GOD COMES TO US IN DAILY LIFE

 

There is a beautiful grandmother, Marie, in a little town in northwestern Saskatchewan, St. Walburg, who has this incredible flower garden in the front of her house. The flowers are overflowing and beautiful. She has posted a sign: Come in and smell the flowers!

 

What a warm invitation!

 

But this invitation is also a kind word from God. We have been gifted with such a beautiful body (even if parts of our body creeks in old age), caring family and friends and the daily enjoyment of life. How can you add up the value of taking the two small grandchildren for a walk and you stop in to buy them an ice cream cone? How can you measure the delights and giggles that this little act of kindness elicits?

 

This kind invitation to come into Marie’s garden and enjoy the flowers must be a daily invitation to recognize and enjoy the blessings of our everyday lives.

 

Come and smell the blessing of a decent night’s sleep. You got up, could look after yourself, put your shoes on that got the day started. We went out to the kitchen and made your much appreciated cup of coffee. 

 

On the way to work, your car sharing buddies are full of teasing and mindless chatter that always fills the vehicle with some laughter. The thirty minutes to work is never dull. These buddies keep you alert and always searching for the witty com-back to one of their stories.

 

Tonight, after the supper dishes are cleared away, there is the daily reading session with your ten-year old. He needs this extra practice reading. This takes a lot of energy but you recognize that it is never tedious or boring. I am the parent and I want to help his learning, no matter how long it takes.

 

Your spouse tells you with kindness how good it is to have you at home, caring for the duties of family life and having time just to be with her; brief though that be. How wonderful to be wanted and to be wanting of her and the two children, two dogs and one bird!

 

We haven’t got to the stage of being able to pray together as a family, but how good to be able to thank God for the blessings of this particular day. It will never come by again in this life, but it was sure good to have lived it today.

 

The invitation to come in and smell the flowers in our little town, is an excellent invitation from God to smell the flowers of daily life. Recognize and be grateful for all the blessings that happen on this one day. Do not miss the goodness that is right in front of our eyes. 

 

Stop. Smell the daily flowers. See the blessings of this particular day.

 

 

POPE FRANCIS: THERE IS A CHANGE OF ATTITUDE

The people like Pope Francis (well, most do). He is very human and approachable. He seeks to bring reconciliation in many parts of the church world where there is hurt, scandal or neglect. From time to time, you will hear a self-identified atheist say, “He’s my pope!” Obviously, he has made a difference on the world scene.

 

He touches people. 

 

We can say that Pope Francis has not changed anything in the Church: there is no change of doctrine, religious practice and discipline or the way we worship. What he seeks to change is the attitude that the Church has toward the world and what the world has toward the Church. His ministry seeks to bring about a shift in attitude towards  God and the Church.

 

In the past, Popes have tried to keep the Church together by clear doctrines and firm moral teachings.  It was clear where the Church stood on so many issues: faith, doctrine and morality. But it came with a cost: the Church appears rigid, judgmental and unbending.

 

Not only does Pope Francis speak a new language about Church but he also challenging all Christiaan churches to become a church of the poor. The church is not for those people who can perform correctly and fit into the Christiaan mold securely. He wants the Church to reach out to the people who get left out.

 

It must become a faith community that reaches out to the poor and neglected around them and in the world at large. A church that is motivated and moves from a heart for the poor will be a very different church.  May the secular person not see the Church as rigid and unwelcoming but rather as the ‘field hospital’ that he wants it to become.

 

He challenges us that today’s Christian is to get out of their secure and well-organized structures and move out into the streets. We hear more than once that the shoes of the Christian should be dirty because they have been out in the streets with the poor. 

 

Do not be surprised if you hear of push-back from some bishops, church leaders and staunch Catholics who want things to remain securely in place. This opposition is often a sign that the challenging the Church to become a Church of the poor is on the right track. If some Catholics do not like the way Pope Francis is challenging the church, this is a good sign that the train is going in the right direction.

 

There is a difference at this moment with the history of Christianity. Most often, the reformers, the woman and men who called the Church to a more vigorous life of practice and prayer, were on the edges of the Church. Today, we have the reformer at the very center of the Church. This is a call to reform, to reinvigorate the life of the Church, and move to a stronger service toward the poor of this world. 

