No More Complaining

Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

~~~ Habakkuk 1:2-3; 2:2-4 ~~~ 

~~~ Psalm 94~~2 Timothy 1:6-8, 13-14~~Luke 17:5-10 ~~~ 

God did not give us a spirit of cowardice

but rather of power and love and self-control. 

The prophet begins complaining that God is not doing enough...
that God lets things slide by as if he does not notice.

Why do you let me see iniquity?
why do you simply gaze at evil?

Sometimes we wonder if God really does see
all that is happening in our world today.
We question why he lets evil rumble across the Earth.

Because God is silent we fall into the trap of believing
 that what is evil may not be evil after all.
We ask where is God's judging hand of power.

The truth is God does see all.
The truth is God acts in our life on a regular basis.
The truth is when we think God is not watching he is there.
The truth is God gave us free will; he does not step in
 at any given moment to prevent acts of evil.

God never forgets...
He remembers the good in our world.
Likewise he remembers the evil in our world.

Come, let us bow down in worship;
let us kneel before the LORD who made us.

We must keep our eyes fixed on the goodness of the Lord.
We must praise him for all his wondrous deeds;
they far surpass whatever evil exists on this Earth.

Let us hold on to our faith in the Lord.
He makes all things for good...even that which
 is hidden from our human eyes.

God did not give us a spirit of cowardice

but rather of power and love and self-control. 

When we witness the evil in our world
we must remember that we have been given
the spirit of power, love, and self-control.

We have all that we need to walk with the Lord
in his truth and goodness. 

Beloved:
I remind you, to stir into flame
the gift of God that you have through
 the imposition of my hands. 

In the words of Paul...
the gifts we have from God need to be given fresh air.
It is the same air we breath that fuels the fire to burn brighter.

Believe
for faith the size of a mustard seed
is enough to move mountains.

No more complaining.
Look for the goodness in your life...
and all will be better.

Blessings from moment to moment.
Peace!

Faith Underestimated

~~~ Memorial of Saint Dominic, Priest ~~~

~~~ Deuteronomy 6:4-13 ~~~ Psalm 18 ~~~ Matthew 17:14-20 ~~~

Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed,

you will say to this mountain,

‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move.

Nothing will be impossible for you.”

I think we may underestimate

 the power of faith...our personal faith.

We are too easily discouraged with our lack of faith.

Eventually we give up or think it does not matter.

The apostles were discouraged and frustrated 

with their inability to cure as easily as Jesus did.

They knew the gestures, the correct words...

They went through all the right steps and still they failed.

They failed because they did not value their own faith.

They valued their experiences with Jesus healing the people.

They could not value their own experiences

because they had not yet materialized.

The LORD is our God, the LORD alone!

Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God,

with all your heart,

and with all your soul,

and with all your strength.

Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today.

Moses spoke these words to the people

 with such passion and conviction 

that all generations down to you cherish them.

They mean the same today as they did when they were first spoken. 

The apostles could not initially heal as easily as Jesus

because they had not yet learned to put aside themselves.

They had yet to learn what was tiny as a mustard seed,

but of utmost importance.

They had to love God with their whole heart and soul.

They had to believe with all of their strength.

When they could do that then nothing was impossible.

The same is true for us...

our faith is rooted in the strength of our love.

We are Blessed in our faith when we learn

 to love God more completely.

Saint Dominic, pray for us.

~~Peace~~~

Chiseled Words

~~~ Exodus 32:15-24, 30-34 ~~~ Psalm 106 ~~~ Matthew 13:31-35 ~~~

I really love this time of the year because 

the school supplies are on every store shelf.

Pens of all colors and sizes and notebooks...I love notebooks.

When a particular notebook catches my attention

 I do not even need to have a particular purpose for it.

I have notebooks for journaling...notebooks for inspirational quotes...

notebooks for prayer cards....and most recently

 a notebook to record my food intake.

But at the end of the day none of these are permanent;

someday they will all find their way to the trash.

Over time pencil entries get smudged...

ink fades from the pages...

What was once valued disappears or is forgotten over time.

Moses turned and came down the mountain

with the two tablets of the commandments in his hands,

tablets that were written on both sides, front and back;

tablets that were made by God,

having inscriptions on them that were engraved by God himself.

God was taking no chances that his

 Ten Commandments would survive.

He wrote them on tablets of stone, 

to withstand the passing of time.

Even if they get broken the message 

engraved into their surface would survive.

I know of nothing today to even come close to writing on stone.

We would not even have the stamina

 to chisel out a single word on a slab of stone

much less ten separate points.

Jesus speaks of the Kingdom of heaven being

 like a small mustard seed or a small handful of yeast.

Yet he still needed to explain the meanings.

Jesus often spoke in parables.

God writes his message on tablets of stone.

The permanence of stone is an indication 

of the importance of these commandments.

Today we follow Jesus by keeping the same 

commandments

 written in stone by his Father.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.

Jesus came to do the will of the Father...

to glorify the Father.

When we keep the commandments

 we too are doing the will of the Father...

we too are bringing glory to the Father.

Today I invite you to find one of your notebooks,

dust it off, pick up your pen...

write a note to God.

Let it bring you comfort and strength.

Writing can bring clarity to your thoughts...

it can release pent up emotions.

It might even be time to search through those shelves of

school supplies for a beautiful new notebook.

Blessings in your written words to the Lord.

