PEACE 2019

LET ME SEE

 As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus, sat by the roadside begging. Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’ Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’ Jesus stood still and said, ‘Call him here.’ And they called the blind man, saying to him, ‘Take heart; get up, he is calling you.’ So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. Then Jesus said to him, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ The blind man said to him, ‘My teacher, let me see again.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your faith has made you well.’ Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way. (Mk 10, 46-53)

Followed by his disciples and a sizeable crowd, Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. He was walking ahead of them. He had accepted his father’s will, and “entered willingly into his Passion”. He was decidedly leading them all the way. The crowd would have heard about what the religious authorities were plotting against him, and they were amazed, and those who followed him were afraid.
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A meditation on the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Readings Genesis 2, 18-24 / Mark 10, 2-16

Today’s liturgy of the Word speaks to us about God’s project for us human beings.

The book of Genesis tells us the story of the creation of humankind whom God made in his image. He created them male and female and he wanted them collaborators with Him in caring for the rest of his creation. The original state, in which humans were created, was that of the companionship of equals, not ownership by one or the other. It was love, not domination and subjection that God wanted, for He, the Creator, is love.

The gospel tells us how the Pharisees, in order to test Jesus, asked him if it was lawful for a man to divorce his wife, “for any cause?” Matthew adds. In God’s plan there was no hint of any separation between a man and his wife. So when Jesus quoted the creation story in his response to the Pharisees, he added the command: “What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder."

Why Stay Catholic?

By KATHRYN JEAN LOPEZ

A theologian who was sexually abused as a child recounts how she came into the Church during a period of scandal.

‘I intended to be anything but Catholic,” Dawn Eden Goldstein remembers. She grew up in a Reform Jewish household but “fell into agnosticism” in her late teens and become a rock-music historian in New York City. In 1999, she says, she “encountered the love of Jesus Christ” and became a nondenominational Christian.

Her impression of the Catholic Church was influenced by Christians who told her that its teachings were “unbiblical.” All her biases were confirmed when the scandal hit in 2002. On top of all the natural anger and disgust, her sensitivity ran deep, having been molested as a child.

And yet, today Goldstein is a professor of dogmatic theology at Holy Apostles College and Seminary and the author of My Peace I Give You: Healing Sexual Wounds with the Help of the Saints.

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A meditation for the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

A reading from the holy gospel according to John (Jn 6, 51-58)

Jesus said to the crowds: "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world. The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.  Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever." (Jn 6:51-58)

Often, when I meet friends and they ask me “How are you?”, I answer them “I am older than yesterday!”. Once I said this to a Roman friend, he answered “Yes, of course, but you are younger than tomorrow!”. I enjoyed this and I have been repeating it ever since. Others try to console me, and tell me that I am still young; and I hope that they know that I know that they are lying. One young lady asked me if I wanted to grow younger. I answered sincerely: “No, I do not want to grow younger, even if this were possible!”.

Why should I want to return to my youth, if I have a better offer?

They are Not a Nuisance

A reading from the holy gospel according to Matthew (Mt 19, 13-15)

“Then little children were being brought to him in order that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples spoke sternly to those who brought them; but Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.’ And he laid his hands on them and went on his way.”

I love this short and simple story that spells out God’s love for small children, although I like Mark’s rendition better. When Jesus saw the disciples rebuking those who brought their children for him to lay his hands on them and pray, he told them: “Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them; for the Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."

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Francis the comic strip

From National Catholic Reporter