Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Well, the weeks have slowly passed us by. These many, many Sundays in what the Church calls “Ordinary Time” were intended to be a time of study, introspection and preparation for our ultimate destiny. Today’s Gospel from Mark refers to that when Jesus tells his apostles, “Get ready for the end. Learn to read the signs that things are changing. Don’t be surprised.”
There is a finalization in the relationship between the human family and Almighty God. The main one is the ultimate day which will bring about the end of the human story in the sense that we have known it since creation. The second is much more personal – our own ending. In the Gospel today, Jesus tells that no one knows the hour or the day where the big closing scene but that is true of us individually too. We don’t know exactly when we are going to be dying and that behooves us all the more to be ready for it.
Thinking about the end of life should not be a glum and sad thing. Oh, we don’t want to be separated from the people that we love and we would be very happy to have a death that comes over us gently and peacefully. But what comes after death is a direct and eternal encounter with our Creator, our infinitely loving God. We have come into existence because God wanted us to be here. We have been brought into existence because he wants us to share his life forever and ever. The God that we worship is a loving, infinitely kind and generous God. We should look towards that day without fear or trembling, but with a calm confidence of God’s understanding of our weaknesses. His love for us goes far beyond his concern for our frailties.
Onward to Judgment. Onward to eternity.
Share on Facebook
Mobile Loaves & Fishes mlf.org
July 15, 2012 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Today’s Gospel reading is from Mark, as Jesus sent out His disciples to spread the Good News. Listen thoughtfully to our Lord’s message:
7″ Then he summoned the Twelve and began to send them out in pairs, giving them authority over unclean spirits.
8 And he instructed them to take nothing for the journey except a staff — no bread, no haversack, no coppers for their purses.
9 They were to wear sandals but, he added, ‘Don’t take a spare tunic.’
10 And he said to them, ‘If you enter a house anywhere, stay there until you leave the district.
11 And if any place does not welcome you and people refuse to listen to you, as you walk away shake off the dust under your feet as evidence to them.’
12 So they set off to proclaim repentance;
13 and they cast out many devils, and anointed many sick people with oil and cured them.”
We, too, are called by Jesus to be sent out to the world. In a practical sense today, look around and find opportunities to carry out His message. Feed the homeless. Visit a lonely neighbor or friend. Care for the sick. Be a little kinder to your family.
Share on Facebook
Sunday, February 26th
Once again, we find ourselves confronting this wonderful spiritual gift that the Church presents to us each year in the spring. I am referring to the holy season of Lent and it is truly a gift. The important thing is that we should properly utilize this gift.
All of us find ourselves harried, over-extended, busy, over-committed, stressed out, and sometimes nervous and insecure about the direction that our life seems to be taking. When any one of us is experiencing some of those feelings, the Church says with the warm, loving voice of a mother, “Here is the gift of Lent. Here are a few weeks for a calm spiritual renewal.”
In today’s Gospel, we see Jesus walking out into the desert. Let’s don’t let him go alone! Let’s walk with him. In the desert, there is a sameness about the terrain, there is an absence of distractions and there is the opportunity to lift our eyes towards God while at the same time looking inside of ourselves.
Let’s see these six weeks as a walk. We are not alone. We are walking behind Jesus and we will be walking with St. Mark. We will be walking with millions of our brothers and sisters in faith as we try to pull our battered and tired lives together, and give ourselves a clear focus on what life is about and how it ought to be lived.
Onward into the desert.
Share on Facebook
Comments (0) 
Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Themocracy