how we are “seeing” the signs around us. Of course, when we see gray clouds we understand that rain is not far behind. Yet, it seems difficult for us to see what is before us. As I think about our “present time,” I have to cringe. There are many signs for us to know that we are not following the path suggested in the first readings. One only has to look at the dress, music, entertainment, and material focus to conclude that we have veered off the path. How do we find our way back?I keep a prayer by my computer at work that helps me to stay focused (provided I read it often!). I’ll close with that prayer – I received it during Lent one year without an author.

Dear God,

Please remove from me any darkness.

Reveal to me Your light, which You share with me

and have placed within me.

May I shine forth as Your beloved child, to be a sign of

your love for the world to see.

May Your spirit cleanse my heart and mind.

May I feel forgiven.

Thank you for setting me free.

Daily Reflection October 23rd, 2008

Daily Reflection October 23rd, 2008

by Edward Morse

School of Law

Ephesians 3:14-21

Psalm 33:1-2, 4-5, 11-12, 18-19

Luke 12:49-53

Today’s lessons give us food for thought concerning the power of God’s love at work in the lives of those who love and follow him. There is also an uncomfortable truth -- the gospel does not necessarily bring peace and unity – but we can also be assured that God’s love remains powerful even in the face of conflict.

Paul’s letter to the Ephesians contains a beautiful prayer reflecting his sincere desire for strength and comprehension among believers. He reminds us that that we need to be “strengthened with power through [the Holy] Spirit” and that this strengthening will occur in our “inner self.” This teaching may seem somewhat foreign to a culture that focuses heavily on physical strength and beauty and which often understands love as an emotional response. Does our inner self really need “strength to comprehend … the love of Christ”?

Our inner self does indeed need strengthening. We are easily overcome by other dark and cynical forces; unfortunately love is not the first response that comes to my mind when challenges come my way. Yet Paul earnestly prays that we should be “rooted and grounded in love” in order to obtain this strength. The love of Christ living within us is an empowering force that can accomplish much, even more than we can ask for or imagine. But we must give it a chance to influence us, and we must choose to draw on the love of Christ as we consider how we respond. Paul also suggests this is not a solitary act, but one that is contemplated along with “all the holy ones”. We thus share this unifying experience, not only of being loved by God but in knowing the fullness of God through reflecting back this love in our lives together.

In contrast to this unifying theme of Christ’s love, the gospel passage in Luke provides a challenging -- even disturbing -- truth. Jesus speaks here of division, strife, and disunity which he also brings to the world. Moreover, that conflict comes even within earthly families, which are supposed to be places where we find love and acceptance.

At one level, we can understand this teaching as another warning to the disciples that he would not be establishing an earthly political kingdom. Jesus would accomplish something much greater, not through armies and political power, but through self-denying love, in laying down his own life for his friends. Thankfully, we can be included among that friendship group.

But this teaching also shows us that the call of God causes conflict. The peace we look forward to, which comes only in the fullness of the reign of God, is not yet here. Following Christ may cause us to reject contrary teachings and practices that are commonly followed, which can cause problems with others who do not know those ways and who may feel convicted by a counter-example. Division or conflict may thus occur between believers and unbelievers. However, it may also occur within the church, which admittedly is not as unified as it should be, in part because we are not all rooted and grounded in the love of Christ as we should be.

As Paul also reminds us, love is patient and kind. (See 1 Cor. 13) Just as God has been patient with us, we need to exercise a similar patience toward those with whom we have divisions and conflicts. When we are “rooted and grounded in love,” so that we may be “filled with all the fullness of God”, we tend not to be so full of ourselves. From my own experience, that helps a lot in breaking down divisions.

Daily Reflection October 22st, 2008

Daily Reflection October 22st, 2008

by Andy Alexander, S.J.

University Ministry and the Collaborative Ministry Office

Ephesians 3:2-12

Isaiah 12:2-3, 4bcd, 5-6

Luke 12:39-48

“Be sure of this:if the master of the house had known the hour when the thief was coming,he would not have let his house be broken into." Luke 12

Jesus is talking about being ready for his return. Of course, the first level of that message is about his return at the end of time. However, he comes at other times, too.

