Dear Preachers: PRE-NOTES: We have posted on our webpage the journal notes and photos of Barbara Cooper, who made a pilgrimage to the lands of Dominic in 1985. See where the Dominican Order had its beginnings in the 13th century. Go to www.preacherexchange.com and click on "Lands of Dominic."Oops! Last week I misdated the reflections. I meant August 29 not September 29. It has been a very hot summer in Raleigh. Maybe I was hoping to rush the cool air of Autumn! ___________ I was struck a few years ago by a comment made by a 25-year-old man with whom I was speaking. He described himself as a "typical 25-year-old guy." He was a college graduate and had a decent job. While he wasn’t going through a particular crisis, still, he talked about negotiating life’s twists and turns–at work, with his parents and in relationships with his friends and a woman he was dating. He ended by saying, "I’m still young, but I have already made some bad judgments and I wish I could go back and do a few things differently. Life can be so hard!" And that comes from a young man who has been on his own for only a few years! He has made some mistakes and seems to have learned from them. He is growing in wisdom about life, what the author of the Book of Wisdom calls, "The things on earth." Ordinary human life can be hard to navigate; sometimes very difficult to get right. That being so in human affairs, how can we learn and come to understand and respond to God’s ways? A century before Christ the author of Wisdom put it this way, "Who can know God’s counsel or who can conceive what God intends?" We humans are weak, our vision is limited and our choices are affected by both interior and exterior forces–conscious and unconscious. Wisdom has always been associated with Solomon in the Bible. He lived 10 centuries earlier, but still the Book of Wisdom shows his influence and draws on his inspiration. When, in prayer, God offered Solomon anything he wanted (imagine such an offer!) Solomon chose wisdom to help him in the practicalities of everyday decision making. ("Give your servant therefore an understanding heart to judge your people and to distinguish right from wrong. For who is able to govern this vast people of yours?" 1 Kings 3:9) If my young friend could conclude, "Life is hard!" so early in his life and realize the importance of good decision-making, then imagine what Solomon would need as the God-appointed ruler of Israel – a wisdom that only God could give. The author of Wisdom lived in a world influenced by Greek culture, guided by the wisdom of Greek philosophers and moralists. The Greeks loved the pursuit of knowledge and were famous for their philosophers, libraries, artistic expression, science etc. They believed they could strive for and obtain wisdom through their own efforts. But the author of the Book of Wisdom and Jesus (especially in today’s gospel) conceived of an entirely different kind of wisdom, not something achievable by mere human hard work, but only by a gift from God. ("Or who ever knew your counsel except you had given wisdom and sent your holy spirit from on high.") We live in a world guided by many secular forms of wisdom that challenge the biblical wisdom that forms the backdrop to today’s readings. Our world is not prone to embrace the quest for God’s ways shown in our first reading, or a willingness to make the sacrifices ("renounce all") Jesus, in today’s gospel, spells out for those wishing to be his followers. We are still on the road with Jesus and his companions and, as Luke tells us, "great crowds were traveling with Jesus." There may be a lot of people with him now at this point, but more and more will drift away as he gets closer to Jerusalem and the seeming-collapse of his endeavors and the crowd’s plans for glory. But Jesus is not waiting for those final moments, when his followers will see and experience what happens to him and what will be asked of them. On the way to Jerusalem he is making it quite clear what is required of those who follow him. He wants us to renounce what we think, based on the world’s wisdom, gives us life and happiness and accept him and his way as the path to God and to our true selves. More and more the crowds who follow him will evaporate as Jesus nears Jerusalem. He is advising them: don’t wait till then, or some future time to make the necessary changes required of a disciple; make wise choices now, not based on ephemeral worldly wisdom, but on the wisdom God is offering us. God’s wisdom is a gift, can we accept and live by it? What would living by it look like? Jesus shows us in his actions and teachings. It’s clear Jesus is not proposing for us a cozy and comfortable religion. Our lives are to be marked by the cross, he tells us. It’s his cross of service, self giving, prophetic speech and exemplary daily living. It’s shown in the way he lived and by the choices he made. The two parables he gives us today suggest we should not enter into discipleship too casually. We are not joining a social club or a religion for the upwardly mobile. Nor does being a disciple of Jesus happen automatically because we are born into a family that’s Christian. All through his life Jesus made deliberate, daily decisions about how he would respond to people’s worldly practices and the religious beliefs of his day. He asks us to follow his example. Think it over, he tells us, before you make a commitment