~~~Peace~~~

Energy from the Bow

~~~ Hebrews 10:32-39 ~~~ Psalm 37 ~~~ Mark 4:26-34 ~~~

We are not among those who draw back and perish, 

but among those who have faith and will possess life.

We have been strengthened
through the power of the Holy Spirit
to have the courage to move forward.

Just as an  arrow is drawn back across
the bow to be released into the air.
We must draw back to God.
He is the bow of our faith that will send us out.

It is God who possesses all life.
He alone gives life to us.

When we have drawn back to God...when we have
 come to completely trust in God...
He will send us forth to flourish.

We have the potential to become
mighty in the hand of God,
just as the tiny mustard seed grew
 into the large bushy plant.

Just as the bow provides the arrow with momentum
God provides us with the momentum of his love.

We must allow God to draw us fully toward him.
It is only in this surrendering that his energy
can be transferred into us.

The mustard seed was able to grow because of God's
energy being pushed into its tiny being.

Blessings come from allowing God
 to draw us completely unto himself.

~~~Peace~~~

Do You Have Faith in Yourself?

~~~ Habakkuk 1:12-2:4 ~~~Psalm 9 ~~~ Matthew 17:14-20 ~~~

...if you have faith the size of a mustard seed,

you will say to this mountain,

‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move.

Faith seems to be the key for how well we live what we believe.

The apostles were frustrated in the gospel today
with their lack of healing powers.

The child's father was frustrated because his son was not being healed.

The apostles were even embarrassed with their inability to perform.

 Jesus even seems a little frustrated with the apostles.

Jesus says, if you have just a tiny seed of faith it is sufficient.

If...in other words they did not even have that much faith.

They believed in the power of healing for Jesus,

but they could not support the same level of faith for themselves.

The power of believing in yourself is something

we know to be true.

This is half of the effort in anything we master.

If you think you can then you can, as the saying goes,

and sadly the opposite is also true.

The apostles had great faith in Jesus but lacked faith in themselves.
As we know watching someone else doing a task
and doing it yourself are not the same.

Nothing will be impossible for you.

While faith is very important is has a partner
that we sometimes forget about, trust.
Faith and trust go hand in hand.
We must trust that whatever is lacking in our faith
God will make up the difference.

If we fail to activate our trust level
then doubt begins to creep into our heart.

I think this might have been the problem with the apostles;
they did not let their trust in God's assistance
make up for their inadequate faith.

Faith and trust do not just happen within our heart.
We must exercise them daily; initially in small matters.
Gradually we will build up to larger more important situations.

All things are possible for God
 we must consciously place our trust in him.

Practice your faith daily;
trust in him with your whole heart.

Blessings in believing our faith can grow.
Blessings in believing that trusting in God is of great importance.
All things are possible with faith and trust.
~~~Peace~~~

