Tips for Daily Prayer

The Angelus by Millet

Here are some tips for daily prayer from Loyala Press. Although billed as tips for families, most will work well for singles, too!

5 Ways to Help Families Make Prayer a Priority

The hectic pace of family life can often mean that prayer gets lost in the shuffle. Here are five simple, practical tips to encourage families to pray more often:

1. When you rise from bed, get down on your knees
Try this method for morning prayer: Put your bedroom slippers or shoes far under your bed at the end of the day. Each morning, while on your knees retrieving your footwear, say a quick prayer offering the whole day to God.

2. Communicate with God whenever you climb into the car
Many families spend a whole lot of their time in the family vehicle. As you buckle up, say a quick prayer that you will be aware of God’s presence in your day.

3. Place a prayer jar in the kitchen
Keep a jar in the kitchen in which each family member, each day, places a note listing a “special intention” that others in the family can pray for. Before each family member goes to bed, he or she pulls a note from the jar and prays for that need.

4. Fold your hands before you unfold your napkin
Before each meal, take a few moments to thank the One who provides all that you need and blesses you with the lives of those around the table. Try mixing up rote prayers with spontaneous prayers, silent prayers with sung prayers.

5. Pray when people or events upset you
If you want a sure-fire way to pray more each day, make a habit of saying a short prayer whenever someone irritates you. A quick “Help me, God” is sufficient. You’ll never run out of opportunities!

Homily for the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Image: The Good Shepherd by Hanna Varghese

Scriptures for today's liturgy

As is the case every Sunday, the scripture readings we just heard
are the those read in every Catholic church in the world today.
And I can assure you there’s not a priest in the world
who takes the pulpit today without some soul-searching
as he considers the first reading --

Woe to the shepherds
who mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture,
says the LORD.

-- and the ways he’s been a careless or unfaithful shepherd,
the ways in which he may have mislead,
scattered, lost or harmed those entrusted to his care.

Through the prophet Jeremiah, the Lord’s judgment falls heavy
on shepherds who have failed to protect and nurture,
defend and love those in their flock.

I’ve been reflecting on this for the past week,
looking back over many years, remembering mistakes I’ve made,
some small, some much bigger,
and wondering, too, about mistakes I’ve made
that I'm not even aware of.

Each week on my blog on the Internet
I write and post a prayer called, Monday Morning Offering.
This past Monday found me working with Jeremiah's words
and I’d like to share with you the prayer that came from that.

Good morning, good God!
You know, Lord,
I try really hard to say the right thing,
to write the right thing, to do the right thing -
but despite my best efforts
my words and deeds can miss their mark
and, even worse, end up hurting
just where I wanted to heal...

Sometimes my efforts at honesty
become a hard lesson in humility
and while I'm grateful for what I've learned
I grieve the cost to those who taught me,
at whose expense my newfound wisdom comes...

Sometimes, Lord, my best intentions
fall apart in my own hands
and, try as I might, it's hard to see
how and when and why something went wrong
- but it did...

So this morning, Lord, I offer you my garbled words
and any harm they've done
and I pray you might speak a healing word
upon whatever unintended hurt I've caused...

And I offer you all I've learned the hard way, Lord:
the way that's paved with others' hopes,
the path that bears the prints of my rough steps.
I ask forgiveness of any whose hearts I've trespassed
without care...

I offer you all my good intentions, Lord:
help me see them for what they are,
to discern the selfish from the selfless
and to act upon the wisdom gained...

I offer you all the mistakes I've made, Lord:
the ones I didn't see coming,
the ones I should have seen coming,
and the ones I saw only when it was all too late.
I pray for your forgiveness
- and for the healing of any whom I've hurt.

I offer you the foolish pride that tempts me to think,
too often to believe,
that I am always right and never wrong.

Help me see myself as you see me, Lord:
help me see what is good and true
and help me take honest stock
of what should have no place in this heart of mine...

