peaceonjustice

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.

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.

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

How we do Catholic Social Teaching.

https://smrep.wordpress.com/

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

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 June 17, 2019 The reflection maybe used in parish bulletins, newsletters or for faith sharing groups without copyright concern.

Ascension of the Lord Lectionary Reflection June 2, 2019

Posted on May 27, 2019 by Barb Born

June 2, 2019: Ascension of the Lord

Catholic Social Teaching: Call to Family, Community and Participation

The Gospel offers us the chance to live life on a higher plane, but with no less intensity: “Life grows by being given away, and it weakens in isolation and comfort. Indeed, those who enjoy life most are those who leave security on the shore and become excited by the mission of communicating life to others”. When the Church summons Christians to take up the task of evangelization, she is simply pointing to the source of authentic personal fulfilment. For “here we discover a profound law of reality: that life is attained and matures in the measure that it is offered up in order to give life to others. This is certainly what mission means”. Consequently, an evangelizer must never look like someone who has just come back from a funeral! Let us recover and deepen our enthusiasm, that “delightful and comforting joy of evangelizing, even when it is in tears that we must sow… And may the world of our time, which is searching, sometimes with anguish, sometimes with hope, be enabled to receive the good news not from evangelizers who are dejected, discouraged, impatient or anxious, but from ministers of the Gospel whose lives glow with fervour, who have first received the joy of Christ”. (10) Joy of the Gospel, Pope Francis

Readings

First Reading: Acts 1:1-11

Psalm: 47:2-3, 6-7, 8-9

Second Reading: Ephesians 1:17-23 or Hebrews 9:24-28;10:19-23

Gospel: Luke 24:46-53

Catechism of the Catholic Church

This final stage stays closely linked to the first, that is, to his descent from heaven in the Incarnation. Only the one who “came from the Father” can return to the Father: Christ Jesus.⁵³⁸ “No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of man.”Left to its own natural powers humanity does not have access to the “Father’s house”, to God’s life and happiness.Only Christ can open to man such access that we, his members, might have confidence that we too shall go where he, our Head and our Source, has preceded us. (661) From the Daily Roman Missal, Introduction to the Ascension of the Lord, Cycle C

Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church:

Matthew 28:19-20 (Gospel Acclamation) and Luke 24:46-49

God, in Christ, redeems not only the individual person but also the social relations existing between men. As the Apostle Paul teaches, life in Christ makes the human person’s identity and social sense — with their concrete consequences on the historical and social planes — emerge fully and in a new manner: “For in Christ Jesus you are all children of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ” (Gal 3:26-28). In this perspective, Church communities, brought together by the message of Jesus Christ and gathered in the Holy Spirit round the Risen Lord (cf. Mt 18:20, 28:19-20; Lk 24:46-49), offer themselves as places of communion, witness and mission, and as catalysts for the redemption and transformation of social relationships. (52)

Ephesians 1:22-23

Faith in Jesus Christ makes it possible to have a correct understanding of social development, in the context of an integral and solidary humanism. In this regard, the contribution of theological reflection offered by the Church’s social Magisterium is very useful: “Faith in Christ the Redeemer, while it illuminates from within the nature of development, also guides us in the task of collaboration. In the Letter of St. Paul to the Colossians, we read that Christ is ‘the firstborn of all creation,’ and that ‘all things were created through him’ and for him (Col 1:15-16). In fact, ‘all things hold together in him’, since ‘in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things’ (v. 20). A part of this divine plan, which begins from eternity in Christ, the perfect ‘image’ of the Father, and which culminates in him, ‘the firstborn from the dead’ (v. 15-18), in our own history, marked by our personal and collective effort to raise up the human condition and to overcome the obstacles which are continually arising along our way. It thus prepares us to share in the fullness which ‘dwells in the Lord’ and which he communicates ‘to his body, which is the Church’ (v. 18; cf. Eph 1:22-23). At the same time sin, which is always attempting to trap us and which jeopardizes our human achievements, is conquered and redeemed by the ‘reconciliation’ accomplished by Christ (cf. Col 1:20)”. (327)