to me. Then, when you do, make it a total giving of yourselves. But at this moment of our lives who can claim to have made such a total self-emptying gift? For the vast majority becoming a disciple is a daily process; little by little we weigh our choices carefully and act. What am I to do in this situation as a disciple of Jesus? When I’m not sure how to respond to that question it’s time to do what Solomon did and pray for wisdom. In fact, it’s probably better to be praying for wisdom each day; life is complicated and who knows what challenge and choices I will face this day. What constitutes life is not what I own or my standing in family and society–it’s Jesus. So, everything has to be ordered to that reality. At this Eucharist we could place on the altar, in the bread and wine, our desire to have our lives conformed to that of Jesus. Just as the bread and wine are incomplete, so are we. But the presider, in our name, will impose hands over the gifts and over us and pray, "Let your Spirit come upon these gifts, so that they will become for us the body and blood of Christ." Which is what we are praying for ourselves and the believing community; that we become like Christ and be willing and able daily to take up our unique crosses and follow him. Our second reading gives us a very personal look into Paul’s life. This is the only Sunday when we get to hear a selection from Philemon (the letter appears only once in our weekday lectionary). It’s like going up into the attic, finding an old trunk containing a grandparent’s letter to one of their children. It’s clear in such letters the love and concern they had for their offspring. Paul’s brief letter to Philemon is very much like that kind of letter. He refers to Onesimus as "my child"–a clue to how "the old man" (as he calls himself) felt about Onesimus. Paul’s letters were usually addressed to communities, mostly churches he helped found. The letter to Philemon is the only personal letter we have. He wrote it from prison around 52 C.E. Philemon was a convert in Colossae and his slave Onesimus had run away and may have stolen something of value from his master. Onesimus probably met Paul in Ephesus and became a follower of Christ and grew very close to Paul, who refers to him as "my own heart." Onesimus seems to have been very helpful to Paul in his confinement nevertheless, Paul is sending him back to Philemon. While Paul doesn’t give a teaching against slavery, he appeals to Philemon to receive Onesimus back, "no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a brother, beloved especially to me, but even more to you as a man and in the Lord." Paul was asking a lot of Philemon–to give up the culturally accepted relationship of master to slave and accept Onesimus in a new and radical relationship, as a brother in Christ. Philemon is being asked to do what Jesus asks today of us, "to renounce all" possessions in favor of Christ–to choose Christ over our possessions Who can claim to be fully following Christ? We don’t worship together today because we have finished the course and have come to collect our gold medals–"first place disciples." Instead, here we are, very incomplete, not yet fully accepting the implications of what it means to be a disciple. We need the One who is Wisdom itself to be our food for the journey. As my young friend said, and we know very well, "Life is hard." Let us come to receive the food of wisdom so we can make wise choices as we continue our journey home to the heavenly Jerusalem.
Labor Day 2010 "The Church fully supports the right of workers to form unions to secure their rights to fair wages and working conditions. No one may deny the right to organize without attacking human dignity itself. Migrant agricultural workers today are particularly in need of protection, including the right to organize and bargain collectively." (US Catholic Bishops, Economic Justice for All) Did you know? North Carolina is the least unionized state in the country. FLOC (Farm Labor Organizing Committee) is both a social movement and a labor union. Their immediate constituency is migrant workers in the agricultural industry, but they are also involved with immigrant workers, our local communities, and national and international coalitions concerned with justice. The FLOC vision emphasizes human rights as the standard and self-determination as the process for achieving these rights. FLOC struggles for full justice for those who have been marginalized and exploited for the benefit of others, and is seeking to change the structures of society to enable all workers to have a direct voice in determining their working conditions. "Big tobacco companies are among the richest parties in American agriculture. They have constructed a supply system that benefits themselves, at the expense of those who produce their leaf products. This includes both farmers and farm workers. There are only a few large companies that purchase NC tobacco and they use their power to set the terms and prices for the farmers who grow their tobacco. These terms and prices directly affect the earnings and working conditions of field workers. With their wealth and industry power, companies like RJ Reynolds could be part of the solution, but have instead attempted to hold themselves out to the public as passive purchasers of tobacco." http://supportfloc.org/ReynoldsAmericanCampaign.aspxWhat can I do?