Tame, heal, shape and mold my heart for you, Lord,
and for all whose paths cross mine...
Good God of Monday mornings,
take hold of my heart this day and night
and through all of the week before me....

Amen.

It’s a good thing, even if it’s a hard thing,
when the scriptures call us to accountability.
I hope that this moment this week
will sharpen my own shepherd’s eye
and strengthen my shepherd’s heart
to make me a more faithful servant of God and the church.

And for all of us --
in whatever ways each of us is called to shepherd others in faith,
in our families, among friends, in the parish, in the community,
where we work or play --
perhaps this will be a moment for each of us to review how carefully,
how faithfully we shepherd those in our care.

In the gospel today, Jesus is moved deep in his heart
when he sees others who look to be “sheep without a shepherd.”
Perhaps that’s what we might do this summer,
you and I, each in our own way:
we might keep an eye out for any who seem to be
“sheep without a shepherd,”
and see what we might do to shepherd them,
to bring them closer to us and to God's love.

The Good and faithful Shepherd of us all gathers us to his table now
to nourish us with the gift of his own life.

May his careful shepherding of us
lead us to shepherd one another with greater and more faithful care.

-ConcordPastor

Welcome to CathNewsUSA readers

Welcome to any new readers who have arrived here via CathNewsUSA which offered this blog as its Featured Website of the Day!

-ConcordPastor

Woe to the shepherds

Image source (click on image for a larger version of this beautiful icon)

(Looking for this weekend's readings and background on the scripture? Check out this post for quick reference!)

Each Friday in this Year for Priests I'm posting the prayer in the post below and inviting you to pray for priests. This Friday I also ask you to pray for priests who will preach this weekend.

It would be impossible at any one moment to know what all the Catholic priests in the world are doing but I believe I can tell you something that's on the minds of priests everywhere as this weekend approaches. What's on our minds is this Sunday's first scripture lesson from the prophet Jeremiah:

Woe to the shepherds
who mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture, says the LORD.
Therefore, thus says the LORD, the God of Israel,
against the shepherds who shepherd my people:
You have scattered my sheep and driven them away.
You have not cared for them,
but I will take care to punish your evil deeds.
I myself will gather the remnant of my flock
from all the lands to which I have driven them
and bring them back to their meadow;
there they shall increase and multiply.
I will appoint shepherds for them who will shepherd them
so that they need no longer fear and tremble;
and none shall be missing, says the LORD.

There's not a priest who's reading these words who's not pondering his own ministry, his own call to shepherd God's people. And each of those priests is reflecting on all the people who have been entrusted to his care over the years, and in his present circumstances, and recalling the times when he has failed to care, lovingly and fully, for those who depend on him and his ministry. I certainly know that's what's on my mind and heart as I read Jeremiah here.

So, on this particular weekend in this Year for Priests, I ask you to pray for those who have shepherded you and your loved ones... Pray for priests who have been unfaithful in any way, large or small... Pray for people who have left the Lord's flock, hurt or betrayed by a priest's words or deeds... Pray that the Lord might send good shepherds to care for his people... And pray that all of us, shepherds and flock, might support one another in fidelity to the Good Shepherd of us all...

-ConcordPastor

Prayer for Priests in the Year for Priests

Update: Cards with the text of the prayer below are at the doors of my church and it's been disappointing to notice how few of my parishioners have taken one home. So I was delighted to receive an email today from a parishioner who mentioned that she and her husband are praying this regularly for all priests and for me in particular. To all who might be remembering priests with this or another prayer - thank you!


_______-Image by Spreadshirt

Each Friday in this Year for Priests I'll post this prayer and invite you to remember all priests and especially those who have been, who are and who may one day be a part of your life.

Several prayers for the Year for Priests are available through the US Bishops site. As an exercise for myself to enter into the spirit of this year, I wrote the following. For whatever use you make of it on behalf of my brother priests and me, we are most grateful. (Links to other material on the Year for Priests can be found on the sidebar.)