Hebrews 10:23

The salvation offered by God to his children requires their free response and acceptance. It is in this that faith consists, and it is through this that “man freely commits his entire self to God”, responding to God’s prior and superabundant love (cf. 1 Jn 4:10) with concrete love for his brothers and sisters, and with steadfast hope because “he who promised is faithful” (Heb 10:23). In fact, the divine plan of salvation does not consign human creatures to a state of mere passivity or of lesser status in relation to their Creator, because their relationship to God, whom Jesus Christ reveals to us and in whom he freely makes us sharers by the working of the Holy Spirit, is that of a child to its parent: the very relationship that Jesus lives with the Father (cf. Jn 15-17; Gal 4:6-7). (39)

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

Is joy evident in your faith, your parish community, the Church, as the Body of Christ? Through the Holy Spirit, if we experience and believe Christ suffered, rose from the dead on the third day, so to offer repentance for the forgiveness of sin available to all humanity, in all nations, how can we not be joyful? When Jesus spoke those words to HIs disciples, led them to Bethany, blessed them and ascended to the Father, the disciples did Him homage and returned to. Jerusalem with great joy ! As we go to our temples today, our churches and living our lives as temples of the Holy Spirit, how do we emulate that joy? Or do we scoff against non-believers as pagans, grumble over the state of affairs and feel unempowered to work for change as a voice for peace in the world? Belief should infuse us with joy, empower us with hope, for Jesus did not ascend to leave us distanced from the Divine. From His ascending, believers, if they are receptive, receive the Holy Spirit to open the eyes of their heart to be enlightened in deeper knowledge of the Lord. His ways that belong to the call of being a disciple. Our spiritual inheritance to give us fullness of life in every way and eventually eternal salvation to those who eagerly await Him. Do we take that grace to have confidence of entrance into the sanctuary by the new and living way Jesus opened for us through His once and for all sacrifice? So as we approach the gift of the altar each time to receive HIs real presence, let us approach with sincere heart and absolute trust, with hearts sprinkled clean from any doubting conscience to hold unwaveringly to our confession that give us hope for the Lord who promised us eternal life is trustworthy. As the angels approached the men of Galilee to ask why they continued to peer into the sky after Jesus was taken up into heaven to affirm the Lord would return, we must not be consumed by what was but attentive to the mission entrusted us by the Holy Spirit. For with our future assured, joy should propel us to offer praise while we pursue the unfolding kingdom of God here and now. Taking the cue of Luke to Theophilus, a friend of God, a reference to all believers of who we are, the Gospel account of Jesus’ actions and teachings into the early Church’s emergence and infusion of the Holy Spirit, we continue the legacy today in the familiarity of our Judea, the challenges of our Samarias to build bridges, to our uncharted endeavors that seem like the ends of the earth. A mission, a way of life expressing the joy for all Jesus has done for us, all he continues to do for us and His promise our eternal salvation.

Individual Reflection:

What mission have you been entrusted with? How should you stop peering into the sky and trust the Holy Spirit to enliven you to act?

Family Reflection:

With Pentecost next weekend look for an Eucharistic procession to attend, such as the 203rd Annual Mission San Antonio de Paula outdoor mass and procession through the village:

Prayer: Prayerfully reflect on how you praise God and live with joy in your life

One can sin against God’s love in various ways:

– indifference neglects or refuses to reflect on divine charity; it fails to consider its prevenient goodness and denies its power.

– ingratitude fails or refuses to acknowledge divine charity and to return him love for love.

– lukewarmness is hesitation or negligence in responding to divine love; it can imply refusal to give oneself over to the prompting of charity.

– acedia or spiritual sloth goes so far as to refuse the joy that comes from God and to be repelled by divine goodness.

– hatred of God comes from pride. It is contrary to love of God, whose goodness it denies, and whom it presumes to curse as the one who forbids sins and inflicts punishments

(2094) Catechism of the Catholic Church

Blogs to Visit:

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.

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

How we do Catholic Social Teaching.

https://smrep.wordpress.com/

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

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 May 27, 2019 The reflection maybe used in parish bulletins, newsletters or for faith sharing groups without copyright concern.

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time Lectionary Reflection January 27, 2019

Posted on January 23, 2019 by Barb Born

January 27, 2019: Third Sunday of Ordinary Time

Catholic Social Teaching: Solidarity

Reflecting on the reading from Nehemiah noting the presence in the assembly of “children old enough to understand”, how can we listen to the voices of youth and be inclusive of them within the Body of Christ. How might you parish and diocese hold a “synod” to listen to their voices and value their gifts? What themes from World Youth Day in Panama might resonate in this process?