 

Pope Francis has set out to give the Church a different tone. He is challenging the people of  the Church to a major shift of attitude and practice. We will not see the full impact of this renewal for a half dozen generations, but he is going in the right direction.

 

Has the teachings and challenges of Pope Francis made a difference to the way you live and practice your Christian faith?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

YOUR IMAGINATION WILL DEEPEN THE PARABLES

 

Jesus did not use concise, dictionary proof explanations about the workings of God (code word in the Gospels: the Kingdom of God). He used this code word to lay out what life could look like when human beings lived and worked in harmony with God. The Kingdom of God is when women and men structure their lives to make real in their lives what  God wants for us.

 

When he used parables (i.e., story telling) to make his point he always opened it up to our imagination. With each example, you and I must ask: and what does this open us to see the working of God among us?

 

This Sunday we have the parable of the mustard seed (Mk. 4, 30-32). Now, all the farmers knew that this was a weed that began from the tiniest of seeds but grows into the shrub that would be about the height of a grown man. Its branches were large enough that the birds could make their nests within its branches. 

 

The play on images is the tiny seed as opposed to the huge bush! From an impossible beginning this shrub grows very large. You can see why this is such a wonderful example for the workings of God. 

 

But now, ask what kind of birds will come to rest on the branches of this mustard bush.

 

One of the first birds that would land on the branch would be the man or woman struggling with drug or alcohol addiction. They know they need the power that only God can give them to work through each day and reject any craving for another fix. This bird needs the power that only God can give to stay clean and lead a drug-free life.

 

A second bird that would land on the branches is the woman or man who knows they are different from the majority who hold power in society. They are a minority with different skin color, new-comers from a poor country in the South, a person with minimal training that can only find entry level jobs and the woman or man trying to survive with the limitations that old age brings.

 

A third bird that would fly to the branches would be the person who has served time in jail. When a prisoner is discharged into society they need to have a social structure, such as a place to live, dependable contacts and a job to support themselves. If they do not have a support system to become reintegrated into society they will very quickly slip back into crime and the cycle of incarceration starts all over again.

 

Now, it is your turn. Use your imagination and bring other birds that would rest in  the branches of the mustard tree (i.e. the working of God among us). How many of your family relations will be one of those birds that will land on the branches? Or some of your co-workers? 

 

Use your imagination to work this parable. You will gain some very powerful insights into the teachings of Jesus.

 

 

WHERE ARE YOU?

Too often our church people brush off the Adan and Eve, plus the apple, story as a simple story to be enjoyed, but it does not have too many consequences. 

 

We will see that in the simple story are deep truths that affect everyone  of us  today.

 

The people of the Old Testament were desert people. They could picture the blessings of God in terms of a productive garden with food security. This God does by placing Adan and Eve in the garden. There is only one guideline: they are not to eat the fruit of a particular tree.

 

They collapse into the temptation (i.e. The snake has an evil name) and run and hide. 

 

God comes looking for them. Surely God should have known where they were hiding. But he calls out to those wayward and frightened human beings: Where are you?

 

Now take this question and apply it to ourselves; June, 2024.

 

Where are you in becoming a Church of the poor? Pope Francis has challenged all of Christianity (not just Catholics) to become a church for the poor. Has your vision enlarged that you recognize, accept and support the poor who are so close to you?  Are you standi ng in the heart-space that cares for the poor right around your dwelling place?

 

Where do you stand with regard to the care for the earth? The polar ice at either end of the globe is melting. The earth groans under the warming that is happening. What concern moves  your heart? What responsibilities are you taking now to ensure that your great-great grandchildren can live and thrive on this earth? Where do you stand in regard to global warming?

 

Where do I stand with regard to the people who are different from the majority who have controlling power in this society? Do I support division and look down upon people who  are First Nations, immigrants, people of colored minorities, those who have handicap limitations and the elderly?  Where do I stand in ensuring that they are treated equally in all parts of our society? 

 

Where do I stand with support and care for the elderly in our society and/or family? Not only legal respect, but how well do we support them in their loneliness, the diminishing health and their social connections? The opposite of care for the elderly is that some families that drop off their elderly mother at the nursing home and then only check in once or twice a year. Where do I stand with regard to the elderly of my own family? 

 

Adam and Eve were hiding because they turned away from God. Now, that same question is so useful in our own lives.  Take other questions and ask that same questions of yourself: Where do you stand in following and living up to the directives bthat God has given us?