A Prayer for Priests

Gracious God, loving Father,
font of every gift and good,
make of priests for us we pray:

men of faith, men of love,
humble servants of your Word,
prophets of your Spirit’s grace;

men of hope, men of peace,
strong defenders of the truth,
heralds of your holy gospel;

men of prayer, men of praise,
guardians of our sacred rites,
of the scriptures and tradition;

men of changelessness and change,
men who follow you each day,
when and where your Spirit leads;

men of tenderness and strength,
comfort for the sick and weary,
shepherds leading home the lost;

men of counsel, men of wisdom,
gentle guides for the confused,
lights along the darkened path;

men of mercy, patient men,
understanding and consoling
of the grieving and abused;

men of justice and compassion,
reconciling and forgiving,
men of healing in your name;

men of sacrifice and honor,
single minded in your service,
set apart to do your will;

men of holiness and joy,
men anointed by your grace,
men ordained to serve as Christ.

Make us one with them in faith
and in Christ your only Son
in whose holy name we pray.

Amen.

-ConcordPastor

Pray always - at least frequently!

Image: Creative Signs

In an email today to the lectors in my parish I invited them to feel free to speak with me after a Mass at which they've lectored to see if I had any observations on how they had proclaimed their assigned scripture.

I did ask, however, that they wait until I'd had an opportunity at the church doors "to deplane the exiting parishioners and thank them for flying Holy Family."

A great response from one lector came right back:

"I was wondering if Holy Family Airlines has a "Frequent Prayer" program?"

Hope that might have brought a smile to your day as it did to mine!

-ConcordPastor

Billboards and religious messages

CathNews reports that bulletin boards are appearing around the country bearing this message from the Freedom From Religion Foundation and causing a stir. Those old enough will recall the John Lennon song with those three words in the lyrics.

Another group, In God We Trust USA, is striking back with this counter message along the roadways of America:



I'm pleased to note that this page featured a virtual "bulletin board" over this past Sunday's homily bearing a quote from the pope's recently published letter on the economy and human development, Charity in Truth.



-ConcordPastor

Would a rose by any other name...?

Image: Articles of Faith

I know I have at least one reader who's a lover of roses so I couldn't resist sharing this with you all.

Michael Paulson at the Boston Globe has posted on his blog this photo of a John Paul II Tea Rose which has bloomed in his garden.

It's a beauty, Michael!

-ConcordPastor

Sheep without a shepherd: Word for the Weekend

Image by EssJay in NZ (Click on image for a wonderful larger version!)

It's time to take a look at the scriptures for the coming weekend, the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

The scripture texts and background material on them can be found here and if your helping youngsters prepare to hear the Word then you'll want to check out this site.

This Sunday's first scripture, from the prophet Jeremiah, is a condemnation of unfaithful shepherds and the Lord's pledge to replace them with more faithful shepherds. In the gospel passage (Mark), Jesus is moved to pity the crowd who seem to him to be like "sheep without a shepherd."

The middle text, from Ephesians, never mentions no shepherd nor Jews nor Gentiles but the passage is about the way the God shepherded both of these groups into one through the blood of Christ, the Good Shepherd.

The shaping of conversation and discourse

Image by Simona84

Popping up in many blogs is a link to a talk given by Denver's Archbishop Charles Chaput on the topic,"Catholics and the Fourth Estate." It's a lengthy essay but one deserving of the attention of all of us who feed on the news prepared for us by the media.

Chaput reflects on dynamics and presuppositions that influence us daily news consumers. A great strength in the archbishop's presentation lies in his framing the issues in broad terms, of value to a wide audience. Though he closes with reference to some issues of particular concern to the Catholic Church, his argument here has wisdom for much wider appeal. When was the last time you heard a Catholic bishop strengthen his thesis with reference to the Federalist Papers, Thomas Jefferson and even Oscar Wilde? Chaput acknowledges that Wilde was "not exactly a model of piety and Spartan virtue" but nonetheless one who had "the gift of very keen perception" -- and that "we should think about what he said."