Readings

First Reading: Nehemiah 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10

Psalm: 19:8, 9, 10, 15

Second Reading: 1st Corinthians 12:12-30

Gospel: Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21

Catechism of the Catholic Church

“Justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God,” “sanctified . . . [and] called to be saints,” Christians have become the temple of the Holy Spirit. This “Spirit of the Son” teaches them to pray to the Father and, having become their life, prompts them to act so as to bear “the fruit of the Spirit” by charity in action. Healing the wounds of sin, the Holy Spirit renews us interiorly through a spiritual transformation. He enlightens and strengthens us to live as “children of light” through “all that is good and right and true.” (1695) From the Daily Roman Missal, Introduction to the Third Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle C

Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church:

Luke 4:18-19

The benevolence and mercy that inspire God’s actions and provide the key for understanding them become so very much closer to man that they take on the traits of the man Jesus, the Word made flesh. In the Gospel of Saint Luke, Jesus describes his messianic ministry with the words of Isaiah which recall the prophetic significance of the jubilee: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord” (Lk 4:18-19; cf. Is 61:1-2). Jesus therefore places himself on the frontline of fulfillment, not only because he fulfills what was promised and what was awaited by Israel, but also in the deeper sense that in him the decisive event of the history of God with mankind is fulfilled. He proclaims: “He who has seen me has seen the Father” (Jn 14:9). Jesus, in other words, is the tangible and definitive manifestation of how God acts towards men and women. (28)

1st Corinthians 12:13

“God shows no partiality” (Acts 10:34; cf. Rom 2:11; Gal 2:6; Eph 6:9), since all people have the same dignity as creatures made in his image and likeness . The Incarnation of the Son of God shows the equality of all people with regard to dignity: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:28; cf. Rom 10:12; 1 Cor 12:13, Col 3:11). (144)

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

God’s Word should not make us sad and weeping, but give us hope, inspiration, freedom and understanding to live as He desires for us. Words that give Spirit and life to refresh our souls, giving wisdom. Words to rejoice our hearts from precepts of our loving God, proclaimed with clarity to enlighten our eyes to His everlasting Divine beauty. Words proclaimed to all humanity from the youngest to oldest, women and men for all to participate as one body with many parts, living as the Body of Christ given to drink of the one Cup and Spirit. A discernment on our part to see the Divine plan for unity. Without striving for unity, dysfunction, fragmentation creates spiritual chaos tumbling into hypocritical proclamation of God’s Word thru speech and actions masquerading as the Lord’s precepts. When we realize the certainty of the teaching we have received, we know the Scripture is fulfilled in our hearing of the Word. A Word we see relevant to our lives, challenging us to be part of the human family engaged in the world, not just spiritually cloistered in personal holiness.

If we are a hand let us reach out to invite the Body of Christ to be wholly inclusive. If we are a foot let us walk, or sometimes hop towards encouraging all to walk towards the decrees of the Lord. If we are a mouth let us not be hesitant to articulate the divisiveness in the Body of Christ and utter words of healing and wisdom to sear the riff. If we are ears let us hear pleas of unity, cries of sorrow from division, mourning for the hurts imprinted on the Body of Christ and transmit those feelings to the heart to let empathy heal.

Individual Reflection:

January 27th is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Attend a remembrance vigil in your community. The United Nations’ theme this year is “Demand and Defend Your Human Rights”

http://www.un.org/en/holocaustremembrance/2019/calendar2019.html

https://www.ushmm.org/information/exhibitions/online-exhibitions/special-focus/international-holocaust-remembrance-day

Family Reflection:

February 2nd is the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. It is associated with the blessing of candles. https://www.franciscanmedia.org/presentation-of-the-lord/

Discuss the significance of candles in your faith. How can your family use eco-friendly candles, like those made from beeswax?

Prayer:

Light a candle and sit in silence reflecting on being a light in the world.

Blogs to Visit:

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.

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

How we do Catholic Social Teaching.

https://smrep.wordpress.com/

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

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 January 23, 2019 The reflection maybe used in parish bulletins, newsletters or for faith sharing groups without copyright concern.