(Submitted by Anne and Bill Werdel, from the parish bulletin of Sacred Heart Cathedral, Raleigh, N. C.)
Mini-reflections on the Sunday scripture readings designed for persons on the run. "Faith Book" is also brief enough to be posted in the Sunday parish bulletins people take home. From today’s Gospel reading: If you do not carry your own cross and come after me you cannot be my disciple.... In the same way, anyone of you who does not renounce all your possessions cannot be my disciples. Reflection: Jesus tells us today that we should not enter into or take our discipleship to him too casually. We are not just members in a special social club. Nor does being a disciple happen automatically by being born into a Christian family. That’s not enough. Instead, discipleship comes by our making a deliberate and life-altering choice. Before we make such a commitment we must consider it carefully and be willing to make a total gift of ourselves to him and his ways each and every day. So we ask ourselves:
POSTCARDS TO DEATH ROW INMATES
Inmates on death row are the most forgotten people in the prison system. Each week I post in this space several inmates’ names and addresses. I invite you to write a postcard to one or more of them to let them know we have not forgotten them. If you like, tell them you heard about them through North Carolina’s, "People of Faith Against the Death Penalty." If the inmate responds you might consider becoming pen pals. Please write to:
---Central Prison 1300 Western Blvd. Raleigh, N.C. 27606
You might want to let people know that Thrift Books is a great on-line resource for used books for folks who are incarcerated. The shipping is free, good quality books and customer service very easy to work with. I have had books sent to several of the correctional facilities in NC with no problem. Beats the cost of new books from Amazon. Www.thriftbooks.comIt was exciting to see the first 5 cases filed under the Racial Equity banner! Shawn Bonnett responded to one of my postcards several years ago and it has been a gift to walk the journey with him. He is on cloud 9! Peace and blessings on your work. mary therese lemanek
1. Two CDs Available: "First Impressions Preaching Reflections: Liturgical Year C." Begins in Advent and contains three reflections for almost all the Sundays and major feasts of the year. It also has book reviews and additional essays related to preaching. "Liturgical Years A, B and C." Reflections on the three-year cycle, with Year C updated. If you are a preacher, lead a Lectionary-based scripture group, or are a member of a liturgical team, these CDs will be helpful in your preparation process. Individual worshipers report they also use these reflections as they prepare for Sunday liturgy. You can order the CDs by going to our webpage: www.preacherexchange.com and clicking on the "First Impressions" CD link on the left.2. "Homilías Dominicales" —These Spanish reflections on the Sunday and daily scriptures are written by Dominican sisters and friars. If you or a friend would like to receive these reflections drop a note to fr. John Boll, O.P. at Jboll@opsouth.org or jboll@preacherexchange.org.3. Our webpage: http://www.preacherexchange.comWhere you will find "Preachers’ Exchange," which includes "First Impressions" and "Homilías Dominicales," as well as articles, book reviews, daily homilies and other material pertinent to preaching. 4."First Impressions" is a service to preachers and those wishing to prepare for Sunday worship. It is sponsored by the Dominican Friars of Raleigh, N.C. If you would like "First Impressions" sent weekly to a friend, send a note to fr. John Boll, OP at the above email address.
If you would like to support this ministry, please send tax deductible contributions to Jude Siciliano, O.P., whose address is listed below. Make checks payable to: Dominican Friars of Raleigh. Or, go to our webpage to make an online donation: Thank you and blessings on your preaching, Jude Siciliano, O.P., Promoter of Preaching, Southern Dominican Province, USA P.O. 12927 Raleigh, N.C. 27605 (919-833-1893, ex 224) judeop@Juno.com
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