I offer below a few snips from the archbishop's talk and the link to his complete text. I believe that we who gather on this page (both blogger and commenters) can benefit from these words.

Here’s a simple fact: You and I have just begun a relationship. The moment you started listening to me, we struck a deal. You agreed to give me your attention. I agreed to give you my opinions. It’s a pretty common arrangement. But sometimes it can have unhelpful consequences.

Most of what we know about the world comes from people we’ll never meet and don’t really understand. We don’t even think of them as individuals. Instead we usually talk about them in the collective – as “the media” or “the press.” Yet behind every Los Angeles Times editorial or Fox News broadcast are human beings with personal opinions and prejudices. These people select and frame the news. And when we read their newspaper articles or tune in their TV shows, we engage them in a kind of intellectual intimacy in the same way you’re listening to me right now.

This isn’t necessarily a bad practice. Most readers who follow the columns of George Will or Paul Krugman do so because they share the author’s views or because they want to know what the other side is saying. And because Will and Krugman are both opinion journalists, we expect them to argue a certain set of ideas.

In like manner, anyone reading my own writings gets a pretty clear sense, pretty quickly, of how I think about issues. As a Catholic bishop, I belong to a believing community with a widely accessible and carefully articulated understanding of the world.

In contrast, we usually know very little about the person who writes an unsigned editorial or the people who create the nightly news. And that’s worth talking about. Here’s why. In an information society, the people who shape our information control the public conversation.
…

Here’s my point. The news media, despite their claims of impartiality, and despite the good work they often do accomplish, are just as prone to prejudice, ignorance, bad craftsmanship and tribalism as any other profession. But unlike other professions, the press has constitutional protections. It also has real power in shaping how we think, what we think about and what we like, dislike and ignore. America’s media, including its news media, are the greatest catechetical syndicate in history. And if that kind of power doesn’t make us uneasy, it should at least make us alert.

(Read the complete text)

-ConcordPastor

On being called to become a priest

Our local weekly paper, The Concord Journal, offers column space for faith community leaders to share on a rotating basis. Last week's edition included this essay of mine which drew on a homily I preached about a year ago and served as an opportunity to give announce the Year for Priests to a wider audience. I'm often asked how I decided to become a priest. Well, it all began with a postcard...

Voices of Faith
July 9, 2009

Pope Benedict XVI has called for a year of prayer for priests which began on June 19, 2009. I take this opportunity to share with you some of the story of how I came to spend my life as a Catholic priest.

In 1963 when I was in high school, a classmate and friend, Kathy, sent a post card to a “priest vocation director” requesting “more information about becoming a priest” - and she filled in my name and phone number without telling me what she had done!

A few weeks later, she asked me if any priest had called to talk to me. I told her no and asked her why. She told me what she had done - and I told her what I thought of what she had done! I wasn’t happy about it and asked her why in the world she would do such a thing. She answered simply and seriously, “Because I think you’d be a good priest…”

Well, at that point in my life I wanted to be a teacher or a lawyer – not a priest. But sure enough, a week or so later a priest called me. I explained what Kathy had done and told him I wasn’t interested. He was kind and said that students often did that to their friends. End of the phone call - but the beginning of my thinking about what Kathy had said to me, “I think you’d be a good priest…”

Well, we can fast-forward here because you already know how this story ends!

I’ve been a priest for 36 years. And I wouldn’t I’d trade those 36 years for any other life. I have a full life, a rich life, a rewarding life. My life is not without loneliness, pain, hurt, disappointment and maybe a few regrets - but it is, after all, the life of a human being, not an angel, so I think in that respect it’s a fairly normal life.