The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph Lectionary Reflection December 31, 2017

Posted on December 20, 2017 by Barb Born

December 31, 2017: The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph

Catholic Social Teaching: Call to Family, Community and Participation

So that this call should resound throughout the world, Christ sent forth the apostles he had chosen, commissioning them to proclaim the gospel: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.” Strengthened by this mission, the apostles “went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that attended it.”
Those who with God’s help have welcomed Christ’s call and freely responded to it are urged on by love of Christ to proclaim the Good News everywhere in the world. This treasure, received from the apostles, has been faithfully guarded by their successors. All Christ’s faithful are called to hand it on from generation to generation, by professing the faith, by living it in fraternal sharing, and by celebrating it in liturgy and prayer.
(2 and 3) Catechism of the Catholic Church

Readings
First Reading: Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14 or Genesis 15:1-6; 21:1-3
Psalm: 128:1-2, 3, 4-5 or 105:1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8-9
Second Reading: Colossians 3:12-21 or Hebrews 11:8, 11-12, 17-19
Gospel: Luke 2:22-40

Catechism of the Catholic Church

The Christian family constitutes a specific revelation and realization of ecclesial communion, and for this reason it can and should be called a domestic church.”9 It is a community of faith, hope, and charity; it assumes singular importance in the Church, as is evident in the New Testament. (2204)
From the Daily Roman Missal, Introduction to the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, Cycle B

Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church:

Sirach 3:1-16
It is in the family that one learns the love and faithfulness of the Lord, and the need to respond to these (cf. Ex 12:25-27, 13:8,14-15; Deut 6:20-25, 13:7-11; 1 Sam 3:13). It is in the family that children learn their first and most important lessons of practical wisdom, to which the virtues are connected (cf. Prov 1:8-9, 4:1-4, 6:20-21; Sir 3:1-16, 7:27-28). Because of all this, the Lord himself is the guarantor of the love and fidelity of married life (cf. Mal 2:14-15). (210)

Colossians 3:14
The immediate purpose of the Church’s social doctrine is to propose the principles and values that can sustain a society worthy of the human person. Among these principles, solidarity includes all the others in a certain way. It represents “one of the fundamental principles of the Christian view of social and political organization”.

Light is shed on this principle by the primacy of love, “the distinguishing mark of Christ’s disciples (cf. Jn 13:35)”[1218]. Jesus teaches us that “the fundamental law of human perfection, and consequently of the transformation of the world, is the new commandment of love” (cf. Mt 22:40, Jn 15:12; Col 3:14; Jas 2:8)[1219]. Personal behaviour is fully human when it is born of love, manifests love and is ordered to love. This truth also applies in the social sphere; Christians must be deeply convinced witnesses of this, and they are to show by their lives how love is the only force (cf. 1 Cor 12:31-14:1) that can lead to personal and social perfection, allowing society to make progress towards the good. (580)

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 a disservice flows from idealizing a nuclear family! An air of perfection unattainable while maintaining rational sanity. Stereotypical, storybook persona void of humility, shuttered by holiness from the reality of lives lived interacting with the world. Focusing on the family’s righteous purity subtracts from time, energy and inertia to see the family’s panoramic view in the broader picture of life. Insulating, isolating in their personal, holy realm steals from the family the genuine encounter with the human family. A place taking the focus off us to we frees the nuclear family from self-absorption to allow themselves to be absorbed into the human family. The opportunity to dialogue, share, cooperate for the greater common good. The pressure of spiritual and economic success and status drifts to seeing the imperatives of the broader picture, not a minuscule segment. Idealizing the nuclear family creates an injustice for families, eventually leading to injustice for the entire human family. For a nuclear family may have a ruse that by their pious lifestyle they think they are a loving family, but is love really to love themselves but render disdain to a world they label as immoral, pagan or secular? Jesus loved the world by being in the world. When will we individually and as the Body of Christ start acknowledging and prioritizing the way our Lord loved in his humanity instead of harkening a theology retreating from the world? As people of faith, families of faith, what do we have to fear by living in the world? To withdraw only seal families further from using their gifts in service of God’s kingdom. Don’t let us fool ourselves into fake holiness with a pristine, retractionist model idealizing families, for Jesus said go forth to be disciples and at the end of Mass we are sent forth. Focusing inward is 180 degrees contrary to going forth. Practicing compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another must be ordered not just among kin but all humanity to manifest the message of Jesus to live in love and the fullness of His peace into which we are called in one Body. With thanksgiving, a process respecting and caring for all members and sectors of society. We must come into the temple of the Lord with the Holy Spirit, like Simeon, to see while we may live in a nuclear family our Catholic faith call us to a much broader perspective. Only if the nuclear family instills that persona to resist the temptation to not fully live, but just exist as a pious entity will the Word of Christ dwell richly in them. Further, chastisement of families labeled broken, irregular, separated adds fracturing of the human family. The spirit of welcome, especially at our parishes gets laden with guilt, contempt to block entry from participating as the Body of Christ and ultimately from being sent forth to engage with the broader human family. Shunning segments of society that fail to fit in a preconceived, precise, pseudo holy box leave a lot of people feeling like they live in crevasses unable to climb out. A sense of abandonment be it by the Church or the broader society and they may be outside the idealized “norm” on no account of their own doing. To love as Jesus loves, the bond of perfection requires lives of faith, not lives crafting labels to absolve the responsibility to love. Jesus, Mary and Joseph journeyed as a nuclear family, but their model to us transcends that finite unit to their participation in the broader human family and God’s kingdom. Let us loving follow in their footsteps.