The Rotten Loincloth

~~~ Jeremiah 13:1-11 ~~~ Psalm 32 ~~~ Matthew 13:31-35 ~~~

Parables of the Kingdom of heaven continue as Jesus tries to help understand.
Pearls, buried treasure, mustard seeds, yeast....
All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables.
He spoke to them only in parables, 
to fulfill what had been said through the prophet:

Even though we can relate and understand some of these parables,
for the most part the heaven remains a mystery.

Stories are a useful medium to illustrate a particular point.
In today's reading from Jeremiah he also uses a story to make his point.
The LORD said to me: Go buy yourself a linen loincloth;
wear it on your loins, but do not put it in water.

This loincloth was worn next to the skin.
Our relationship with God should be just as close...
next to our flesh...nothing separating us from him.

Jeremiah was set apart by God to bring messages to the people;
many times they were uncomfortable words.
Jeremiah was commanded by God to do three things with this loincloth...
Buy it, Hide it, and Retrieve it.
Furthermore it was not to be put in water
probably meaning it was to be kept unsoiled...clean.

It was to be hidden in a rocky crevice.
Hidden so no one would accidentally disturb it or remove it.
  God was not pleased with the people. Was he himself hidden
 from them by their own choosing,
their own actions?

We can feel as if God is hidden from us even though he is not.
We get confused when we cannot 'feel' his presence
 in our life as one feels the linen loincloth.

If we live our life pretending God is hiding himself from us
 eventually we can become 'rotten' as well just as the hidden loincloth.
Losing our close relationship with the Lord because
 we doubted his nearness to us is like this deteriorating linen.

Cloth that is rotting becomes very fragile easily torn...ripped to shreds.
Is this the kind of relationship you desire with God?
One that is thread bare and fragile...one that does not endure.

We must remain vigilant so as to not allow ourselves
 to become like the rotten loincloth.

The parables of the Kingdom of God offer hope to those who will listen.
Small seeds grow into trees with many branches, home to many birds.
A single handful of yeast leavens the whole batch of flour.

The Kingdom of heaven parables radiate hope.
We must cling to this hope as we long for our place
someday in the Kingdom of God.

You have a choice today;
rotten loincloth or the handful of yeast.
One speaks to a loss of relationship with God, the other
to the great abundance possible with him.

Blessings come from his parables even today.
~~~Peace~~~

God Works Where You are Lacking

~~~ Ephesians 5: 21-33 ~~~ Psalm 128 ~~~ Luke 13: 18-21 ~~~

 

The power of God is such that he transforms even the smallest

most insignificant things to proclaim his greatness.

"What is the Kingdom of God like?"

 

The kingdom of God is compared to a mustard seed

and handful of dough.

 

The mustard seed is planted in the ground.

Each day it grows some until it is a mature bush. 

It must be fully grown before the birds come to nest in its branches.

The branches must be able to support the weight of the birds.

 

The birds, surprisingly, were attracted to this lowly bush

made into something great by God.

So it is with us.

Even though we may think that we have nothing to offer God in return

for what he has done for us...we are wrong.

God takes the small the lowly and makes of them what he desires.

 

The mustard seed grew as it was destined to do.

The mustard seed grew into a large bush

as many before it had grown.

So it can be for us.

If you look carefully in the Bible God routinely uses someone

or something insignificant to make a point.

 

Most of the prophets had not previously made themselves well known.

God equipped them to accomplish great things in his name.

Jesus used common everyday things like water and wine to perform

his miracles.

He took only a few loaves and fishes to feed a large

crowd of five thousand.

Nothing is too small or insignificant for God.

The greatness of God has the ability to enlarge whatever

he chooses to use for himself.

 

 Never believe that what you are lacking makes you
less likely to be used by God...
nothing could be farther from the truth.

For wherever you are lacking in your life is just
where the Lord will make up the deficit.

If you are willing to open your mind,
heart, soul, and body to be used by God for his greater glory;
be prepared to be amazed at what he will do.
Be in awe as to how he will use you to
bring forth his kingdom here and now.

Always remember...
all things are possible when God is leading the way.
Whether you are a single mustard seed or
a handful of dough you a destined to be great
in the eyes of the Lord...
for he is with you and in you.

Why Did the Disciples Fail?

~~~ Habakkuk 1:12-2:4 ~~~ Psalm 9 ~~~ Matthew 17: 14-20 ~~~

"...you gaze on the faithless in silence..."

These few words from the Prophet Habakkuk raise questions for me.

Does God look from afar on those who do not have faith?

Does he never try to reach them?

Silence from God would be so painful to endure.

But is God ever really silent or is it that we fail to hear him?

God is patient with his children...if today you do not have faith he will wait.

He will wait until you open your mind and heart to accept

his gift of faith.

"...He brings them all up with his hook,
he hauls them away with his net,
He gathers them in his seine;
and so he rejoices and exults..."

God gathers us to himself as a fisherman draws up his net

 full of the day's catch.

Just as fisherman rejoices at his catch God rejoices

at those who accept his gift of faith.

God instructed the prophet to have this dream recorded so that it

would be readily available to others.

