Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time Lectionary Reflection September 9, 2018

September 9, 2018: Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Catholic Social Teaching: Solidarity

Watch a CRS video on solidarity:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cteMjwOBPtw

Readings 

First Reading: Isaiah 35:4-7a

Psalm: 146:7, 8-9, 9-10

Second Reading: James 2:1-5

Gospel: Mark 7:31-37

Catechism of the Catholic Church

Socio-economic problems can be resolved only with the help of all the forms of solidarity: solidarity of the poor among themselves, between rich and poor, of workers among themselves, between employers and employees in a business, solidarity among nations and peoples. International solidarity is a requirement of the moral order; world peace depends in part upon this. (1941)

From the Daily Roman Missal, Introduction to the,Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church:

James 2:1-9

Only the recognition of human dignity can make possible the common and personal growth of everyone (cf. Jas 2:1-9). To stimulate this kind of growth it is necessary in particular to help the least, effectively ensuring conditions of equal opportunity for men and women and guaranteeing an objective equality between the different social classes before the law.

Also in relations between peoples and States, conditions of equality and parity are prerequisites for the authentic progress of the international community. Despite the steps taken in this direction, it must not forget that there still exist many inequalities and forms of dependence.

Together with equality in the recognition of the dignity of each person and of every people there must also be an awareness that it will be possible to safeguard and promote human dignity only if this is done as a community, by the whole of humanity. Only through the mutual action of individuals and peoples sincerely concerned for the good of all men and women can a genuine universal brotherhood be attained; otherwise, the persistence of conditions of serious disparity and inequality will make us all poorer. (145)

For complete text visit: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/justpeace/documents/rc_pc_justpeace_doc_20060526_compendio-dott-soc_en.html

Reflection 

We must desire to hear the Word of God, so we may speak of His precepts from having internalized the message and articulate them in our spoken expressions and concrete actions.  Deafness replaced by a docile opening to hear with ears of justice.  Impediments limiting our proclamation of justice removed because we have been brought to Jesus’ way of viewing the world.  A divine plan spoken by the prophets, not obsessed with profits, to nourish the land with refreshment of life giving elements.  The refreshment from stewardship of creation for the benefit of all, even in deserts appearing parched.  Supporting economic and social direction to provide clean drinking water as a human right.  Honoring the dignity of workers with safe workplace environments void of imprisonment, abuse and exploitation physically and mentally.  Equality of opportunity in social, economic and religious structures to honor the responsibility of all to use their God given gifts in service of humanity.  Compassion for the vulnerable, so they do not become rubble trampled under foot or shielded from view.  For in giving places of honor to elites bedecked in material wealth, trappings of self-induced esteem fizzles solidarity from society.  The inherent judgment creates a cast system based on economic criteria, lauding wealth over virtue.  A false security denying our true wealth is only founding in loving God and one another as ourselves.  For when we deny paradoxes of the poor being truly rich in what matters most to God, we are blind and mute to proclaim the Gospel.  

Individual Reflection:Psalm 146:7, 8-9, 9-10

Coordinate an ecumenical and interfaith advocacy day in support of Bread for the World initiatives, inviting people from your parish and neighboring faith based communities.  Include youth in the letter writing day, with education and advocacy about food insecurity.  Share the activities with your parish community on the parish website, blog and bulletin.  Ask for a prayer petition to be included in prayers of the faithful.

http://www.bread.org/bread-world-sunday

Family Reflection: Isaiah 35:4-7a

Plan an outing to view vernal pools

https://www.pe.com/2017/01/08/why-vernal-pools-are-full-at-santa-rosa-plateau/

https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/Lands/Places-to-Visit/Carrizo-Plains-ER

Prayer:

Pray for an end to hunger in the world and share these resources

http://www.bread.org/pray-end-hunger

Blogs to Visit:

http://marynow.wordpress.com/

As we reflect upon Mary’s presence in the mysteries of the Rosary, we are blessed to know her.  For her journey, a timeless trek, calls us to surrender, continuing conversion, humbleness and justice now.

https://peaceonjustice.wordpress.com/

Weekly lectionary reflections, for faith sharing groups, parish bulletins, newsletters or personal prayer, from the synergy of the Word we hear and the rich tradition of Catholic Social Teaching.

https://cst74life.wordpress.com/

Catholic Social Teaching offers seven principles for upholding life in our thoughts, decisions and actions.

http://idocst.wordpress.com/

How we do Catholic Social Teaching.

https://csmresources.wordpress.com/

Creation sustainability ministry resources in the spirit of the St Francis Pledge.

https://smrep.wordpress.com/

Social Ministry Resources Engaging Parishes: Monthly and liturgical seasons resources for use with parish websites, bulletins and newsletters

Involvement Opportunities

List one or two upcoming events, legislative action alerts or social justice websites

By Barb  Born  August 18, 2018 The reflection maybe used in parish bulletins, newsletters or for faith sharing groups without copyright concern.

Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time Lectionary Reflection September 2, 2018

September 2, 2018: Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Catholic Social Teaching: Option for the Poor and Vulnerable

The Lord promises refreshment and freedom to all the oppressed of our world, but he needs us to fulfill his promise. He needs our eyes to see the needs of our brothers and sisters. He needs our hands to offer them help. He needs our voice to protest the injustices committed thanks to the silence, often complicit, of so many. I should really speak of many silences: the silence of common sense; the silence that thinks, ‘it’s always been done this way;’ the silence of ‘us’ as opposed to ‘you.’ Above all, the Lord needs our hearts to show his merciful love towards the least, the outcast, the abandoned, the marginalized.”  Pope Francis Homily at Mass for Immigrants , July 6, 2018.  Read the entire homily: http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/homilies/2018/documents/papa-francesco_20180706_omelia-migranti.html

Readings 

First Reading: Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-8

Psalm: 15:2-3, 3-4, 4-5

Second Reading:: JAMES 1:17-18, 21b-22, 27

Gospel: Mark 78:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Catechism of the Catholic Church

The sixth beatitude proclaims, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” “Pure in heart” refers to those who have attuned their intellects and wills to the demands of God’s holiness, chiefly in three areas: charity; chastity or sexual rectitude; love of truth and orthodoxy of faith. There is a connection between purity of heart, of body, and of faith:

The faithful must believe the articles of the Creed “so that by believing they may obey God, by obeying may live well, by living well may purify their hearts, and with pure hearts may understand what they believe.” (2518)  From the Daily Roman Missal, Introduction to the, Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church:

James 1:17

This document is proposed also to the brethren of other Churches and Ecclesial Communities, to the followers of other religions, as well as to all people of good will who are committed to serving the common good: may they receive it as the fruit of a universal human experience marked by countless signs of the presence of God’s Spirit. It is a treasury of things old and new (cf. Mt 13:52), which the Church wishes to share, in thanksgiving to God, from whom comes “every good endowment and ever perfect gift” (Jas 1:17). It is a sign of hope in the fact that religions and cultures today show openness to dialogue and sense the urgent need to join forces in promoting justice, fraternity, peace and the growth of the human person.

The Catholic Church joins her own commitment to that made in the social field by other Churches and Ecclesial Communities, whether at the level of doctrinal reflection or at the practical level. Together with them, the Catholic Church is convinced that from the common heritage of social teachings preserved by the living tradition of the people of God there will come motivations and orientations for an ever closer cooperation in the promotion of justice and peace. (12)

James 1:22

The gratuitousness of this historically efficacious divine action is constantly accompanied by the commitment to the covenant, proposed by God and accepted by Israel. On Mount Sinai, God’s initiative becomes concrete in the covenant with his people, to whom is given the Decalogue of the commandments revealed by the Lord (cf. Ex 19-24). The “ten commandments” (Ex 34:28; cf. Deut 4:13; 10:4) “express the implications of belonging to God through the establishment of the covenant. Moral existence is a response to the Lord’s loving initiative. It is the acknowledgment and homage given to God and a worship of thanksgiving. It is cooperation with the plan God pursues in history”.

The Ten Commandments, which constitute an extraordinary path of life and indicate the surest way for living in freedom from slavery to sin, contain a privileged expression of the natural law. They “teach us the true humanity of man. They bring to light the essential duties, and therefore, indirectly, the fundamental rights inherent in the nature of the human person”.  They describe universal human morality. In the Gospel, Jesus reminds the rich young man that the Ten Commandments (cf. Mt 19:18) “constitute the indispensable rules of all social life”. (70)

For complete text visit: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/justpeace/documents/rc_pc_justpeace_doc_20060526_compendio-dott-soc_en.html