Individual Reflection: Colossians 3:12-21
Utilize the National Migration Week resources at your parish and among family and friends
https://www.sharejourney.org/resource-library/national-migration-week-toolkit/

Family Reflection: Luke 2:22-40
If you are a non-immigrant family share dinner and your journeys with an immigrant family. If you are an immigrant family do likewise with a non-immigrant family.

Prayer
During National Migration Week from January 7th to14th offer a prayer for migrants in a specific part of the world each day, after first researching the challenges they are facing

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 December 19, 2017 The reflection maybe used in parish bulletins, newsletters or for faith sharing groups without copyright concern.

Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time Lectionary Reflection October 15, 2017

Posted on October 11, 2017 by Barb Born

October 15, 2017: Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Catholic Social Teaching: Care for Creation
“…We are called to protect people and the planet, living our faith in relationship with all of God’s creation…”. Themes from Catholic Social Teaching, USCCB

Readings
First Reading: Isaiah 25:6-10a
Psalm: 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6
Second Reading: Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20
Gospel: Matthew 22:1-14

Catechism of the Catholic Church
At the end of time, the Kingdom of God will come in its fullness. After the universal judgment, the righteous will reign for ever with Christ, glorified in body and soul. The universe itself will be renewed:

The Church . . . will receive her perfection only in the glory of heaven, when will come the time of the renewal of all things. At that time, together with the human race, the universe itself, which is so closely related to man and which attains its destiny through him, will be perfectly re-established in Christ. (1042)

From the Daily Roman Missal, Introduction to the, Twenty-eighth Sunday, Cycle A

Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church: No references this week
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
Does complacency, non-chalant, see you tomorrow attitude dictate our relationship to God? With God offering hospitality of feast like proportions to engage in his kingdom, why does he need to dispatch servants to make a summons? Hoping we get the message, the invitation resonates beyond a terse one time formality, but abounds in his multiple invites if the first call fails to initiate a response. He desires we come to see with the eyes of our heart to know the invitation looks for us to see beyond beholding infinite eternity and that it is ready for our immersion now. Not saved just for the eternal embrace, but to sit at the table each day of our lives attentive to the smorgasbord of divine delights, not just a single rhetorical dish. Why does rebellion manifest as a response by some to the invitation? Why does Jesus reply again to the chief priests and elders of the people? A failure to grow, a failure to see the need to receive, a failure to see the relationship between our business of life and faith. God asked the servants to go onto the main roads and invite who ever they find, when the invited guests failed to materialize at the wedding feast. Today, does a need exist for faith to engage in the world as people on the highways and byways of life see God in perspectives beyond a paradigm encrusted with antiquity to forge relevant paths towards gathering at God’s banquet with not just a chosen few, the children of Israel prioritized in the parable, or a few holy, devout believers of today? Does the Body of Christ forget at times everyone on the planet exists as a child of God that should gather together, but what appears in judgmental attitudes as good and bad alike? God wants a hall full of guests to share his generosity, but do we act like we want a pew or table all for ourselves or maybe only ourselves and friends, but no way including those we perceive as bad to partake in the blessings?God especially expresses his bewilderment over hypocrites, people that come to the feast with a phony heart, not appropriately disposed to God’s mercy, kindness, who shows up for the perks without making an effort to live with a party attitude God desires. A shabby response lingering in darkness, not a meticulous decorum disposed to God’s ways. As we revel in God’s desire for our companionship, we draw ourselves to live in the house of the Lord all the days of our lives to refresh our souls as he always accompanies us by our sides.