The Lord offers words of patience

"...If it delays, wait for it,
it will surely come, it will not be late..."

God will gather us unto himself.

In order to be caught up in the net it is necessary to sacrifice your control.

If you allow God to be in control of your life;

you surrender to be caught up in the net.

It also takes great faith and trust in the Lord to be caught

in the net. Once in the net you are dependent on the one

who draws up the net.

"...They trust in you who cherish your name,
for you forsake not those who seek you, O LORD."

Do you trust the Lord enough to swim freely into the net?

The man with the possessed son kneels down before Jesus;

Without the net present he is completely trusting in Jesus.

His faith is moving him to take action on behalf of his son.

This healing by Jesus is a wake up call to the disciples because

they were not able to heal this child.

If you have faith in your connection to the Lord,

this realization alone gives you power.

Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed,
you will say to this mountain,
"Move from here to there," and it will move.
Nothing will be impossible for you."

My dear readers, how would you rate your faith?

There is faith and then there is FAITH.

It takes FAITH which comes from God to move mountains.

The Lord says,

"If you have faith the size of a mustard seed...

Nothing will be impossible for you."

What challenges your faith today?

Do you believe all things are possible?

The Seeds of Faith

~~~~ Ezekiel 17: 22-24 ~~~ Psalm 92 ~~~ 2Cor. 4: 6-10 ~~~ Mark 4: 26-34 ~~~

Even if our faith is as small as a mustard seed we must still walk forward on our journey. The readings today speak of majestic Cedar trees and sprawling Mustard trees, really bushes. Tucked in between is Paul telling us to walk by faith and not by sight because in the end we will stand before the Lord.

We will be judged by what we did in the body...good or evil.

If we stay the course we will be rewarded...we too will bear fruit...we too will grow tall strong and even majestic in our conviction...others will flock to walk with us because we are walking in faith.

It is because of faith that we can be courageous.

We believe in our hearts that we truly belong with the Lord.

It is a fact though that in spite of this belief we struggle with what our flesh desires.

We are not perfect. We are always a work in progress.

Hopefully we are always growing and developing our faith.

If you have ever planted a garden you know that when the seeds are placed into the ground and covered over with the dirt they are invisible.

So it is with our faith; at first we may not realize that we believe. We may not be sure what we believe. When we plant the seeds we know the kind of plant they will become. It tells us on the package, but the seeds of our faith may not be as clearly labeled.

Even if our seeds of faith were planted by our parents there is no guarantee they will develop as they desire. I recently met some people who are questioning their faith, their beliefs. It is sad really to listen to why they do not believe.

It is as if they are pushing away what beliefs they had earlier.

It seems to be taking more energy not to believe than it does to believe.

We live in the age of information and technology, but googling faith does not give you a satisfactory answer. We tend to be skeptical of things we can not see or understand.

Faith is such a mysterious gift that it frightens some people, I think.

They simply cannot surrender to the unknown.

Faith is something we can either accept or reject.

I choose to believe that there is more to who we are than what we can see.

I choose to believe that we are living here in this body to do good.

I choose to believe that this is not all there is.

I choose to believe in Heaven...the majestic house of the Lord.

~Living Faith~

Mark 5: 21-43

This is one of my favorite gospels....The hemorrhagic woman...the sense of touch ...and Faith.

This portion of Mark's gospel reminds me of the set of nested dolls I received as a gift once. Nested dolls are so neat and compact, the largest holding the next and so on until you get to the smallest doll. The first time I saw this nested concept I was impressed by the creativity.

In today's scripture we have the healing ministry of Jesus...the episode of the daughter of the official, Jairus...the hemorrhagic woman...and faith. All of this neatly nested together in a compact package for us.

The healing ministry of Jesus was now drawing large crowds. His physical safety was probably a concern for the apostles since crowds can be unpredictable. So as Jesus is walking close to the sea the synagogue official falls at his feet begging for the life of his twelve year old daughter. The child is close to death...Jesus is walking close to the sea. Jesus is the Living Water. Jesus is the giver of life.

As Jesus changes his path and accompanies Jairus, a woman approaches from behind. This woman has been bleeding for twelve years. She is unclean because of this bleeding and must stay separated from her community. Yesterday we saw Jesus deal with unclean spirits now it is an unclean woman. She knows that she should not make herself know so she comes from behind and reaches out quickly to touch only the hem of his cloak. Her intention was to touch him without being noticed and go off on her way before being spotted by anyone who knew her.

