Archive for September, 2010

Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sunday, September 26th, 2010

Luke 16

September 26, 2010

Once upon a time, there was a rich man who dressed in very expensive clothes and lived a life of great luxury.  He was not mean or nasty, but he was rich and his riches bought him anything he wanted, including “leave-me-alone” peace! 

Once upon the same time, there was a poor man named Lazarus who was content to have leftovers from the rich man’s table.  The rich man did not seem to mind the presence of the poor man, Lazarus, but he clearly did not want to be bothered.  While the rich man ate alone, the poor man let the neighborhood dogs come and eat with him and lick his wounds.  The rich man liked and could pay for his privacy, while Lazarus could not afford privacy and interacted with the dogs.

The poor man died and the rich man died.  The poor man went to heaven where he was happy and not poor anymore.  The rich man went to “Hades” where he was in great pain.  The chasm between the rich man and the poor man remained between them after death.    The rich man finally got what he had always wanted “to be left alone!”

I am reminded of a book written by a Dutch priest, Fr. Henri Nouwen.  The title of the book is  “Gracias!” or “Thanks!”  Spending a year in South America, Fr. Nouwen stayed mostly with the poorest of the poor.  They were poor yet they were the happiest people he had ever met.  They gladly shared their meager belongings and it was clear to Fr. Henri that they had nothing but themselves and they clearly did not want to be “left alone.”  They were each others’ strength and companions in their journey through life.  They were so grateful for the little they had and could share — hence the title of his book, “Gracias,”  “Thanks.”  They changed Fr. Henri for good.

In today’s story of the rich man/poor man, the issue is not rich versus poor.  The issue is more about what you do with what you have.  The rich man could have bought and shared anything he wanted, but he preferred to invest in “leave-me-alone” peace.  The poor man had leftovers and crumbs, but he shared them with his friends, the dogs.  (I can under-stand the poor man…there are days that I prefer dogs to people too!)

We work in a healthcare facility, not because we want to be left alone, but because we wish to be of help to people who are sick and vulnerable.  We don’t share our riches.  We share ourselves, which is more valuable than bank accounts.  We might be poor financially, but we are rich in our persons and are caring in our services to others.

So the moral of this gospel is two-fold.

1.         Be careful what you wish for, you might get it!
2.         Be patient and hang in there…our good works towards others are seeds of a rich harvest which we will reap!

Kenn Rancourt
Pastoral Care

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Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Friday, September 24th, 2010

Amos 8:4-71                Timothy 2:1-8          Luke 16:1-13

Sunday, September 19

My sister and I are 15 months apart in age.  We grew up with a strong foundation of right and wrong.  In the instances when we caused trouble, neither of us wanted to disappoint our parents (or be punished).  So, when they would ask us who was responsible for the incident we would say, “Christine did it.”  Now Christine was the toddler who lived in the house behind us and it was readily apparent to any adult that Christine could not have caused the problem.  But rather than admit responsibility or get the other sibling into trouble, we came up with a more creative solution (and to this day if something goes wrong, “Christine” still gets the blame!) 

In the Gospel reading from St. Luke, Jesus tells a story about a steward who also comes up with a (not-so-honest) creative solution to his dilemma with his boss.  He knows he is going to lose his job for squandering the owner’s property so he “fixes the books” and reduces the amount of debt owed by the people who are indebted to the property owner, so that when he is out of work (hopefully) the people whose debts he reduced will take pity on him and help him.  When the property owner learns what he has done, the owner actually commends him for acting shrewdly.  Jesus too seems to praise the steward for his actions.  This is not the typical lesson one might expect in Scripture.  Since Jesus obviously isn’t praising dishonesty, what he is saying? The steward was relentless in his pursuit of his objective and perhaps this is Jesus’ message for us.  As a health system we are relentless in pursuit of our mission: to continue the healing ministry by providing distinguished patient-, resident- and family-centered care.  And one of our four core values is stewardship: responsible use of human, material, and financial resources entrusted to us.  Interestingly, the action of the steward is to forgive debts.  He has no right to do this (the people owed the money to his boss) and his motivation for doing it was for his own good.  Forgiving is a theme that Luke pursues relentlessly in his Gospel.  In fact, his version of the Lord’s Prayer reads as “forgive us our sins as we forgive our debtors.”  Commentator Anders concludes that this is the real focus of this week’s Gospel passage: “Forgive it all.  Forgive it now.  Forgive it for any reason you want, or for no reason at all.”