Individual Reflection:Isaiah 25:6-10a
Take time to learn more about the depth of migration issues impacting humanity by visiting the Center for Migration Studies website: http://cmsny.org/about/
How do the statistics challenge you to become involved in migrant issues in your community?

Family Reflection: Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20
Little Flower Challenge, a CRS education program, offering a toolkit for Catholic families, parishes and schools to help elementary aged children learn about the global justice topic for 2017 of Water is Life :
http://ghs.crs.org/content/little-flower

Prayer: October 18th is the Feast of St Luke, the Evangelist. In Lectio Divina style read Luke 6:37-45.

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

By Barb Born October 10, 2017 The reflection maybe used in parish bulletins, newsletters or for faith sharing groups without copyright concern.

Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time Lectionary Reflection November 6, 2016

Posted on October 31, 2016 by Barb Born

November 6, 2016: Thirty-second Sunday of Ordinary Time

Catholic Social Teaching: Life and Dignity of the Human Person

The Church’s social teaching is the indispensable reference point that determines the nature, modality, articulation and development of pastoral activity in the social field. It is the expression of the ministry of social evangelization, aimed at enlightening, stimulating and supporting the integral promotion of the human person through the practice of Christian liberation in its earthly and transcendent dimension. The Church exists and is at work within history. She interacts with the society and culture of her time in order to fulfill her mission of announcing the newness of the Christian message to all people, in the concrete circumstances of their difficulties, struggles and challenges. She does so in such a way that faith enlightens them so that they can understand the truth that “true liberation consists in opening oneself to the love of Christ”. The Church’s social pastoral ministry is the living and concrete expression of the full awareness of her evangelizing mission in the social, economic, cultural and political realities of the world. (524)Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church

Readings

First Reading: 2^nd Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14

Psalm: 17:1, 5-6, 8, 15

Second Reading: 2^nd Thessalonians 2:16-3:5

Gospel: Luke 20: 27-38

Catechism of the Catholic Church

Because of Christ, Christian death has a positive meaning: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” “The saying is sure: if we have died with him, we will also live with him. What is essentially new about Christian death is this: through Baptism, the Christian has already “died with Christ” sacramentally, in order to live a new life; and if we die in Christ’s grace, physical death completes this “dying with Christ” and so completes our incorporation into him in his redeeming act:

It is better for me to die in (eis) Christ Jesus than to reign over the ends of the earth. Him it is I seek – who died for us. Him it is I desire – who rose for us. I am on the point of giving birth …. Let me receive pure light; when I shall have arrived there, then shall I be a man (1010) From the Daily Roman Missal, Introduction to the Thirty-second Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle C

Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church: No references this week

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

Do we live our lives like we don’t believe in the resurrection? Are our lives a humdrum of apathy, insensitivity, maligned to dissipate hope? We have everlasting encouragement and good hope from the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Emanating from our sacramental death in baptism, we are graced with life, to live in God’s kingdom now and after our earthly death. Honoring our lives, we should live like we believe in all the Gospel to move beyond the Gospel of personal convenience, that shields us from challenges prickling our consciences. To live is to move among society, so we refrain from hunkering down in a spiritual fortress to insulate ourselves from the world. Jesus lived interacting among a diversity of people in a variety of socially challenging experiences, addressing tough questions of the day. Jesus died inviting the repentant thief to life in eternity. When we realize we don’t give ourselves life, but are gifted with life, life becomes awe, instilling hope and promise that we radiate in the world. For we follow God, God of the living, not dead tired, extinguished people with nothing to offer the world.

Prayer sustains our hope, so the Word of the Lord may speed forward and be glorified against perverse motives that deny human dignity, fracture unity and exploit justice. Prayer from our humble petitions of need for the Lord’s strength and Holy Spirit’s power to be life in the world. Petitions of thanksgiving for the sacramental grace of dying and rising, healing and hope. Our communal prayer to be life as the Body of Christ, eating of the same bread, drinking from one cup. A communal pathway journeying towards everlasting life. And our prayers ask intercessions of the saints to support us to live lives of faith, as their lives modeled life for us.

Our God is not God of the dead, but of the living, uttered by Moses, proclaimed by Jesus and we are graced to live with the hope of the resurrection and eternal life that we share by the way we live our lives.

