Dear Believers, I had my yearly physical at the doctor’s office this week. Now that I am 60, there were all kinds of new and exciting tests! However, the one thing that is so evident is that I am certainly my parents’ son, even in terms of health and aging. I am the product of my mother and father and the ways I have lived in the world and how I care (or not) for myself even in my physical life and health.

The gospel today from Luke (12:32-48) gets at this same idea for our lives of faith and belief. In both of the parables today, the idea is that we need to look at how we live when the master is away. In other words, we are the product of our lives of faith; we are the lived reality of how we have incorporated faith into our every action. We are called to be vigilant when the master is away the same way we learn to take care of our earthly bodies and even our ideas and self worth.

We cannot live the life of a Christian half-heartedly. We cannot claim to be a follower of Christ Jesus in name only. We are to care for our faith as we do everything else in our family and personal lives. It is a lot of hard work; like exercise and eating well, our daily lives of prayer must be cared for, nourished, and treasured. What we put into this following of Jesus makes us better adults, more loving and wise and forgiving. Children often carry on the traits of their parents, and we are called to do the same after our baptism. We are Children of God. Gospel values and the daily Eucharist form us. We are products of being forgiving, loving people. We are products of Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection. This means that we learn by the example of Jesus, the disciples, and all the saints before us how to work through change, loss and suffering. We are people in faith with hope to bring our world because of our ancestors.

So we live as Jesus taught us, with courage and tenacity. The last line of the parable in today’s gospel is, “Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.” This is an incredibly challenging statement.

I invite you to take some prayer time this week and reflect on your inheritance of faith, love, and mercy. Reflect on what it means for you to live a life of faith passed down from your parents, ancestors, the lived faith of the saints, and, of course, the reality of what Jesus has done for you.

We really do not know when the Master will return. However, we live a life of justice and prayer in the meantime. We value all of life, not just when Jesus is watching us. We live with an eye of faith toward God’s beloved poor and the sick and the dying. We speak out on others’ behalf because we cling to the love and voice of Jesus, not because we are supposed to do such things. We are entrusted with much in life and so we are called to go even more deeply into our faith and into the lives of suffering people. Living a mature life of faith is not easy. There are many distractions. Sometimes we just give up because of our age, because life seems to not really change.

Here are some questions to reflect upon this week: “For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.” What in your life does this statement from the gospel call you to? What is your treasure? Where is your true heart in the matter of your faith? How does this statement challenge you? How are you to search for your true treasure? How does this statement change your priorities?

“Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.” How can you take stock of your life and what you have received from your parents, your teachers, and from Jesus? What does it mean to you to be responsible for your life? How can you better live the values Jesus has given you? How do you use your talents and your goodness for the benefit of others?

Blessings to you,

Ron

On the Margins from Mater Dei Radio, Portland, OR

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Luke 12:32-48

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Wisdom on earth is seeking the treasure of heaven. Our hearts rest in Jesus alone.

Yesterday, I had an opportunity to connect again with my novice master, Fr. Nick Ayo, CSC at our Holy Cross Novitiate in Cascade, CO. I was in the first class of novices in Cascade in 1978-79. I really appreciated our reunion in the novitiate house after all these years. Fr. Nick lives and ministers at Notre Dame, IN.

First Profession of Vows for six members of the Congregation of Holy Cross took place on Saturday July 30, 2016. Rev. E. William Beauchamp, CSC, assistant provincial, presided at the Eucharist and received their vows. He is embracing David after his profession of vows. The ceremony took place at Sacred Heart Church, Colorado Springs, CO.

Dear Parishioners and Friends,

On Saturday, July 30 at Sacred Heart, we celebrated the First Profession of Vows of six young men in the Congregation of Holy Cross. Thank you for praying for these men who will return to Notre Dame this week for four years of graduate studies. I am grateful to have our Holy Cross novitiate in Cascade and for the novices to join us throughout the year. Our next class of novices will arrive in a couple of weeks.

Also, Fr. Neil Wack, CSC will be preaching here at Sacred Heart this weekend. He served here as associate pastor a number of years ago, and is now our Vocation Director for the US Province of the Congregation of Holy Cross. Welcome, Fr. Neil!

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Luke’s gospel (12:13-21) sets our priorities on the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus said to the crowd, “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.” This passage challenges us in our human priorities and offers us a check and balance for our consciences and how we live our lives.

Luke is always trying to pry our hands and hearts off of greed, mistrust, and the accumulation of possessions. Why does this gospel writer focus on this? He focuses on our earthly possessions and even our human relationships and ties because he understands the value of what Jesus is offering us: the Kingdom of Heaven. Luke, in his community nearly a hundred years after Jesus Christ, believed that he would soon return. Luke wants us to be prepared for Jesus’ Second Coming. Luke does not want anyone left out of the true value of Christ, our place in the Heavenly Kingdom. He does not want you to be left out either.

We live in a very complicated time in history where greed is real. We value having more and saving less. We want to be more prosperous than our parents. We cling to and are even addicted to our technology. Our lives have become much more self-centered even as instant communication with the world has expanded our horizons about the needs of people. Our face time with people, with friends and family, has diminished with our noses in our phones. The world opens up with a click or a password, yet the deep human needs of others often elude us. We need to get our hands dirty in the real needs of people and not just read about those needs on our phones. Our possessions are many, and our ties to greed and having “more” are tight and secure. We need to listen to Jesus.