The world, Church and culture in 1963 were very different than today’s. When I first told people I was entering a seminary, just above everyone thought it was a great thing. That might not be the response today. “A seminary? You want to be a priest? A Catholic priest? But don’t you know…? Haven’t you heard…?”

Without a doubt, these are tough times for recruiting men to the Roman Catholic priesthood.

Of course, the greatest reason anyone should consider becoming a priest is simply this: the growing conviction and belief that this is what God wants of you. I believed that 44 years ago when I went to the seminary and I’ve believed that over the 36 years I’ve been a priest.

It ain’t all been perfect! And I have not been perfect. My faults and failings are many more than even those who enjoy logging my errors might imagine. To date, however, my sins have exhausted neither the supply of God’s mercy nor my desire to repent and reform my ways.

Year after year after year I continue to believe that I am what I am and I do what I do because the Lord has drawn me to this work and given me gifts, talents and a spirit for harvesting the vineyard of faith in the hearts and lives of God’s people.

These past seven of my 36 years in ministry have been the most difficult. The tragedy of sexual abuse by priests and the painful decision to close parishes in the Archdiocese of Boston have taken their toll on pastors as well as the people they serve. Although a cloud of mistrust and anger still shadows church life, the work and worship of my parish sustains my congregation and me as we prepare for a future when only a continually declining number of priests will be available to serve the Catholic population. Jesus was correct when he said, “The harvest is plenty but the laborers are few.”

The joy of my life as a priest is the privilege of preaching the gospel and gathering the people of my parish to celebrate the sacraments. Word and worship are the food that nourishes us for the demands of charity and the work of justice. To walk and pray with God’s people as they seek to grow in faith through their good times and bad, their joys and sorrows, makes me a man of many families -- and that is a great gift.

Thirty-six happy years which began with a friend’s post card…

Depending on your own faith’s way of doing things, might there be a man or woman you know whom you think would be a good priest, minister or rabbi? Why not let that person know what you think? That’s what Kathy did in 1963 and I’ll always be grateful for her seven simple words, “I think you’d be a good priest.”

And if you would take a moment now and then to pray for those who minister to you, I can assure you that they will be grateful.

Image: Spreadshirt

-ConcordPastor

Fête Nationale - Quatorze Juillet

La Marseillaise sung by Placido Domingo

It's July 14 and it's Bastille Day!

Our French friends, folks of French descent (my mother was a Ducharme) and Francophiles everywhere won't need the translation of La Marseillaise, the French national anthem, but here is the first verse in the original and English. (Full text and translation here.)

Allons enfants de la patrie,
Le jour de gloire est arrivé !
Contre nous de la tyrannie
L'étendard sanglant est levé ! (bis)
Entendez-vous dans les campagnes,
Mugir ces féroces soldats ?
Ils viennent jusque dans nos bras
Égorger nos fils, nos compagnes !

Refrain
Aux armes, citoyens !
Formez vos bataillons !
(Formons nos bataillons!)
Marchez! Marchez!
(Marchons! Marchons!)
Qu'un sang impur
Abreuve nos sillons !

Let's rise, children of the fatherland,
The day of glory has arrived!
Against us tyranny's
Bloody flag is raised! (repeat)
In the countryside, do you hear
The roaring of these fierce soldiers?
They come right to our arms
To slit the throats of our sons, our friends!

Refrain
Grab your weapons, citizens!
Form your batallions!
(Let's form our batallions!)
March! March!
(Let us march! Let us march!)
May impure blood
Water our fields!

Joyeux Quatorze Juillet!

-CuréConcord

Christmas in July!

This arrived in today's email.

More evidence that there will be no real summer this year in New England!

At least the Sears store in the ad features an appropriate Advent color. If only they had placed the rose colored K-Mart right next door!

-ConcordPastor

Monday Morning Offering - 55

Image: George Mendoza

Good morning, good God!

