The weather’s unpredictable these days. Weather reports have become a major part of the news. Should look at weather in another way.
“Just as from the heavens
the rain and snow come down, and do not return there
till they have watered the earth,
making it fertile and fruitful,
giving seed to the one who sows
and bread to the one who eats,
so shall my word be
that goes forth from my mouth;
It shall not return to me void,
but shall do my will,
achieving the end for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55,10)
Isaiah tells us to look at our weather in a deeper way. Does weather tell us how God blesses us? Like rain or snow God’s blessings come, making our lives fruitful. Yes, they will surely come, but how about the times we have to wait, when no rain or snow comes at all? Or when storms and drought come?
God’s blessings are like the weather.
Should we think of God’s blessings through the Sign of the Cross. We say “we bless ourselves” when we make this sign. Sometimes God’s blessing comes through the cross of glory and we receive blessings never imagined through his tender mercy. Like a beautiful day.
Sometimes his blessings takes another form of his cross– disappointment, suffering, failure, sickness, death. There God’s blessings are mostly hidden and hard to see. Like a stormy or brutally hot or cold day?
In Matthew’s gospel these days, Jesus speaks about prayer. Is this blessing also like the weather. Prayer is a gift, but it’s a gift like the rain and snow. It’s one of God’s greatest gifts to us, yet sometimes we find it hard to pray while at other times it wells up within us.
Or, as we see our threatened environment today, is our unpredictable weather a warning that we need to take care of this fragile world of ours?
Green is the liturgy’s color for ordinary time. Not white, the bright light of Eastertime, or red the color of blood and fire. or purple the color of penance. Green is earth’s color, the color of slow growing trees and grasses– of ordinary time.
An unknown 4th century spiritual writer describes the ordinary ways the Holy Spirit works in us. “‘In varied and different ways’ invisible grace leads us. Ordinary time doesn’t mean that every day’s the same. Sometimes we find ourselves sad at the state of things; sometimes we joyfully hold the whole world in our arms. Sometimes we feel helpless; sometimes we think there’s nothing we can’t do. Sometimes we’re brave; sometimes we escape into the supposed safety of ourselves looking for peace.”
Far from taking us away from the human condition, the Spirit leads us by human steps in human time. Ordinary time is the natural, slow roller-coaster of life; the Spirit leads us on.
The psalms are great prayers for ordinary time. They take you from one human experience to another. If you don’t experience what a certain psalm describes, wait awhile–you will.
13 Tue St Anthony of Padua, Memorial 2 Cor 1:18-22/Mt 5:13-16
14 Wed Weekday 2 Cor 3:4-11/Mt 5:17-19
15 Thu Weekday 2 Cor 3:15—4:1, 3-6/Mt 5:20-26
16 Fri SACRED HEART OF JESUS Solemnity Dt 7:6-11/1 Jn 4:7-16/Mt 11:25-30
17 Sat Immaculate Heart of Mary 2 Cor 5:14-21 (364)/Lk 2:41-51
18 SUN 11th SUNDAY Ex 19:2-6a/Rom 5:6-11/Mt 9:36—10:8
This week in the lectionary we begin reading for the next two weeks from the 2nd Letter of Paul to the Corinthians.
We’re also reading on weekdays from St. Matthew’s Gospel until the end of August, the Gospel of Mark during the week and begin reading from St. Matthew’s Gospel.
The liturgy broadens our spirituality. Following it each day brings its own treasure, not to be underestimated. The liturgical calendar calls us to explore, not only the various scriptures of the Old and New Testament, but also the gifts we’ve received from other times and places.
St. Ephrem, named a doctor of the church in 1920, opens up the riches of the Syrian tradition to us. The feasts of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary (Friday and Saturday) come from the spiritual reaction in 17th century Christian Europe against the cold moralism of Jansenism.
Ephrem, writer of hymns and commentaries on the liturgy, explains what hidden treasures are found in liturgical prayer:
“Lord, who can comprehend even one of your words. We lose more of it than we can grasp, like those drinking from running waters. God’s word offers different facets, according to the listener; the Lord offers his word in many different colors. Whoever gazes on it, sees what he’s meant to see. Within are hidden many different treasures; those seeking find what makes them rich.