Reflection 

Scrupulous holiness can imprison one’s faith to become only hearers of the word, creating a delusion of holiness defining faith in a pristine environment of pious devotion.  Faith never prying itself away from prayer, adoration, devotions or the confessional to act on the words of Jesus in the world.  The need to walk out of the Church to the sidewalks of life.  A process of seeing the reality of what we heard and received at mass engaging us in the world. We must not let the words gloss over to platitudes or dissect them with fine precision to extract pinpoint technicalities while ignoring the dynamic paradigms of the world around us.  Never seeing the face of a hungry person, a child’s future void of education, the chill of a person spending the night on a cardboard mattress with the boxsprings of a concrete sidewalk, a racial slur taken across the brow of a farm worker toiling in triple digit heat.  The Eucharist does not prepare us to sit for an eternity, fearful to get the messiness of the world on our hands.  For we live in the presence of the Lord by doing justice.  Not an authoritarian posture of self-vindication, but where truth lives in one’s heart, one’s tongue slanders not, no bribes accepted for false endeavors.  As doers of the word, one neither adds or subtracts for the commandments set before us are carefully observed each day.  With a default position to sit in passive attentiveness, only deludes one self from the reality of the word living and effective.  A religion not masked in possessive holiness, but in purity to care for the orphans and widows.  The most vulnerable should be our primary concern, not prioritizing  self-indulging, personal holiness.  Faith should free us from the pew after we hear the word, to act as doers of the word placed in our hearts and hands.  

Individual Reflection: Psalm 15:2-3, 3-4, 4-5

For Labor Day Weekend, show this USCCB and CRS collaborated video on the Dignity of Work and Rights of Workers on the video screen before mass and place a link to the video in the bulletin: https://youtu.be/G2G8jGOva7Y

Personally, what does the video challenge you to do?

Family Reflection: James 1:17-18, 21b-22, 27

Reflect on the application and response of the readings to the dignity of work and rights of workers as we celebrate Labor Day:

http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/labor-employment/upload/labor-day-2018-pastoral-aid.pdf (English)

http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/labor-employment/upload/labor-day-2018-pastoral-aid-spanish.pdf (Spanish)

How does the dignity of work and rights of workers incorporate into Catholic Social Teachings?

https://www.wearesaltandlight.org/files/2815/0369/3533/catholic-social-teaching-handout-for-children-digital.pdf (English)

https://www.wearesaltandlight.org/files/2515/0369/3534/catholic-social-teaching-handout-for-children-spanish-digital.pdf (Spanish)

Prayer: USCCB Labor Day Prayer   

http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/labor-employment/upload/labor-day-2018-pastoral-aid.pdf

Prayer for Work

Creator God,

thank you for providing us

with the gift to share our talents.

Provide our community, our nation, our world the fortitude to provide work for all

which is decent and fair.

Blogs to Visit:

http://marynow.wordpress.com/

As we reflect upon Mary’s presence in the mysteries of the Rosary, we are blessed to know her.  For her journey, a timeless trek, calls us to surrender, continuing conversion, humbleness and justice now.

https://peaceonjustice.wordpress.com/

Weekly lectionary reflections, for faith sharing groups, parish bulletins, newsletters or personal prayer, from the synergy of the Word we hear and the rich tradition of Catholic Social Teaching.

https://cst74life.wordpress.com/

Catholic Social Teaching offers seven principles for upholding life in our thoughts, decisions and actions.

http://idocst.wordpress.com/

How we do Catholic Social Teaching.

https://csmresources.wordpress.com/

Creation sustainability ministry resources in the spirit of the St Francis Pledge.

https://smrep.wordpress.com/

Social Ministry Resources Engaging Parishes: Monthly and liturgical seasons resources for use with parish websites, bulletins and newsletters

Involvement Opportunities

List one or two upcoming events, legislative action alerts or social justice websites

By Barb  Born  August 10, 2018 The reflection maybe used in parish bulletins, newsletters or for faith sharing groups without copyright concern.

Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time Lectionary Reflection August 26, 2018

August 26, 2018: Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

Catholic Social Teaching: Call to Family,  Community and Participation

“…We believe people have the right and duty to participate in society, seeking together the common good and well-0being of all, especially the poor and vulnerable.”  Themes from Catholic Social Teaching , USCCB

Readings 

First Reading: Joshua 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18b

Psalm: 34:2-3, 16-17, 18-19, 20-21

Second Reading: Ephesians 5:21-32

Gospel: John 6:60-69

Catechism of the Catholic Church

The entire Christian life bears the mark of the spousal love of Christ and the Church. Already Baptism, the entry into the People of God, is a nuptial mystery; it is so to speak the nuptial bath.¹¹¹ which precedes the wedding feast, the Eucharist. Christian marriage in its turn becomes an efficacious sign, the sacrament of the covenant of Christ and the Church. Since it signifies and communicates grace, marriage between baptized persons is a true sacrament of the New Covenant. (1617)

