November 27, 2023

First Sunday of Advent

• Isaiah 2:1-5
• Romans 13:11-14
• Matthew 24:37-44

Reflection Written By: Gayle Sommerfeld

This first Sunday of Cycle A in the Church’s liturgical year presents readings which ask us to make some room in our lives. Advent brings four weeks of holy longing for Christ’s coming into our dark and broken world to make all things new. We have a certain hope that the Lord is coming. I am also tired already, anxious at times, have many things on my to-do list, and hope hurts sometimes. It is good to spend time in waiting, rather than hurrying into “Christ is born!” without any thought or preparation.  Setting aside a month to be with the stories of the prophet Isaiah, Elizabeth, Zechariah, John the Baptist, Mary, and Joseph can deepen our appreciation of the fullness of Christmas and how it fits into God’s bigger story and ours.

About seven hundred years before the birth of Jesus, Isaiah has a vision of the presence of the holy and one God in a new place and in a new way than he knew before. We hear about the holy mountain which will rise above all others and to which all nations will come to visit and learn the instructions and the ways of the Lord.  The new presence of the Lord in the new house will bring a new light into the world and by this light there will be no need for wars or despair. If all the nations continue walking up the hill towards the light, towards the temple of Jerusalem, then they will walk together and live together within that light.

The Gospel of Matthew was written some 30 to 50 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus. The temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans. For these early Christians, their lives were in chaos.  Their leader, James, had been killed, as had most of the apostles and disciples who met and knew Jesus firsthand. They expected Jesus’ return soon, but that hadn’t happened. Did they get Jesus’ message wrong? Leaders in the Church were arguing about it all. It is hard to have hope after so many years.

In the Gospel reading this week from Matthew, Jesus tells the story of Noah and the building of the ark somewhat differently than Genesis does. In Genesis, the world is corrupt and filled with brutality and that is why God sends the flood.  Jesus uses the Noah story to describe how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man at the end of history.  In verse 37 and following, Jesus talks about how it was during the days of Noah, “People were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day that Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away.” For many years, they watched Noah build a giant wooden box in the middle of the desert. For many years, they listened to him talk about how God was going to send a flood and how it was time for them to repent. They laughed and all thought Noah was crazy. But then came the flood.  They were all completely unprepared and perished. Didn’t God give those people a chance?

That’s how it will be when Jesus comes again. Romans 13 describes what it looks like to not be ready.  Some of us will be ready, and some of us will not.  Awareness and preparation are called for… What is required is not withdrawing from ordinary life, but maintaining, in the middle of the ordinary, a sense of hope, of the unexpected and an awareness of the holy and living from that.

We meet the Holy One when we move out of ourselves in prayer to God, and when we move out of ourselves in service to others.  May we all keep watch in this season of Advent for the Lord’s coming.  May we all remember that the God who brings justice is the same God who brings mercy, love, and redemption. May we remember that Christ is here, has come and that He will come again.  As we prepare room for Christ Jesus, may we come to experience more deeply all the hope, peace, joy, and love that are ours in him.

Questions for Reflection

• What images do you have of Christ’s return? Would you be ready?
• Has any recent turn of events has taken you by surprise? Why were you caught off guard?
• Reflect on your anxieties this week. Bring them to the Lord. And pray for the peace in meeting the unexpected. During Advent consider encountering Jesus through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

November 13, 2022

The Thirty Third Sunday of Ordinary Time

• Malachi 3:19-20a
• 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12
• Luke 21:5-19

Reflection written by: Janet Ann McDermott, MTS

Lo, the day is coming… Mal 3:19

Whenever anyone takes the time to comment on the Reflections I have offered, I immediately encourage the speaker to write their own for the St Joe’s community as I have been doing.  I get a variety of answers but continue to hope to share this rare opportunity to listen to Spirit through the act of reflecting and writing about what we have found in the weekend’s Scriptures.  In many cases, I add the following comment, “I am in the practice of preparing the Reflections every six weeks.  That means that I do not know ahead of time which Readings will be offered on a particular weekend liturgy.  And that is what has been exciting and a great grace for me.”  The listener usually gives me a sort of gasping reaction…like, in your dreams would I put myself into that situation.  Well, I have.  And it’s been a very rewarding experience.