It is easy to store up stuff. It is not as easy to relate to what Jesus offers. It is easier to cling to possessions than to cling to harmony, forgiveness, love, and kindness. Our attention span is short and Jesus is trying to make a dent in what our hearts desire. He wants to be in relationship with us, but so often we just do not have time for him. We have little patience for how he can change our hearts.

So how can you become rich in what matters to God? This treasure is simply a relationship. Sometimes even religion gets in the way of what Jesus offers us. Most people see faith and religion as a set of rules to keep so they will get to heaven; what religion and faith really offer us is the way to crack open our hearts to look at the love God has for us and how we live that love in the world. The reason why Jesus wants to get our attention through our possessions is so that we can learn to share what we have with other people. Jesus offers us love and calls us to share love in the world and to work diligently for justice. Jesus offers us forgiveness and challenges us to forgive others. Jesus offers us healing and so we are to work among the marginalized and broken to make healing manifest in our world.

Jesus wants us to examine our relationship with our “stuff” so that we can ultimately call Jesus our true possession. Jesus wants us. He desires our pain and ambiguities. He wants to live fully in our priorities so that we can bring him to other people.

Here are some questions to consider this week:

How might Jesus be calling you into a new priority of prayer and service?

What stands in your way in moving toward a deeper relationship with Jesus?

Is it possible for you to put limits on frivolous activities and use your time for self-reflection, prayer, and putting yourself in the shoes of people who suffer or who possess less than you?

Is it possible for you to value prayer as a way to create real and radical change in your life? Can you move away from using prayer as a means to validate your own prejudice, hatred and self-absorption? Can you move away from using prayer as a way to always be correct and to validate your own way of thinking?

Can you find some peace this week and rest in prayer and gratitude?

Blessings,

Ron

On the Margins from Mater Dei Radio, Portland, OR

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Luke 12:13-21

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What are you being asked to let go of in life? How is God calling you to let go of your attachments or relationships? What is it that God is asking you to embrace?

“God, open up!” Sketch: Ronald Raab, CSC

Sunday July 24, 2016

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dear Believers,

You may know our Holy Cross novices from Sunday mornings when they served in various ministries during this past year at Sacred Heart and Our Lady of Perpetual Help. I invite you to support their vocations in the Congregation of Holy Cross as they make their First Profession of Vows this coming Saturday, July 30, at 10:00 a.m. in Sacred Heart Church. Please join us in the Eucharist this Saturday to pray for these vocations within the Church. They need your prayer and you need their witness.

After their profession of vows, these six men will return to the University of Notre Dame for four years of graduate school before professing final vows and being ordained deacons. A year after that, they will be ordained priests in the Roman Catholic Church.

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Fr. Neil Wack, CSC, vocation director for the Congregation of Holy Cross, will be preaching at all of the Masses next weekend at Sacred Heart. (Fr. Neil served in the Tri-Community some years ago and is very eager to see you all again!) Pray for him and all of our men in formation.

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Luke’s gospel (11:1-13) is incredibly full of insights and grace this weekend. Jesus speaks to us about living a generous and persistent life of faith. He teaches us the words of the Lord’s Prayer, and tells us a story about getting beyond selfishness. This weekend’s gospel is a powerhouse of love.

Jesus says some of the most important words in the gospels: “And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”

I understand that at first glance these words do nothing for a wounded warrior coming back from war to his home in Colorado Springs. I know these words cannot be used willy-nilly for the people who lost loved ones in Orlando this past June. These words are difficult to swallow when a husband tells his wife at dinner that there is another love in his life. I know these words are difficult to take into our hearts; we resist them, even, because our lives have not turned out the way we hoped. But no matter our life and the circumstances that shape it, God is invested in the human heart.

So often we look to other people to fill the gaps in our prayer. That never works. We blame God for destruction and violence when often mental illness, or hatred, or religion-gone-wild is to blame. God does not leave us orphaned. Love within is there to heal, to reconcile, and to bring about a new way of living. Our safe place in life is the love of God.

These words of Jesus are not wrong or off base. These words are not pious piffle. They are there in today’s gospel to form our hearts and our vocations within the Church. These words are an act of created love from the divine mouth of Jesus.

I invite you to sit with these gospel words from Luke this week. Use them to find what you need in your life and heart. Here are some thoughts to consider:

Ask …

What do you most need from God today?

What are the obstacles you carry within your heart that keep you from asking for what you need?

Do you know how to pray from your heart?

Do you have the courage to ask?

Do you have the courage to receive an answer that is not what you asked for?

Seek …

Are you willing to live a more generous life?

Are you willing to let go of past hurts and seek the face of Jesus?

Do you have the courage to extend your talents and love to others?

How have you sought the Lord before?

What difference does prayer and service make in your life?

Knock …

Are you stuck in a rut in your old age?

Would you be willing to knock and open the door to the love God has for you?

What resistances do you hold on to in yourrelationship with Christ?

What if Jesus opened to the door to you? How would you react?

How do you pray for this new opening?

Blessings,

Fr. Ron

On the Margins from Mater Dei Radio, Portland, OR

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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(This edition does not have the usual opening and closing)

Pray and do not be discouraged by your worry and discontent. Prayer is a relationship and not just a one time knock on the door of the Kingdom.