The word of God is a tree of life that offers blessed fruit from each of its branches. It is like that rock struck in the wilderness from which all drank. As the apostles says, ‘They all ate spiritual food and they all drank.’” (Commentary on the Diatesseron)
MAY 31 Mon The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Feast
Zep 3:14-18a or Rom 12:9-16/Lk 1:39-56
JUNE 1 Tue Saint Justin, Martyr (Ninth Week in Ordinary Time)
Memorial Tb 2:9-14/Mk 12:13-17
2 Wed Weekday [Saints Marcellinus and Peter, Martyrs]
Tb 3:1-11a, 16-17a/Mk 12:18-27
3 Thu Saint Charles Lwanga and Companions, Martyrs Memorial
Tb 6:10-11; 7:1bcde, 9-17; 8:4-9a/Mk 12:28-34
4 Fri Weekday Tb 11:5-17/Mk 12:35-37
5 Sat Saint Boniface, Bishop and Martyr Memorial Tb 12:1, 5-15, 20/Mk 12:38-44
6 SUN THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST (Corpus Christi) Solemnity
Ex 24:3-8/Heb 9:11-15/Mk 14:12-16, 22-26
A feast of Mary occurs every month in the calendar. This month it’s the Visitation (May 31), placed between the Feast of the Annunciation (March 15) and the Birth of John the Baptist (June 24) Mary brings good news to her older cousin Elizabeth, who will give birth to John. Mary always brings the Good News of her Son to us too.Three years ago, we dedicated our Mary Garden.
The memorials in the calendar signify important saints for remembrance. Charles Lwanga and Companions, June 3rd, recall the spread of the gospel to Japan; Boniface, June 5th, recalls the gospel reaching the Germanic peoples. The Martyr Justin, June 1st, is remembered for introducing the gospel to the philosophers of the Roman world.
The Book of Tobit is our first reading most of the week. Listen as this good man wrestles with the challenge of exile, blindness and the fears that come from personal loss. In the distance, rescue waits. Great story.
When Patrick John Mahoney was born March 4th, one of the first questions Christine and Kevin were asked was: “What are you calling him?” That’s the question we asked when they brought him to church on Saturday, May 22nd : “What is his name?” “Patrick John”, they said. Then, we asked them why they brought him here. “For Baptism,” they said.
We welcomed him with the Sign of the Cross, the sign Jesus Christ offers to his own. Many of Patrick John’s family, there too, welcomed him.
In our baptismal service, Jesus speaks in four important readings related to this sacrament. Jesus tells Nicodemus, in John’s gospel, you must be born again of water and the Holy Spirit to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. (John 3:1-6) In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus tells his disciples to go out to the whole world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”. (Matthew 28:18-20) The Baptism of Jesus, who goes into the waters of the Jordan River, is recalled in Mark’s gospel. (Mark 1:9-11) Finally, in another reading from Mark, Jesus says “Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the Kingdom of God belong to such as these.” (Mark 10:13-16)
I commented on Mark’s gospel, about the Baptism of Jesus who went into the waters of the Jordan and was baptized.
The day after Kevin and Christine were married August 24, 2019, I went down to the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC, to see an exhibit called “Deep Time”, about the beginnings of our universe over 4.5 billion years ago. One part of the exhibit, for kids, caught my attention.
Deep Time Exhibit: Smithsonian, Washington, DC
“Your body through time. Your body is the result of 3.7 billion years of evolution.” A reminder we don’t just come from mommy and daddy, we come through 3.7 billion years of evolution. We’re related to the world of the past and to what it’s meant to be in the future. Through it all one element is constant– water. There’s no life without it. Where did the waters come from? Like all of creation–God.
When Jesus went into the waters of the Jordan River he identified himself with all life. The Son of God signified his willingness to live in our world as a human and give it– past, present, and future– the promise of eternal life.
We prayed Saturday over the water that was our Jordan, in Christ Our Light church, Cherry Hill, NJ.
Father, you give us grace through sacramental signs which tell us of your unseen power. In baptism we use your gift of water, a rich symbol of your grace.
At the very dawn of creation, your Spirit breathed on the waters making them the wellspring of holiness.
The waters of the great flood you made a sign of the waters of baptism that end sin and bring new goodness.
Through the waters of the Red Sea you led Israel out of slavery to be your holy people.
By the power of your Spirit, give to this fount the power of your Son
We baptized Patrick John with water, “In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” and the Spirit came upon him. A voice from heaven called him his son in whom he was pleased.
We prayed to Jesus Christ with all the heavenly host and our families’ holy ones:
By the mystery of your death and resurrection, bathe this child of light, give him the new light of baptism and welcome him into your church”
Through baptism and confirmation, make him your faithful follower and a witness to your gospel.
Lead him by a holy life to the joys of God’s kingdom.
Make the lives of his parents and godparents examples of faith to inspire him.
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