A dear Jesuit friend of many of us here at Creighton died this week. There is nothing like the death of a loved one to put us face to face with the reality of our Lord's coming. In Jim's case, the end came sooner than we expected it to come. The good news is that Jim was ready and wonderfully prepared to meet his Lord, even on such short notice. It wasn't because he didn't love life or deeply love the people in his life. Everyone who knew him knew how passionately engaged he was with life and all the issues that made life rich and fulfilling. In the end, with God's grace, Jim proved to be remarkably free. He knew where he came from and where he was going. He knew the purpose of his life -- in living it and in laying it down at the end.

Jesus is asking us to live our lives with freedom - with the freedom that comes from knowing who we are. That freely lived identity is formed and tested in our everyday lives. It is formed by the defining relationships in our lives and by the choices we make, which shape us into the persons we become. This faithful freedom to be who we are called to be is tested by all the attractions of the world, which pull us in other directions. Usually it is greed or lust - something just looks so attractive that we feel drawn to want it or to at least try it. Sometimes it is fear - anxiety, and worries about the "what ifs," steal our ability to be courageous and steadfast. In all of these defining moments of our lives, Jesus is there coming to meet us with the offer of grace, with the gift of freedom, with the loving encounter that calls us to be our most loving and self-sacrificing selves. He simply asks us to be ready to meet him at the time he comes to us today.

Lord, open our hearts today and every day to receive your gifts of freedom and to encounter you in the many people you place in our lives, in the many choices which can bring us closer to you. Free us to love more freely to say "yes" more completely, to think of the needs of others first and to know what is the right choice. Liberate us from the seduction of power, the deadly grip of anger or judgment, and the debilitating trap of fear. Let us come to life each day as you prepare us for eternal life with you. And, on that day you come to bring us home, grant us the grace of loving family and friends to support us as we surrender to your love completely in our final Amen.

Daily Reflection October 21st, 2008

Daily Reflection October 21st, 2008

by Janine ter Kuile

Financial Aid Office

Ephesians 2:12-22

Psalm 85:9ab-10, 11-12, 13-14

Luke 12:35-38

“Jesus said to his disciples: Gird your loins and light your lamps”

‘Gird your loins’ is a biblical term and one I didn’t get. So I asked a priest… he said it had something to do with eating light…like during Passover when the Jews had to be ready to travel. Another friend said, ’tighten up your belt, be ready for serious action’. …. Another said it meant a warning to wear our full armor, because the back is exposed, we must always be moving forward.

Then I went to the expert. Google said it’s an ‘allusion to the long garments, worn by the eastern nations, which they girded or tucked up about their loins, when they journeyed or were employed in any labor.’ When servants used to carry lights at weddings, generally in the night, girding the loins required keeping their belts fastened ….Last but not least, I went to the dictionary; originating in the Bible, it says ‘to prepare oneself for action’. The Urban dictionary says, ‘Girding my loins’ also means to anger one greatly, or ‘a loin girder’ is a person who angers someone. Well… this might go on and on, but the basic meaning is simply put; ‘Be in readiness’. I think this has something to do with being faithful….

Why is commitment and faithfulness so difficult today? Modern society extols freedom over fidelity… we have difficulty being bound to an uncertain future. Heaven knows, it’s inconvenient and annoying in light of our own to-do list. About our humility or personal poverty…God gives some of us different gifts than He gives others. If you are personally and financially advantaged, how easy is it to feel more entitled to the ‘favors’ of this world.…how more important is it, then, to hoist up our britches and take stock of ourselves.… An eager, anxious pursuit of the things of this world hinders our openness to grace.

If I value the beauty of holiness, I won’t crave the luxuries of life, which isn’t always about ‘material things’. If I give in to frustration and anxiety, I don’t cast my care to God, wherein dwells my inner peace. How am I called to a life of poverty….

Daily Reflection October 15th, 2008

Daily Reflection October 15th, 2008 '

by Maureen McCann Waldron

The Collaborative Ministry Office

Memorial of Saint Teresa of Jesus

Galatians 5:18-25

Psalm 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6

Luke 11:42-46

"Woe to you Pharisees! You pay tithes of mint and of rue and of every garden herb, but you pay no attention to judgment and to love for God." Luke 11

In my mind, I usually picture Jesus as loving and supportive, reaching out for the underdog and compassionate with those who don’t understand his message. But he challenges people strongly when their lives are based on a double standard – speaking one way but living another.