Individual Reflection: 2^nd Thessalonians 2:16-3:5

The Sunday before Thanksgiving is the USCCB Catholic Campaign for Human Development collection. Share resources with your parish: http://www.usccb.org/about/catholic-campaign-for-human-development/collection/collection-resources.cfm

Also, what organizations in your community might your parish encourage to apply for a CCHD grant?

http://www.usccb.org/about/catholic-campaign-for-human-development/grants/index.cfm

Family Reflection: Psalm 17:1, 5-6, 8, 15

“…My steps have been steadfast in your paths…”

As a family, take a meditative walk along a path, walkway, trail in your community pausing to look at the life abounding and discuss the lives given to you by God.

Prayer:

As the Year of Mercy comes to a close in a couple of weeks, pray in thanksgiving for the blessings you have received and humble petitions of ways you need to be more receptive to God’s mercy and share mercy more bountifully in the world.

Blogs to Visit:

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.

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

How we do Catholic Social Teaching.

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

Involvement Opportunities

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

By Barb Born October 31, 2016 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 23, 2015

Posted on August 10, 2015 by Barb Born

August 23, 2015: Twenty-first Sunday of Ordinary Time

Catholic Social Teaching: Solidarity

“We are one human family whatever our national, racial, ethnic, economic and ideological differences. We are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers, wherever they may be…” 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 or Ephesians 5:2a, 25-32

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 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 of 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

Many disciples returned to their former ways of life and no longer accompanied Jesus. They had taken a look, joined the procession in curiosity, been drawn into the hyped enthusiasm of an unfolding movement or just tagged along to investigate the buzz. In reality, they looked with their eyes and listened with their ears, but failed to see with their hearts. The experience remained in the flesh without transcendence to the Spirit. The complacency of their previous spiritual sedentary existence seemed a more placid lure than to follow the Son of Man, for they interpreted His words literally without grasping the spiritually allegorical dimensions.

When we choose to serve the gods of our fathers, wealth, power and dominance or the gods of the country we dwell in today, individualism, success and hero worship, we do not serve the Lord and deny the God of our creation and redemption. Only when we acknowledge God brought us out of a state of slavery from worldly pursuits, performed miracles of transformation in our lives and protected us along our entire journey can we come to Jesus. For in acknowledging and surrendering to God, He grants us insight into the spirit of His Son. To experience His spirit that gives light and a realization that the spiraling void in pursuing desires of the flesh are no avail to living a life of meaning and ultimately defining our salvation.

Each time we receive the Eucharist, with humbleness, sincerity and in truth, we answer as Peter did to Jesus’ question, “Do you want to leave?” “Master to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convenience you are the Holy One of God.” Privileged to receive the Eucharist, with depths of conviction and hope, do we let our lives manifest that gift or do the words of Amen on Sunday have a hollow ring in our actions the rest of the week? Do parishes exist as sanctuaries of sacraments, void of service? As one body of Christ, His Church, how can a mission be charted and fueled by a handful of agenda items, when we are formed by the inclusion of diversity to witness faith to the end of the earth in the lived reality of our daily experiences? The Eucharistic gift helps us to taste and see the merciful goodness of the Lord. So confronting the empty dysfunctionality of spiritual ritualness and narrowness, we utter praise and blessings inspired by the Spirit in our lives to confront parchness of factionalism and speak forth justice knowing God watches over us to enjoin us with His wisdom.

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

Pope Francis has instituted an annual day of prayer for the care of creation on September 1^st, in conjunction with the Orthodox church. Help initiate a celebration of prayer at your parish and invite others in your community to participate.

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

This week the Church celebrates four saints:

August 24^th St Bartholomew

August 27^th St Monica

August 28^th St Augustine

August 29^th The Passion of St John the Baptist

Read about their lives and discuss how their witness inspires us today

Prayer

Jesus, we see your Church factionalized, people holding on to straws of belief with one hand while attempting to dislodge straws of meaning from the hands of others. Fighting verbal volleys of correctness, while people lay in groaning anguish from malnourishment, people run from military ambushes, people bobble on the sea searching for lands of hope. Help your Church to see Lord you give us your body and blood not to ascend to ideological pinnacles of superiority, but to serve one another, especially the least among us. Help us to be listeners, peacemakers in the struggles so we understand the common goal of building your kingdom requires a collective effort grounded in faith. Give us the strength Lord, in your name we pray, Amen.

Blogs to Visit:

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.

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

How we do Catholic Social Teaching.