You know, Lord,
I try really hard to say the right thing
and write the right thing
but despite my best efforts
my words can miss their mark
and, even worse, end up hurting
just where I wanted to heal...

Sometimes my efforts at honesty
become a hard lesson in humility
and while I'm grateful for what I've learned
I grieve the cost to those who taught me,
at whose expense my new found wisdom comes...

Sometimes, Lord, my best intentions
fall apart in my own hands
and, try as I might, it's hard to see
how and when and why it all went wrong -
but it did...

So this morning, Lord, I offer you
my garbled words
and any harm they've done
and I pray you might speak a healing word
upon whatever unintended hurt I've caused...

And I offer you all I've learned the hard way, Lord:
the way that's paved with others' hopes,
the path that bears the prints of my rough steps.
I ask forgiveness of any whose hearts I've trespassed
without care...

I offer you all my good intentions, Lord:
help me see them for what they are,
to discern the selfish from the selfless
and to act upon the wisdom gained...

I offer you all the mistakes I've made, Lord:
the ones I didn't see coming,
the ones I should have seen coming,
and the ones I saw only when it was all too late.
I pray for your forgiveness
and the healing of any whom I've hurt.

I offer you the foolish pride
that tempts me to think, too often to believe,
that I am always right and never wrong.

Help me see myself as you see me, Lord:
help me see what is good and true
and take honest stock
of what should have no place in this heart of mine...

Tame, heal, shape and mold my heart for you, Lord,
and for all whose paths cross mine...

Good God of Monday mornings,
take hold of my heart this day and night
and through all of the week before me....

Amen.

-ConcordPastor

Happy Birthday, Henry!

Photo of replica of Thoreau's cabin: image by FourPeaks

July 12 (1817) is the birthday of Henry David Thoreau - an important man to many and certainly in my neck of the (Walden) woods.

I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately,
to front only the essential facts of life.
And see if I could not learn what it had to teach
and not, when I came to die,
discover that I had not lived.
-Henry David Thoreau in Walden

It was on July 4th, 1845 that Thoreau took up residence in his cabin on Walden Pond. Thoreau spent under $30.00 to build his modest home whose footprint was 10'x15'. With only two knives and forks, one spoon, three plates and a single cup he wasn't planning on doing a lot of entertaining! In his garden he raised beans. Indeed: a simple life...

Take a few moments with this simple poem... Have you found Walden where you are?

Going To Walden

It isn't very far as highways lie.
I might be back by nightfall, having seen
The rough pines, and the stones, and the clear water.
Friends argue that I might be wiser for it.
They do not hear that far-off Yankee whisper:
How dull we grow from hurrying here and there!

Many have gone, and think me half a fool
To miss a day away in the cool country.
Maybe. But in a book I read and cherish,
Going to Walden is not so easy a thing
As a green visit. It is the slow and difficult
Trick of living, and finding it where you are.

-Mary Oliver in the collection, New and Selected Poems: Volume One


-ConcordPastor

Homily for the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

On becoming a summertime prophet
(Scriptures for this Sunday's liturgy)

Have you ever had to deliver a message to someone
whom you knew wasn’t going to be happy
with the news you were bringing?

That’s the prophet’s dilemma.

Prophets, like Amos, are charged with speaking a word from God
to people whose comfortability and contentment
are likely to be challenged by what the prophet has to say.

In today’s scripture, Amaziah, the priest of the religious establishment,
wants to run Amos out of town
because he himself stands judged by Amos’ prophetic word.
No wonder Amos would have preferred to go back
to herding sheep and harvesting figs from sycamore trees!

Amos is sometimes called the prophet of social justice
because the word he spoke to God’s people
revealed how the powerful use the poor
and trample on the needy for their own gain.

Just this past week another prophet of social justice, Pope Benedict,
wrote a letter to us, the Church and to the world
on the economy, ethics and human development.
A signed copy of the letter, titled Charity in Truth,
is one of the gifts the pope gave President Obama
when they met a few days ago in Rome.