In today’s gospel, addressing his message to the Pharisees, the teachers – and to us – he tries to grab our attention: “Woe to you!” His message to the Pharisees is not about paying the prescribed tithes under the Law of Moses but about ignoring those things which Jesus considers more important, including the love of God and of other people.

He chastises Pharisees for accepting honors and recognition in their relatively easy life while their unbending adherence to the law made life so much more difficult for everyone else. When the scholars protest, feeling they might have been insulted by his words, he makes clear that they have, telling them, “You impose on people burdens hard to carry, but you yourselves do not lift one finger to touch them.”

In our lives today, Jesus’ message is as powerful as ever. Often, our critical eye doesn't miss a thing done incorrectly by our enemies, our politicians, those who are not our friends and sometimes those we simply don't want to understand. We are quick with our criticism and sharp with our judgment. And too often, we are also quick to absolve ourselves of the sins we can see so clearly in others.

Today's gospel might inspire us to take a one-day moratorium from criticizing anyone. It's a small start that could make us more aware of how we really see things. We can begin by asking Jesus for his help. We can beg for forgiveness from our picking and nagging and the unconscious stream of clever commentary we might carry with us while dealing with spouses, families, someone in the grocery store or even while getting the day's news.

Dear Jesus, help me for this day to love people as you love them. Help me to bite my tongue and offer forgiveness with a generous heart. Let me try to understand others as you understand me in all of my flawed humanity. Thank you for your many gifts in my life. May I appreciate them and be more grateful for what I have been given.

It is when we are more aware of how deeply we are loved by God that we can be moved by the gratitude that will ease the judgmental burden we carry with us so often.

Daily Reflection October 8th, 2008

Daily Reflection October 8th, 2008

by Robert P. Heaney

John A. Creighton University Professor

Galatians 2:1-2, 7-14

Psalm 117:1bc, 2

Luke 11:1-4

“Pray” and “prayer” in the New Testament almost always means petition – asking God for something. Today’s gospel says that Jesus was in a certain place “praying”. His disciples would have understood that He was asking God – His Father – for guidance. “Show me your will. What is it you want me to do?” Naturally enough, His disciples asked Him to tell them what they should ask God for as well (as John the Baptist had done for his followers). Jesus tells them to ask God to establish his reign on earth. It was the “how to do that” for which He, himself, had been seeking guidance.

“Hallowed be your name” and “Your kingdom come” are simply polite ways of asking God to run things His way. They are not just pious wishes that people would honor God’s name or bring about God’s rule. They are calls for action – for God to act, not us.

The question we must answer when confronted with this Gospel passage – when we pray the Lord’s Prayer – is “Do we mean it?” “Do we really want God to run things His way?” The Gospels are full of Jesus telling us what that would be like. “The Kingdom of God is like . . .” Like the prodigal father who welcomed home his lost son. Like the vineyard owner who paid the laborers who worked only one hour the same wage as those who worked all day. Like the person who gave a feast and invited “…the poor, the maimed, the lame and the blind…” Like little children.

These things offend our sensibilities. This is not how the world works. If we were to do this, there would be terrible disruption. Society and business, as we know them, would come apart.

Right.

That’s why the final petition that Jesus gives is “. . . subject us not to the trial” (in some translations “temptation”). Don’t let us succumb to the temptation of saying (and acting as if) it won’t work. Perhaps the reason the Kingdom hasn’t come yet is that we haven’t wanted it to.

Daily Reflection October 3rd, 2008

Daily Reflection October 3rd, 2008

by Daniel Patrick O'Reilly

Registrar's Office

Job 38:1, 12-21; 40:3-5

Psalm 139:1-3, 7-8, 9-10, 13-14ab

Luke 10:13-16

On first read, today’s scripture readings really contrast with each other. In ways, they are unsettling and convicting and yet, they are also calming and reassuring. In Job, Job has apparently questioned God’s wisdom and actions. The Lord let’s Job know (quite sarcastically) that he is in charge and Job is not. Job apologizes. The psalmist proclaims the wisdom and power of the Lord. “I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made; wonderful are your works.” And in Luke, Jesus has sent out disciples through the land. Apparently several towns have rejected them and Jesus issues a stern warning to these towns. Jesus says to his disciples, “Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me reject the one who sent me.”

