Welcome!
Thank you for visiting. I hope you will enjoy the variety of topics to enhance your spiritual life. You can read them below or download them and read at your leisure. I have also added my Sunday Homilies.
CURRENT TOPICS: Notes for Presentation on Mary + God Is Beautiful + Hosea, The Unwanted Prophet+
ENJOY!
15th Sunday OT – Luke 10:25-37
“And who is my neighbor?”
It is interesting that the readings for these next three Sundays can all be linked with the Lawyer’s question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”
In today’s reading, the lawyer was learned enough in the Law to answer his own question; he is to love God and to love his neighbor. The story is simple enough and is familiar to any who knows anything about the gospels. A priest and Levite pass by. Technically, the Levite is a priest but whose main vocation since the time of Moses is to teach the Law. The priests, which are mainly from the sub-tribe of Levi, are of the family of Aaron and whose main vocation is the sacrificial offerings in the Temple.
If either of them was on their way to perform religious duties, they were in a dilemma. Contact with a corpse would disqualify them from their responsibilities. So, they pass by, refusing the absolute need of the sufferer. The third person was a Samaritan, a foreigner, “one of them,” hated by the Jews since the time of their return to Jerusalem from the Babylonian exile. The Samaritans tried to prevent the returning Jews from not only re-establishing themselves in their land but also tried to prevent them from rebuilding their Temple.
It is interesting that the lawyer could not even speak the word “Samaritan.” But at least his original question was like those the crowds addressed to John the Baptist, “What must we do?” John’s answers had been decent enough but were trite compared with the answer Jesus gave. This parable tells us how repentance implies a complete change of outlook and behavior, even if we cannot pronounce the name of someone we would never consider our neighbor!
I thought I knew. Then in my last year of grade school, our neighbor moved. And then the neighbor on the other side of our house moved. “Where is everyone moving to?,” I asked by parents. “White Flight!” I heard the phrase used but didn’t know what it meant at the time. But I do know my mother’s response. “We are staying.” Thus began an interesting experience for our family.
A black family moved in next door, 13 kids, two more than we had. This should be interesting, I thought, since I was heading off to seminary high school that year near Canton/Massillon, Ohio. Over the years our families became quite close, matching up in age with each other. Even though I was gone for most of the year, I did get to know the son who was my age. They were Baptists. This was at the time when Catholics still believed that stepping inside a Protestant Church could mean eternal damnation. Mom would encourage us to hang out with their kids, to run around together. Eventually my Mom and our neighbor’s Mom would daily stop and chat at the fence dividing our properties.
By the time I entered my Junior Year, not surprisingly my room-mate was Clarence Williams from Cleveland, Ohio, the only black man in our Seminary High School. We became good friends until his death several years ago. It was coincidence that after I was ordained and was sent to our Cleveland parish, I also met my classmate from grade school, who lived across the alley from us. We had become good friends at that time since we had similar interests, mainly art. He had joined the Benedictines and was teaching at their High School in Cleveland. Who was my neighbor? Anyone who lived next door, whether in Dayton, Ohio, or in Limuru, Kenya.
Who is my neighbor? That is the question we all have to deal with all our lives, including Jesus. He thought the Syrophoenician woman wasn’t his neighbor! We get to see a Jesus with an attitude. “I have come for the children of Israel.” Fortunately for her it was her faith that saved her. In John’s gospel we meet a Jesus, who goes and visits the Samaritans, one of them. What a difference! The Syrophoenician dog versus the Samaritan woman. At least Jesus admits to her that “…the (time) is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem…when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth.”
GOD IS BEAUTY – BEAUTY IS GOD
“Go Back To Where You Came From!”
“Go Back To Where You Came From!”
Amos, The Unwanted Prophet: Part Two
Amos alone among the prophets refers to Israel as “The House of Isaac.” He is also the only prophet who mentions the Yahweh shrine at Beersheba (to the South of Tekoa) which was founded by Isaac. Isaac was the father both of Jacob and Esau, forefather of the Edomites, and they in turn were semi-nomadic neighbors of the Tekoans to their immediate south. Amos may have had a special regard for these Edomite neighbors of his, perhaps even thinking of them as brothers. They were highly regarded in Old Testament times for their clan wisdom as were the Tekoans.
Seldom was a prophet so out of step with his times. Not since the days of King David had Israel been as powerful or prosperous as right then. King Uzziah of Judah and King Jeroboam of Israel were the rulers at this time. More precisely, it was two years before a certain earthquake, which was dated to the year 760 on the basis of archaeological evidence from the north-Galilean city of Hazor. This would locate Amos in the middle years of the long, exceptionally prosperous reigns of these kings.
Miriam and Amos are again sitting in the shade at their favorite place in the cool of morning sun as it slowly lights up the view of the world below them. This is their favorite time of the day before any work begins to spend some time together if even for a few moments.
“I am sure you were too tired last night after your journey,” Miriam was anxious to ask, “but how was your trip?”
“It went well,” Amos began. “The only problem that each time I travel to Jerusalem, even for the celebrations, I come away angry at the haughty looks I get from the arrogant people that live there.”
“I am sure it is because those people don’t know what real work is like, except for the poor laborers that slave for them,” Miriam tried to soothe him, since he seemed more irritated this time.
“I have no problem with how I look, but I am sure my mannerisms and even my attitude causes me to stand out,” Amos said a little irritated. “But what always gets to me is their attitude, like Jerusalem is God’s chosen city and King David his special chosen dynasty!”
“Well, I can sympathize with you,” she said.
“But what really irks me is all those senseless sacrifice of animals!” he almost spit it out.
Now Miriam has realized what really bothers him. “I know what you mean, Amos,” Miriam again tries to consol him. “But my worry is how will they receive you when you get to Bethel in the Northern Kingdom and give them Yahweh’s warning?”
“It will not be with open arms of love,” Amos replied a little sarcastic. “But I do have a plan how to deliver the message. And once I am done then I can wash my hands of them and their abominable temples and sacrilegious practices.”
Miriam said a little worried, “Just take care of yourself, Amos. When are you planning on leaving?”
“Shortly,” Amos replied, “after I get some rest. I am thinking of taking Joshua with me.”
“He is old enough to travel and it would be a great experience for him,” she said. “Do you think it will be safe for you both?”
“Yes. Normally I would not be certain, except…” Amos paused, “Yahweh promised my safety!”
Miriam reflected for a moment, somewhat surprised. “Amos, I have the feeling that Yahweh really needs you to deliver his message.”
Amos only answers, “God does nothing, without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets. If they do not listen, then God acts.”
Miriam can only shudder what the Lord God Yahweh will do.
Go Back To Where You Came From pt 2
Go Back To Where You Came From pt 1