From the Daily Roman Missal, Introduction to the, Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time,  Cycle B

Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church:

Ephesians 5:21-33

Man and woman have the same dignity and are of equal value, not only because they are both, in their differences, created in the image of God, but even more profoundly because the dynamic of reciprocity that gives life to the “we” in the human couple, is an image of God. In a relationship of mutual communion, man and woman fulfil themselves in a profound way, rediscovering themselves as persons through the sincere gift of themselves Their covenant of union is presented in Sacred Scripture as an image of the Covenant of God with man (cf. Hos 1-3; Is 54; Eph 5:21-33) and, at the same time, as a service to life Indeed, the human couple can participate in God’s act of creation: “God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it’ “ (Gen 1:28).  (111)

For complete text visit: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/justpeace/documents/rc_pc_justpeace_doc_20060526_compendio-dott-soc_en.html

Reflection 

What solidifies our belief?  A transition from acceptance where we hang in the crowd listening to proclamations, cheering or jeering while processing along to an affirmation of realizing we have been bestowed with Spirit and life by the Father.   Like Peter we know there is no other place to go, a free will decision that we can never depart from following Jesus and his words of eternal life for along the path of life we have come to believe Jesus is the Holy One of God.  For when we know the Lord hears our just cries, we raise  our voices over injustice in our world, nation and Church.   We are rescued from distress to perceiver in addressing challenging issues detracting from the kIngdom of God here and now.

Many gods exist around us.  The lure of money pretending to purchase happiness. Careers earning prestige that can vanish with one corporate merger or retirement.  Privilege of race upholding entrenched structural inequities, while other languish.  Material possessions speaking status in flashing brands as status symbols  that will soon break, tear or be stolen. Power to lord over others as factors of production, quasi slaves robbing others of dignity.  Control over creation,  as people exploit the gifts of the Creator.  Acting like we own our personal possessions, the items can become multiple gods.  A home, car, clothes, electronics in the latest version, the most giant screen. A myriad of gods constantly in our midst, but with belief in the Lord, giver of Spirit and life, we realize the transistor nature of those gods creating hollowness like a deflating balloon.  

The prophetic words of Jesus have been placed before us on the altar.  Challenging as they were to the disciples following Jesus and murmuring in the crowd, the reality of life in ancient Palestine to the cities and towns of the twenty-first century on the twenty-first Sunday in ordinary time, have the same basic needs.  For we are all part of the same Divine pilgrimage only fulfilled by the words of Jesus giving Spirit and life. 

Individual Reflection: Joshua 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18b

http://listeningtowomen.org. Coordinate a listening session at your parish.  Seek the support of various ministries to encourage a dialogue and engage active participation in the Church.

Family Reflection: Psalm 34:2-3, 16-17, 18-19, 20-21

Taste and see the goodness of the Lord by encouraging a multi-cultural food festival at your parish representing the native foods of parishioners.  Maybe it act as a  coming together of different cultures and a place for dialogue, encounter and respect to unify the parish as the Body of Christ.

Prayer: This is the third Sunday utilizing portions of Psalm 34 for the lectionary readings .   Take time to read Psalm 34 in its entirety.  How does it relate to your experience of receiving the Bread of Life and letting it nurture your life?

Blogs to Visit:

http://marynow.wordpress.com/

As we reflect upon Mary’s presence in the mysteries of the Rosary, we are blessed to know her.  For her journey, a timeless trek, calls us to surrender, continuing conversion, humbleness and justice now.

https://peaceonjustice.wordpress.com/

Weekly lectionary reflections, for faith sharing groups, parish bulletins, newsletters or personal prayer, from the synergy of the Word we hear and the rich tradition of Catholic Social Teaching.

https://cst74life.wordpress.com/

Catholic Social Teaching offers seven principles for upholding life in our thoughts, decisions and actions.

http://idocst.wordpress.com/

How we do Catholic Social Teaching.

https://csmresources.wordpress.com/

Creation sustainability ministry resources in the spirit of the St Francis Pledge.

https://smrep.wordpress.com/

Social Ministry Resources Engaging Parishes: Monthly and liturgical seasons resources for use with parish websites, bulletins and newsletters

Involvement Opportunities

List one or two upcoming events, legislative action alerts or social justice websites

By Barb  Born  August 8, 2018  St Dominic pray for us. The reflection maybe used in parish bulletins, newsletters or for faith sharing groups without copyright concern.