The passage ends with the familiar text “No servant can serve two masters…you cannot serve both God and mammon” (often translated as money.) While the steward used the currency that ruled his world (money), the currency of God’s kingdom is forgiveness.  Fortunately for my sister and me, our parents gave us more than a strong foundation of right and wrong.  They also gave us unconditional love and experiences of forgiveness and mercy.

Elizabeth Keene
Mission Effectiveness

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Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Monday, September 20th, 2010

Exodus 32:7-11, 13-14 1 Timothy 1:12-17 Luke 15:1-32

Sunday, September 12, 2010

The gospel for this Sunday includes three parables, all of them quite outrageous to a practical-minded, economically sensitive follower of Jesus. Who would go after one stupid, lost sheep and take the chance of losing the other ninety-nine? If “rejoice with me” includes food and drink – and we can hardly imagine that it wouldn’t — then the shepherd is still going to lose some of his property! Or who would bother to clean a whole house for one coin? And if “rejoice with me” includes food and drink, then the woman spent more than one coin partying with her friends! Or who would “celebrate with a feast” a rascal son who has the audacity to ask for his inheritance early, squander it, and then come home to a party rather than to punishment and disgrace? This just doesn’t make sense. And that’s the point-no, it doesn’t! What we have here is the reversal of our expectations. There is an outlandish disproportion in the three parables. Herein is our lesson: these parables speak without a doubt to us about the compassion and fidelity of God.

In the first two parables, there is no concern for how the sheep and coin are lost. All that matters is that they are found. By contrast, the prodigal son is culpable; he is “lost” because of his dissolute life. However, the father (unlike the older brother) is not concerned with who is to blame. His only concern is that he has his son back, as though from death.

The older son, on the other hand, has great concern for how the younger son was lost (swallowed up…the property with prostitutes) and refuses to come to the feast and rejoice at his return. The bitterness of the older son stands in stark contrast to the mercy and generosity of the father. So, too, with God, who is more eager to welcome and receive sinners than to hold them accountable. This is Good News!

Both readings describe the mercy of God extending to sinners, whether the sin is idolatry (first reading), dissolute living (younger son), or refusing to forgive.

Forgiving an unintended hurt is sometimes difficult for us; forgiving an intended hurt is still more difficult. Yet God’s response to sin, which is intentional, is always one of mercy, compassion, and forgiveness. God always seeks the lost. This is indeed Good News!

It is not always easy to forgive, especially when the hurt is intentional. Here are some possible steps towards forgiveness:

1. Consider the good in the person who needs our forgiveness.
2. When we are “angry”, recite a “litany” of positive virtues.
3. Think of the dignity of the other as a son or daughter of God.
4. Maybe we need to consider our own goodness.

Fr. Joseph Manship
Pastoral Care

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23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Thursday, September 9th, 2010

The Cost of Discipleship

Sunday, September 5, 2010

This Sunday, the first in September, when work and school vacations are over for most of us, we find the readings for the day’s liturgy carrying a common thread. We are invited to renew our commitment to further nourish our call to follow Jesus in our particular vocations.

The first reading from the book of Wisdom 9:13-18 asks us, “Who can conceive what the Lord intends?”We can all relate to that question. God has God’s own agenda for us, so we take an extra dose of the Trust vitamin and move along, because, as we recite Psalm 90, each verse returns us to the truth of, “In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.” The second reading which is St. Paul’s letter to Philemon, a fellow Christian and co-worker, Paul asks that Philemon give shelter to a young man who has been in trouble and is now marginalized. Paul himself is in prison and asks as Jesus would have, “Take him not as a slave, but as a brother…and in the Lord. Welcome him as you would me.” We come lastly to the Gospel reading. The words present difficulty for many of us. “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, spouse, children, brothers and sisters, possessions, and even one’s own life, that person cannot be my disciple.”