Like Amos in his preaching, the pope challenges a world economy
which abuses or ignores or has even forgotten those in greatest need.
He wrote:

While the poor of the world continue knocking on the doors of the rich,
the world of affluence runs the risk of no longer hearing those knocks,
on account of a conscience
that can no longer distinguish what is human.
(Charity in Truth, no. 75)

The prophetic word here challenges not only an unjust economy
but a global culture in which life is cheapened, in the womb and in war,
to the point where we begin to fail to recognize what is truly human.

A world which has forgotten its source, its creator - its God -
is a world that has at least begun to forget
what it means to be truly human.

Now, on the one hand, we who live in a nation of affluence
are very much the subject of Benedict’s prophetic word.
But on the other hand, we are called to be prophets ourselves,
like the 12 in the gospel, called to bring God’s word and presence
into the lives of those around us.
Each of us is called and sent
to bring a word of God’s message to others.

And no, it’s not enough to leave that work for the pope or others.
Nor is it enough for me just to tell you to go out and prophesy!
In the scriptures, the Lord always gives the prophet a word to deliver.
So, I wonder:
what word might the Lord give us to bring to his people this summer?

Some time between now and Labor Day,
probably before the week is over,
we’ll find ourselves in conversations about
the economy, the war, Michael Jackson’s death, illegal immigrants
and any of any number of issues in each day’s news.

Suppose in talking with folks about these things
we were to raise a question like:
“Where do you think God is in all of this?”
or “What do you suppose God thinks about that?”

If we ask such questions, we don’t need to have all the answers.
Just to raise the question brings God’s name to bear on the discussion,
and that's the task at hand.

And if even thinking about saying these things makes us nervous,
then we see just how prophetic a work it is
simply to raise God’s name
with regard to the circumstances and events of our daily lives
and the life of the world around us.

Should we be rebuffed for asking these questions,
well - Jesus knew we would.
Allow me to paraphrase his words in the gospel:

"Whenever you enter a conversation, mention my name.
If others don’t welcome your doing so - chill!
Say what you can, say what you believe, and then move on.
And know that in the asking the question you have been a prophet
because you have spoken my name to my people.”

The questions again?
“Where do you think God is in all of this?”
or “What do you suppose God thinks about that?”

If you’re like Amos and the other prophets
and you worry that you don’t know enough,
or have enough faith or the right words,
then come to the Lord’s table and be nourished and strengthened
for the work the Lord sends you to do this summer.

Here we share at the table of the Prophet of all prophets:
the very Word of God made flesh
who dwells among us
and shares with his life with us in the Eucharist.

Be nourished at the table of wisdom
to find the strength to do a prophet’s work this summer.

-ConcordPastor

Who gives a fig? The prophet Amos did!

These, dear readers, are figs from a sycamore tree - just the kind Amos used to tend before the Lord called him to be a prophet. Sycamore figs aren't likely to be found on your table. It seems they're not very tasty (in biblical times, perhaps until today, they were eaten mostly by the poor) but they are known to be pleasantly aromatic.

Well, tending sycamores was something Amos did until the Lord got his ear and gave him a new line of work.

For more on Amos and the prophetic mission of the apostles and all Christians, see the scripture readings and background material for this weekend's liturgy.

And here's a picture of a sycamore tree - just the kind the Zaccheus climbed to get a better view of Jesus as he passed by.


(Images by Ferrell Jenkins)

-ConcordPastor

Prayer for Priests in the Year for Priests

_______-Image by Spreadshirt

Each Friday in this Year for Priests I'll post this prayer and invite you to remember all priests and especially those who have been, who are and who may one day be a part of your life.

Several prayers for the Year for Priests are available through the US Bishops site. As an exercise for myself to enter into the spirit of this year, I wrote the following. For whatever use you make of it on behalf of my brother priests and me, we are most grateful. (Links to other material on the Year for Priests can be found on the sidebar.)

