Month: August 2019

Fr Charlie recalls some of the themes he’s explored with us over his 14 years at Our Lady of the Desert: putting love first, agreeing to disagree, and being in partnership with God in prayer. Today he adds another. “Faith is like Wi-Fi. It’s invisible, but it has the power to connect you to what you need.”

Thank you, Fr Charlie, for connecting us to what we need.  Good luck in your new assignment.  We’ll miss you!

Today’s Readings

The night of the passover was known beforehand to our fathers, that, with sure knowledge of the oaths in which they put their faith, they might have courage.
WIS 18:6-9

Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.
HEB 11:1-2, 8-19

“You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”
LK 12:35-40

Today’s readings remind Fr Greg of the desert fathers’ story of Abba Lot and Abba Joseph:

 “Abba Lot went to see Abba Joseph and said to him, ‘Abba, as far as I can I say my little office, I fast a little, I pray and meditate, I live in peace and as far as I can, I purify my thoughts. What else can I do?’  Then the old man stood up and stretched his hands towards heaven. His fingers became like ten lamps of fire and he said to him, ‘If you will, you can become all flame.”*

Are we, like Abba Lot, willing to setting for something not quite satisfying or are we, like Abba Joseph, ready to become “all flame” in God.

*Sayings of the Desert Fathers: The Alphabetical Collection, translated by Benedicta Ward (p 103)

Today’s Readings

[Moses said to the Israelites:] “Did a people ever hear the voice of God speaking from the midst of fire, as you did, and live?”
DT 4:32-40

“Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”
MT 16:24-28

Jesus warns us to guard against greed in today’s gospel. Fr Greg points that our possessions aren’t really the problem. It’s clinging to them so tightly to it that we loose sight of reality – the reality of God, the reality of others, and even the reality of our own mortality.  Living the life God gives us fully and sharing it generously each day with those around us is what really matters.

Today’s Readings

What profit comes to man from all the toil and anxiety of heart with which he has labored under the sun? 
ECC 1:2; 2:21-23

Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly.
COL 3:1-5, 9-11

“Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.”
LK 12:13-21

The Lord describes four major festivals the Israelites are to observe in today’s first reading: Passover, Shavuot (Pentecost), the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Booths. All these festivals, Fr Peter notes, involve food for which the Israelites are to give thanks to God.  They prefigure the greatest festival of all – the Eucharist – in which God Himself becomes our food.

Today’s Readings

The LORD said to Moses, “These are the festivals of the LORD which you shall celebrate at their proper time with a sacred assembly.”
LV 23:1, 4-11, 15-16, 27, 34B-3

“A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and in his own house.”
MT 13:54-58

The Redemptorist order, Fr Greg notes, is a lot like the net in today’s gospel which collects “fish of every kind.” St Alphonus’ enduring gift to the church was to form a patient, loving and generous community from these “fish” – a community dedicated to the overlooked, the abandoned, and the rejected. Thank you Redemptorists!

Today’s Readings

Moses did exactly as the LORD had commanded him.
EX 40:16-21, 34-38

“The Kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind.”
MT 13:47-53