This is hard talk from the “Good Shepherd,” “gentle welcomer of children,” “defender of women,” and the “Good Samaritan.” A possible easy fix is to go to another translation. Matthew 10:37-8 reads, “Whoever loves father or mother son or daughter,. more than me, is not worthy of me.” That is gentler; however Luke’s writing is the one for the day. We can take the time to research the Hebrew and Aramaic languages, which were those spoken in the time in which Jesus lived. However, in our own life experiences we know there is a cost of following. Those who marry follow the one they fall in love with. Making the sacrifices that come with building family life costs something. Following a vocation to the religious or single life, costs. Taking part in ministry to the aged, sick, and dying as all of us do here at St. Mary’s Health System as disciples of Jesus Christ and Marguerite d’Youville, costs. So, how is it we smile so widely? Perhaps it is not important to dwell on words or translations or costs, but on what we know in our hearts. There are four messages I see in the four readings:

Wisdom 9:13 -18 ~ God called us for a purpose. God intends a life for each one.
Psalm 90: 3-6, 12-14 17 ~ God will provide a way for us.
Philemon 9-10, 12, 15-17 ~ We do welcome the marginalized not as less than, but as brothers.
Luke 14:25-33 ~ Through our teams we can ease the cost of discipleship/ following, and the Lord will show us how if we but ask.

Go Gently,

Elizabeth Lowe
Chaplain

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Twenty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time

Tuesday, September 7th, 2010

August 29, 2010 

Sirach 3:17-18, 28-29            Hebrews 12:18-19, 22-24               Luke 14:1, 7-14 

The theme of the readings is HUMILITY.  That’s not a word that many of us really understand or that we relish.  In our past, we were often taught that humility meant putting oneself down.  That’s really not the meaning of humility.  A prominent spiritual writer of the day, Sr. Joan Chittister, says “To be humble is not to be diminished.”  I once read and heard that  “humility is truth.”  How so?  The humble person can acknowledge his or her talents and successes as gifts from God.  The humble person can accept compliments without denying them.  These are examples of being honest, of being in the truth.  It is not arrogance but truth and it implies knowing who is the Giver of all good gifts. 

One of the lessons of humility in the first reading is to accept to be loved by others but to seek only to be rewarded by God.  When I am truly aware of my own truth, I am not driven to spend life satisfying my ego more than my need, Sr. Joan Chittister says, therefore I harbor no delusions of grandeur. As the second reading suggests, we seek not to be great, but to be faithful, and God’s justice will both motivate us and reward us. 

In the Gospel of Luke we meet Jesus at a meal.  Luke offers us many stories and parables involving meals and fellowship.  Jesus tells a parable that is both clear and practical.  He is really telling us not to be arrogant, not to seek the best and highest places at a banquet.  It is far better to be asked to come forward than to be asked to vacate a spot for someone more important.  He also reminds us not to invite to our meals and festivities only people who can reciprocate.  How about inviting the poor, the lonely, and the lowly who may never be able to invite us back or reward us in any way?  That is called disinterested giving and it implies humility, not selfishness and arrogance. 

How do we maintain this spirit of humility? Let us remember that however much we know, we still know very little compared to the sum total of knowledge.  However much we have achieved, when we die or leave our position, life and work will go on here without us. Whatever gifts or talents we have come from the Creator and thus our hearts must be grateful and not arrogant.  We need to develop these gifts and use them for the good of others and not for self-aggrandizement. 

For us who work in healthcare, when we think we are kind, compassionate, and generous, let us remember that we are not perfect and that Jesus is our model.  We might then realize that there is room for improvement in our attitudes and actions and in our efforts for patient-centered care.  Realizing that “humility is truth” will help us in our work, in our personal lives, and in our relationship with God, the Giver of all good gifts. 

Sr. Suzanne Beaudoin, SSCh
Director of Pastoral Care

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