As she makes the contact with the cloak of Jesus she feels the power of his healing. He does not even physically touch her body, but she feels his healing energy. At the same time Jesus feels this healing energy drawn from his body. What a glorious exchange occurred between them within this pressing crowd.

We can truly encounter Jesus Christ in any situation...alone or in a crowd on the move.

The woman is compelled to reveal herself to Jesus who then praises her for her faith, "Daughter, your faith has saved you." Here is where we come to the inside, the smallest of the nested pieces...this conviction of faith.

We are told faith even the size of a mustard seed is can accomplish great things. The faith we see exhibited in this reading is bold, physical, and visible. The official falls down before Jesus at his feet begging for his daughter's life to be spared. The woman is not visible to Jesus, she is behind him. Her exercise of faith does not require that she be seen by Jesus. But Jesus wants to see this woman...he wants to see who has such great faith to believe in healing through an anonymous touch of his garment.

I invite you today to examine your faith. Is your faith like that of the official needing a face to face encounter with the Lord? Or is your faith like that of the suffering woman who quietly came from behind, unseen by the Lord? Whatever approach you make to the Lord it is the strength of your faith that is important.

Open up your nested dolls until you come to the one inside which holds your faith.

Of course this original picture is of Ukranian nested dolls.

I chose this kaleidoscope image bcause it shows concentric patterns with a clearly define center.

Draw strength from your inner faith. Let your faith guide your actions.



~The Dark Side of Power~

2 Samuel 11:1-4a, 5-10a, 13-17

Lust, Kidnapping, Rape, Deceit, Lies, Murder....

POWER....

Who are we talking about? No, it cannot be. We cannot be talking about the one anointed by God through Samuel. The one who repeatedly spared Saul's life. The one who killed the giant with a single stone. The composer of psalms of love. How can it be that today we are reading about the same person?

I think it can be summed up in one word and that is POWER. David, a brilliant leader, has been consumed by his position. No one person is more powerful than God; this is a fact.

When people come into positions of power all too often they lose sight of who they are. We see this all the time in various walks of life from politics and the cooperate to even among some who claim to be ministers.

When in a position of power you have been given a certain amount of control. In David's case he has control over entire armies of men who have pledged their loyalty to him. Men willing to lose their lives on his behalf.

If power corrupted David how can we expect to be exempt from the pitfalls of power?

If you are in a position of power you have a daunting task to stay focused and exercise wisdom in all your decisions. There used to be a little bracelet inscribed with the phrase "What would Jesus do?" I used to think it was a little corny in a way. If we would, however, all take those words more serious we might be blessed to live in a very different world.

David certainly had a relationship with God. He composed beautiful psalms of praise on his harp. But somewhere along the way he crossed to the 'dark side'. I do not think this reading was just about the lust he felt for Bathsheba in her beauty. It was his mind set of I can have anything I want including orchestrating the death of Uriah.

We can find hope in this story because if someone like David can fall to such depths and still be loved by God then we can turn to God too. We have a merciful and all powerful God.

Psalm 51:3

"Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;

in your abundant compassion blot out my offense."

This is the beginning of David's repentance. His Miserere. With help David is led to understand how serious his actions were. He could not hide behind the mask of his human power when faced with the boundless power of a merciful and forgiving God.

In the gospel excerpt from Matthew today we can also see an example of power...in this case the magnificent power of God. God uses his power to make evident his kingdom to us even through something as tiny as the mustard seed.

All too often we fool ourselves into thinking that power makes us more important than God. We pretend that we are invincible that nothing can touch us or that we have all of the answers. We assume that power gives us the 'right' to act in ways that are not at all of God.

Perhaps this is why we have the scripture from Isaiah 55: 8    

"My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts," says the LORD. "And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine." New Living Translation

Truly God's ways are far beyond anything we could imagine, but we can aspire to be a better person. Remembering when we are in a position of power we can act with God's ways in mind.

Power positions do not give us 'carte blanche' over others...

it is not 'anything goes' as long as it is my way.

David was intoxicated with his position of power...drunk on himself...his own desires.

What would Jesus do? is not such a corny phrase after all.

Original picture is of a wooden figure of a person slumped next to an hourglass. I chose this picture because power can take the natural life out of a person.

This kaleidoscope image if you look closely appears that the image is reflecting itself. When corrupted by power you see only the image of yourself..no one else matters...

it is all about the I.