473 research outputs found
Daily Reflections (Meditations) on the Scriptures from the Roman Catholic Lectionary.
No full text|So, a confession – I am a baby boomer, and thus came of age in the 60s. I cannot read this passage from Ecclesiastes without recalling the Pete Seeger song "Turn, Turn, Turn," which became a top hit when covered by the "Byrds" in 1965. The melody runs through my head as I write this reflection.|"There is an appointed time for everything" – but what is "time?" There are so many phrases related to time and our obsessions with it: |"Timing is everything."|"It's not the right time."|"What time is it?" "I'm going to be late!"|"Time to get up (or to go to bed)."|"Time to settle down."|"All in good time."|"Right on time."|"In God's good time."|"Does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody really care, about time? If so, I can't imagine why, we've all got time enough to cry." (so, "Chicago," another musical group, was a musical influence also!)|Many of these and other phrases and concerns about time relate to ordering our lives, being part of a structured society in which time is a key component. Other societies have different attitudes toward time (think nomadic first peoples wandering the plains of North America in the 18th century, or the Saudi Arabian peninsula, or the Australian outback), less concerned with the time right now and more concerned with the seasons that governed their survival.|We have probably all heard someone referring to an athlete or a performer as "being in the zone" or "letting the game come to her." These athletes will say things "slow down" and they are more aware of all the forces that come to bear on their performance. I suspect most of us have had times in our lives when things seem to being going very well. We feel good because we feel in control, that all components in our lives are coming together in balance.|I think one lesson from Ecclesiastes, though, is that we don't control time, God does. God has made everything "appropriate to its time." The author in Ecclesiastes expressed a spirituality of time that transcends our daily concerns with the mundane. There isn't just a time to plant, or seek, or build, or laugh – there is an appropriate time for all things. God has set in motion the seasons of our lives and "put the timeless into [our] hearts." |It is our task to discern whether the timing of what we face is "appropriate" in God's grand creation. WE may think the time is right - to build, or to embrace, or to be silent, or to love - but what is God suggesting to us when we reflect more fully on what we are about to do? WE may feel this is the right time, but what does the quiet whisper of God tell us? WE may want to do something, and may be able to do so, but is it the appropriate time in God's timeless call to us? And when our life draws to a close, WE may want to hold onto the many gifts of this wonderful creation, when God tells us the time is right to let them go.|Jesus admonishes His disciples at several points that "it is not his time," or that the time was not right. Spiritual people have the great gift of awareness, of being able to challenge whether what they are doing in every moment is connected with God's call to them. Time becomes not a clock measurement, a calendar entry, but an elemental oneness with the Creator. It seems to me that the author of Ecclesiastes was able to put aside our human restlessness and anxiety about the future and received the gift of peace, of knowing the true meaning of time as God intended it to be. I think the author understood what the "timeless" was in our hearts – a yearning to connect with God the Creator, our great lover, the one with whom we belong for all future "time." I suspect the author was able to accept the ebbs and flows of life as gifts from God, with hidden treasures of meaning and importance, that could only be fully understood in the timeless gift of God's love. |And so my prayer today is for the gift to discern, during every moment of every day, whether my response is consistent with God's timing, so I can be guided by the timelessness of God's love and thus "really know what time it is.
Daily Reflections (Meditations) on the Scriptures from the Roman Catholic Lectionary.
No full textI don't recall ever reading or hearing of the book of Jude before I saw the readings for today. As a result I spent a bit of time trying to place the epistle in context and to understand as best I could its origins. I'm not sure I know any more than when I started, except perhaps that it is one of the shortest books in the bible and was written in the latter part of the first century of the CE.|Setting aside my feeble attempts at biblical origin studies, what called to me for reflection from the epistle was the second line of the excerpt presented – "Build yourselves up in your most holy faith." A few weeks ago in the Sunday mass readings we encountered Thomas, who doubted the resurrection, whose faith was limited to his sensory perceptions. Now we encounter the author of this epistle, who might have been one of the 12 apostles, but who most certainly was someone who knew someone who traveled with Jesus.|What is faith? This has many times been a more troubling virtue to understand and to mold in my own life than have been the other two, hope and love/charity. I can easily feel hope and love, but faith requires a different response. Perhaps there is more of the doubting Thomas in me than I care to admit (and he was not my patron saint, it was Aquinas!). It is difficult to accept some things "on faith alone." And human perceptions are not reliable (just consider juries in criminal cases) and so someone telling me X is true is not always comforting.|Perhaps if the person who is telling us something has proven to be reliable in the past, our faith in the truth of what she says can be stronger. On the other hand, if he has been unreliable in the past, it might weaken our faith. And certainly if someone has acted consistently (and admirably) with what they say, we can have stronger faith in the veracity of their statements.|If we place ourselves in the period following Jesus' resurrection, we would see people who knew Him, who believed (had faith) that he rose from the dead. They either actually saw Him in resurrected glory or knew someone who had. But the truth of their faith for me is their actions. Not only did they live their lives as He called them to do, but they refused to deny His resurrection even in the face of martyrdom. Their faith led to actions consistent with the truth as it was revealed to them. In each mass we celebrate them when we recite the mysteries of our faith – Christ's death, resurrection, return.|Martin Luther King, Jr. said "Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase." St. Augustine said "Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe." And Jesus told Thomas that we who have not seen and still believe are blessed indeed.|So, whether Jude was written by the disciple who traveled with Jesus, or by a second generation believer who knew someone who had been a companion of Christ while in His ministry, really doesn't matter at this point. The author knew those who manifested their faith in the resurrection by their actions of adhering to their beliefs, even in the face of violent and gruesome death. Their faith was the foundation upon which all else in Christianity has been based. That seems pretty reliable to me. And it helps me in my own faith journey. |And so my prayer today is for the grace to more fully understand the mystery that is faith, and thus to deepen my own faith foundation
Daily Reflections (Meditations) on the Scriptures from the Roman Catholic Lectionary.