However, this weekend, the weekend of the 33^rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, the letter attributed to St Paul has put me in the position of looking, at least for me, at the proverbial “elephant in the room”.  Perhaps it is due to our recent and intense political arena.   Paul’s letter is an advisory one for the newly formed Christian community.  Among his words of advice, he includes the following instruction: “we instructed you that if anyone was unwilling to work, neither should that one eat.” (2 Thess 3:10).  For me, that sentence at first glance (read), leapt out as the political rhetoric that is currently being used to create political divisions.  What am I to think?  Is Spirit entering the world of politics and bringing me along?  I have spent a good two weeks with that question.  Is this a case, perhaps, when words in Scripture, taken out of context, can be used against the poor and marginalized whom Jesus asks us to serve?

In my pondering I continued and looked at this Sunday’s passages from Luke.  The gospel reading includes a lot of end-of-times stuff.  (The Church itself is approaching its own annual “ending”, closing in on the end of the Liturgical Year with the start of Advent on the horizon.)  

 In the gospel quoted, Jesus tries to describe the fate of his followers, not all of it very appealing “all that you see here (the Temple) – the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone what will not be thrown down (LK 21:6)....they will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons “ (LK 21:12) (etc)  To some this sounds a lot like our world today.  Ultimately (Jesus promises) it will be good: “By your perseverance you will secure your lives.” (LK 21:19)

Returning to the politics of our time and pondering Paul’s instructions, I find myself called to once more remember that I don’t really know who Is unwilling and who is, rather, unable to work.  I am not the judge, God is.  For me, my task is to be like Jesus: to listen, to heal, to walk with others as we all find our way back home to God.  How do I do this?  Jesus has promised that God will open the way before me, especially when I don’t attempt to walk alone, bringing others along the way as Paul and the Disciples did in that early Christian community.

Thoughts and Questions for Consideration:

• Jesus tells us to persevere no matter what is going on around us.  How do you feel about the news headlines today?
• We are told that God is the Creator – a Creator who loves all of creation.  Spend some time talking to our God with your concerns about today’s world.
• Often the natural world can tell us a lot about the work of God.  As the leaves fall and the rains and wind prevail, consider the stark beauty of the current season and the promise that the new year will soon be here.

November 6, 2022

Thirty Second Sunday of Ordinary Time

• 2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14
• 2 Thessalonians 2:16-3:5
• Luke 20:27-38

Reflection Written By: Gayle Sommerfeld

At first glance, the first reading from Maccabees is not a cheerful way to start the morning. We have the story of seven brothers, all of whom, rather than break the law of Moses by eating pork, were one by one put to death due to their defiance of the king. The seven brothers faced their deaths with hope and belief in life beyond this one. To each one, all was not lost with their deaths. Nor was it with the early Christian martyrs, many of whom we now celebrate in the church as Saints.

Yet, all three of the readings do have a connection/thread running through them. That connection is belief in resurrection from the dead and a life beyond this one. Really, that belief in God being the “God of the living” means everything for us. Without Jesus’ death and resurrection, there is no reason for our faith/hope, or for the Church to even exist. So, the readings for this Sunday are quite important.

Luke 20 happens shortly before Jesus’ arrest. The Sadducees did not believe in resurrection or life after death. We all ask questions for a variety of reasons: curiosity, wanting information on a topic, getting someone else’s opinion. The leaders of the people are now looking for reasons to discredit Jesus and put him on trial.  Here, as they had in Luke 19, the Sadducees were trying to trip Jesus up and make him look like a fool with their question about the widow who married seven brothers one by one. And in heaven, whose wife is she then?  I can almost hear them snickering to themselves, thinking that they have him trapped this time. With all seriousness though, Jesus answers them. There is life beyond this one. It is not like life here on earth but is much more. There are a couple of realities Jesus comments on here. The first is that there is life after this one. Heaven is for real! Jesus also says that heavenly life is not like that of earth. And “God is God of the living”. There is absolutely nothing that escapes God’s attention. I don’t know about you, but this makes me want to sing and dance!

Reflection Questions:

• What do you most desire from God? Do you feel you can ask for that desire? Why or why not?
• “God is God of the living”. What does Jesus’ statement mean to you?
• During the month of November, we remember with gratitude the lives of those dear to us who have gone on before us.  Consider choosing one or two of these dear ones and write a thank you letter to them.