A reflection for the 17th Sunday, Ordinary Time, Year C. The readings are Genesis 18:20-32; Psalm 138; Colossians 2:12-14 and Luke 11:1-13.
Image from Tammy Sue (publicdomainpictures.net) https://www.needpix.com
A few weeks ago I had dinner with two guys who had lived in a community called Cenacolo. It’s a religious community for men that struggle with addictions. It’s a religious community, but when these guys went, they weren’t very religious – but they were desperate, so they went. But once they got there they wondered about all this “God” stuff. The community depends on the generosity of their neighbours for donations of food and, well, everything. These guys decided to pray: “If God wants us to stay here, He’ll give us something…. Let’s pray for something random…. a soccer ball… it would be good to have a soccer ball to kick around. If God wants us to stay here, He will send us a soccer ball.” So they made this, not-very-sincere prayer, to test God. The next day – I am not making this up – the next day, the community received a large donation from somewhere, a business or somewhere that had closed, and so they got furniture and other stuff – not sure what else. As they are going through the donations, they find a duffle bag. They open the bag and inside is, not one, but like 10 soccer balls! (Not making it up, but maybe I am exaggerating a bit… for dramatic effect!)
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Como ya muchos de ustedes saben, nací y crecí en Panamá. No se como sea en otros paises latinoamericanos, pero en Panamá se dice que solo hay dos “estaciones”. Tenemos la temporada “lluviosa” y la temporada “seca”. Los árboles tienen hojas durante todo el año y tenemos verduras y frutas frescas durante todo el año.
Todos los días en Panamá son bastante iguales ya sea enero o julio. El amanecer y el atardecer ocurren prácticamente a la misma hora durante todo el año; La temperatura suele ser aproximadamente la misma durante todo el año.
Es difícil tener un sentido de las estaciones cuando todo es tan… ordinario.
Ahora que vivo en Canadá, tengo un mejor sentido de las temporadas.
A reflection on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, Year C. The readings are Proverbs 8:22-31; Psalm 33; Romans 5:1-5 and John 16:12-15.
The Adoration of the Trinity by Albrecht Dürer (1511). Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria.
Last Sunday was the Solemnity of Pentecost and with that we concluded the Easter Season. This Sunday we begin the season called Ordinary Time. But there is nothing much ordinary about it. We’re still wearing white and we’re celebrating. Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity, then next Sunday is the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, followed by next Friday, the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It’s not very ordinary. It says something about what “ordinary” means for the Christian: Our ordinary means that we are surrounded by the extra-ordinary: by mystery.
And today we celebrate the solemnity of the Holy Trinity: that Doctrine that the Church teaches that is so hard to understand that we call it a “mystery”. It refers to the fact that God is one God; three persons.
It’s not three gods – He’s ONE God; Three persons. Not three aspects, or three qualities, three parts or three different sides of God: Three PERSONS. One God, three persons. It’s hard to understand completely. That’s why we call it a mystery. But it’s not a mystery that we have to solve. It’s a mystery because it’s so amazing and wonderful that it cannot be fully described in human terms. It cannot be fully understood. But that’s OK, because we don’t have to fully understand it; we just have to live it.
A reflection for the 6th Sunday, Easter, Year C. The readings are Acts 15:1-2, 22-29; Psalm 67; Revelation 21:10-14; 22-23 and John 14:23-29.
“The Holy Spirit will teach you everything and will remind you of everything that I have spoken.”
That’s what I want to talk to you about today.
I suspect that most of you don’t usually pray to the Holy Spirit. Most of us pray to God, the Father, “Dear God”, “Father in Heaven” or “Our Father”, or we pray to Jesus, “Dear Jesus”. But how often do we pray to the Holy Spirit? “Dear Holy Spirit”? And when we pray to God or Jesus, how often do we ask for them to send us the Holy Spirit? Unless we are Charismatic, we probably don’t usually do that.
But we should. Every day. If you don’t remember anything else from today, I want you to always remember this. Pray for the Holy Spirit, every day. Everyday ask God to send you the Holy Spirit, to guide you, to inspire you, to move you.
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deacon pedro 