No full textI like this excerpt from Hebrews for several reasons. When you read it in context, it is clear that the author is encouraging and exhorting the reader to persevere. The author is arguing that the reader has received the gift of salvation, and even though challenges come, endurance in doing the will of God will lead to what God promises - salvation. Jesus, in Mark's gospel, takes a different variation on the faith theme, focusing on the mysterious power that faith can have. Jesus uses parables to underscore the growth of faith and how pervasive it can be.|When I was younger there was a popular phrase "Keep the Faith, baby!" This saying was (as far as I can determine) first popularized by New York Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., as a means to galvanize his supporters when he was facing political and legal difficulties. But the sentiment of faith in the face of adversity is, I suppose, as old as humanity. It calls us to understand and accept what is important in our lives and to remain steadfast in those beliefs in the face of criticism, and even physical harm, from those who don't respect our faith traditions.|The other theme from Hebrews that resonates with me is the clause "joined in the sufferings of those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property." This is a very Jesuit concept. It speaks to me of being for and with others and being detached from the material gifts of this world. I find myself always struggling to be more aware and involved with the suffering of others, to share their sorrows by offering my support and solace. I also struggle with being emotionally detached from holding too closely, and putting too much value on, the many good things I have received in life.|It can be easy to ignore the suffering of those who are in the various prisons where they might find themselves - prisons that are not just physical detention centers, but the prisons of disease, financial challenges, mental anguish, addictions, abusive relationships, workplace stress, persistent unemployment, violence and repression. And we can be easily seduced to conclude that the bounty of material items, freedom from want, privilege, insulation from conflict and confrontation, and safety from personal harm is a birthright instead of a wonderful gift.|Those of us who live in western society can easily forget that we generally live at the top of the historical pyramid of human privilege, and the benefits we enjoy are because of our good fortune in being born into this world in this place at this particular point in human history. Even people in our societies who struggle for the daily means of existence are still in some ways (due to our governmental and private "safety nets") better off than the poor and downtrodden of 2,000 years ago.|And so when the Hebrews author encourages us to "keep the faith" by not forgetting the ways in which we shared in the sufferings of those in prison, it really reminds us to keep demonstrating our faith by continuing to share in those confinements, however they are created for our sisters and brothers. And when we are told we have joyfully accepted the confiscation of our property, I think it really means to be mindful of the need to detach our true selves from the wondrous bounty that surrounds us, and to realize that the true gift we have received is not physical things that will fade away, but the salvation we receive from trusting in the Lord. We keep our faith by keeping our focus, by committing our way to that of the Lord.|And so my prayer today is twofold - deep gratitude for the many gifts I have received that enable me to live the life I enjoy, and resolve that I may share more fully in the sufferings of my sisters and brothers and detach myself more intentionally from holding my gifts too closely and selfishly
A MAP of the STATES of VIRGINIA, NORTH CAROLINA, SOUTH CAROLINA and GEORGIA comprehending the SPANISH PROVINCES of EAST and WEST FLORIDA: Exhibiting the Boundaries as fixed by the late Treaty of Peace between the UNITED STATES and the SPANISH DOMINIONS
No full textIt's interesting that a map purporting to show treaty boundaries shows no boundaries between the states, but it's clearly representative of the time the map was made; the very first instance of this map by John Purcell was drawn circa 1788.London is used as the prime meridian. Scale is measured in units of British miles 69 1/2 = 1 degree
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