A week from today I will be headed to Colorado for my niece’s wedding. My niece is a lovely, wonderful, young woman. Her bride-to-be is an impressive, young man. I’ve met his parents and they are good people. The gowns have been fitted, the tuxedoes rented, the flowers ordered and the feast is ready. My youngest son will be the ring bearer. Your typical, traditional wedding. The wedding will be in Estes Park with the Rocky Mountains as a backdrop. A setting that truly reveals God’s glory. Except for one thing. God is not invited. God’s name will not be spoken at this wedding. To say this is a point of consternation for me is to put it mildly. And, of course, I am not the only one with these feelings. I have been praying about this a great deal. What is the point of speaking wedding vows if the vows are not spoken before God? Should I participate in a wedding where God is not proclaimed? Should I even be attending this wedding?
Well, today’s scripture readings helped me in that decision. I am so like Job. I am always questioning God’s wisdom. Why did this happen, what was the purpose of that, why would you allow a wedding without you and why would you want me to go to that wedding? Thankfully we worship a knowing, loving and forgiving God. As the psalmist proclaims, “God knows everything about me and no matter where I am, God’s hand is there to guide me.” Jesus sent his disciples throughout the land. What if a disciple had said, I am not going to Bethsaida. They will never repent. They’ll just reject us there.

What if God’s plan was for me to be the one praying for this couple, asking his blessing on them? And I refused to go. This is someone I know and love. Are my principles more important than her life? I should jump at the chance to pray for her. And yet here I sit, questioning whether it is right to go or not. I am going to the wedding. I learned long ago that God and my wife are both much wiser than me. And sometimes, no matter what path my mind tells me to take, I simply have to trust and obey.

My prayer today is for those who, like my niece, do not know Christ. And for those of us who so long to introduce them to Christ. Lord, give us guidance and courage.

Daily Reflection October 2nd, 2008

Daily Reflection October 2nd, 2008

by Barbara Dilly

Theology Department

Memorial of the Guardian Angels

Job 19:21-27

Psalm 27:7-8a, 8b-9abc, 13-14

Matthew 18:1-5, 10

As I read the readings for today, an old familiar song kept going through my head. It was a song that I have sung many times and found very comforting. I checked it out on the web to see if I remembered it correctly. I found that it was sung in Catholic churches in the 60/70/80’s. I learned it as a Lutheran in Luther League groups and we still do sing it sometimes. I also still hear it when I visit Catholic churches. Probably all Christians know it and most of our readers remember it. Here are the words:

Chorus:

Hear O Lord the sound of my call

Hear O Lord and have mercy

My soul is longing for the glory of you

O hear, O Lord and answer me.

Every night before I sleep, I pray my soul to take,

Or else I pray that loneliness is gone when I awake.

Chorus:

Why do I no longer feel like I’ve a place to stay?

O take me where someone will care so fear will go away.

Chorus:

In you O Lord I place my cares and all my troubles too,

O grant dear Lord that some day soon, I’ll live in peace with you.

Chorus:

I am not sure who wrote this song but I did learn that you can find it on a CD under the title of “Hear O Lord the sound of my voice” if you search on the internet.

As I reflect on the words of this song and the readings for today, I think about how the lyrics spoke to the loneliness and insecurities I felt as a young person when I first left home. I don’t think I was very unusual in seeking a place where I would be without fears and troubles. Most of us are consumed with longing for something when we are young. Then we develop some maturity as we get older and we gain courage; we become more stouthearted as we wait for the Lord to help us out of our human predicaments. I’ve been there too, toughing it out. But now I am at the age where I can understand what Jesus says about humbling ourselves like a child to seek the peace and reassurance that we need in this life. Faith isn’t about toughing it out. It is about openness in times of vulnerability.

As adults, it is often difficult for us to admit that the deep longings of our souls make us very vulnerable, like we were when we first left home and tried to make it on our own. No matter what we have accomplished, if we humble ourselves, we have to admit that we are still in that same state of need. That is where God meets us, when we cry out, “hear O Lord, the sound of my call, hear O Lord and have mercy. My soul is longing for the Glory of you, O hear O Lord and answer me.” I am so glad that song is still in my head.