A Prayer for Priests

Gracious God, loving Father,
font of every gift and good,
make of priests for us we pray:

men of faith, men of love,
humble servants of your Word,
prophets of your Spirit’s grace;

men of hope, men of peace,
strong defenders of the truth,
heralds of your holy gospel;

men of prayer, men of praise,
guardians of our sacred rites,
of the scriptures and tradition;

men of changelessness and change,
men who follow you each day,
when and where your Spirit leads;

men of tenderness and strength,
comfort for the sick and weary,
shepherds leading home the lost;

men of counsel, men of wisdom,
gentle guides for the confused,
lights along the darkened path;

men of mercy, patient men,
understanding and consoling
of the grieving and abused;

men of justice and compassion,
reconciling and forgiving,
men of healing in your name;

men of sacrifice and honor,
single minded in your service,
set apart to do your will;

men of holiness and joy,
men anointed by your grace,
men ordained to serve as Christ.

Make us one with them in faith
and in Christ your only Son
in whose holy name we pray.

Amen.

-ConcordPastor

She incited others to disobedience and defiance!

Mother Mary McKillop

H/T to the Deacon's Bench for the link to this article by James Martin, SJ about a once excommunicated nun who is close to being declared a saint of the Roman Catholic Church:

Mother Mary McKillop, the foundress of the Australian-based Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart, was, in 1871, officially excommunicated by her local bishop, on the grounds that she "'she had incited the sisters to disobedience and defiance." That same church leader, Bishop Sheil, had earlier invited her to work in Adelaide, where she and her sisters would eventually set up schools, a women's shelter and an orphanage, among their many works.

But McKillop's independent spirit was a threat to Bishop Sheil, who had her booted out of the church. Yesterday, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd spoke with Pope Benedict XVI about McKillop's possible canonization, in a conversation reported in the Brisbane Times here. Just last year, the pope visited McKillop's tomb in Sydney during his visit to Australia for World Youth Day. Prime Minister Rudd said that the visit "left a deep impression on the Holy Father."

In April of this year, in an extraordinary gesture, Bishop's Sheil's successor, the current archbishop of Adelaide, Philip Wilson, made a public apology to the Sisters for their foundress's excommunication. Standing before her statue, said that he was "profoundly ashamed of the Bishop's actions in driving the Sisters out onto the streets." McKillop was beatified (the next-to-last step for canonization) by Pope John Paul II in 1995.

---(Read the complete article, including the story of a recently canonized "troublemaker," Saint Mother Theodore Guerin whose life and mission brought her to minister in Indiana)

-ConcordPastor

For when I am weak, then I am strong...

Image: The Jesus Site
(Go to the site for the rest of a series on this image, related to this post...)

"My grace is sufficient for you,
for power is made perfect in weakness,"
says the Lord.

So I, Paul, boast most gladly of my weaknesses,
in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me.

Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults,
hardships, persecutions, and constraints,
for the sake of Christ;

for when I am weak, then I am strong...

These verses from last Sunday's second reading have been on the sidebar and in the back of my mind and heart since Saturday when I posted them.

Paul offers here, from his own experience, an important truth about the spiritual life of a Christian. These lines also give us an insight into the depths of Paul's faith and trust in Christ to help him through what ever "weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and constraints" he needs to endure. That list of hard times is certainly inclusive!

I know that I often find myself more inclined to skirt around the hard times rather than pray, work, walk and live through them - but it's clear that such a route is other than the way of the Cross, the path Christ's disciples are asked to walk.

Perhaps there are even times when we prefer and default to the consequences of our weaknesses rather than face and engage the demands that fidelity to Jesus and his path ask of us.

On the one hand, this scripture gives me much hope and on the other it presumes a faithfulness I know needs deepening in my own life.

How do Paul's words challenge you? How do they comfort you?

-ConcordPastor