November 3, 2019

Dear Followers of Jesus,

Zacchaeus had to stretch to see Jesus in today’s gospel, Luke 19:1-10. He was short in stature and a tax collector and wealthy man. From his position in life, seeing Jesus was not easy because wealth and power are not the perspectives in the gospel in which we naturally find a person who is searching for what Jesus brings. Something brought Zacchaeus to this point. Perhaps he was just fed up with how he was living his life. Something inside him knew to seek out Jesus.

I love how Jesus sees him in a tree. I wonder what brought Jesus to look for him. Jesus sees all of us who are searching for him as well. Jesus invites Zacchaeus to come down from the tree. This simple line delights me. Zacchaeus comes down from the tree and Jesus received him with joy. I love the fact that joy was the beginning of this encounter with these two men. There was no judgment or regret or apprehension or shame. There was only joy. I love that.

So Jesus invites himself to the home Zacchaeus. That seems sort of daring. Then we read that in fact it was daring for Jesus to come to the home of a sinner. Gossip is like fire. Jesus doesn’t seem to care. Jesus feels right at home at the table of real people. Zacchaeus makes all these promises immediately.

Zacchaeus decides he will give money away to lift up the poor. He knows that he has exhorted many people and makes promises to fix those situations. I want to go back and interview him and find out what exactly happened to him. I want to know what brick wall he found himself against in order to change. Or was it what he heard about Jesus? Yes, that must have been it! He heard that Jesus was a religious figure that did not travel with judgment in his soul. His eyes were filled with hope as he listened to the stories of people marginalized by sin and destructive behavior. Jesus offered tenderness and did not point his finger in shame. Jesus reputation was one of healer and kindness drifted along his path.

In the home, Jesus offers Zacchaeus salvation. I would love to have seen the look on Zacchaeus’ face. Can you imagine that after all his years of creating shady tax deals; he gets the real deal with Jesus presence and his mercy? Zacchaeus must have stood tall! He must have left his tea to get cold at the table. Zacchaeus found his real self that day in his home in the encounter with Jesus. He was lost and is now found. His empty soul becomes filled with hope. I wonder if there were other sentences and even paragraphs from this story while Jesus was sitting with them. How could it be so easy?

Change is easy when we are ready to find Jesus. His love waits for us no matter what we are preoccupied with, no matter how our souls have wandered away, no matter the distractions of our hearts. I want to hear more from Zacchaeus. I want him to tell us more about that moment in which he finally felt his heart’s desire in the person of Jesus. Imagine for your self such a scene. I wonder if it could happen to you?

Peace,

Fr. Ron

Tax Collector at Prayer: Pastel by Ronald Raab, CSC 2016

October 27, 2019

Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Let us pray for honesty and integrity among our leaders in the Church. May we herald only hope for people and compassion for the suffering.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for the haughty and proud. May humility make a home in our self-centered ways and may we learn to surrender to God’s tenderness and compassion.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray to serve people without political or social gain. May we welcome strangers and sinners to our altar tables and be released from any negative thought about people who are different from ourselves.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray to let go of our grudges and negative opinions about our neighbors or family members. May their stories lead us to conversion and deepen our faith.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for all who claim the name Christian. May we learn to blend our needs together in faith and work together for the common good.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for our loved ones who now have a place in heaven. In this Mass…

We pray to the Lord.

October 27, 2019

 Dear Followers of Jesus,

Luke 18:9-14 reflects on our approach to God with the tax collector and the Pharisee. We learn much about our prayer, our lives and our relationships with God by pondering this story of two very different men who go to the temple to pray. These two approaches to prayer speak to us about how to approach God with the stirrings of our own hearts.

The Pharisee brings his pride to prayer. He first compares himself to others. He claims he is not like the tax collector. In fact he is grateful he is not like the rest of humanity. He claims he is not greedy, dishonest and adulterous. His comparison to other people is the first sin of the spiritual life. The mystics teach us to compare ourselves to others is the death of the spiritual journey. We hold the gifts God gives us. We do not possess the gifts of other people. To compare our gifts to is neglect God and the life-giving love of the Trinity. The Pharisee is living well beyond the gifts he has been giving, by comparing himself to other people. His pride is over the top.

The tax collector understood his place in his community. He was not well liked. It seems he did not really care for his decisions and life either. He knew the corruption of such a profession in his day. His face was cast down in prayer. He asked for mercy. He knew his sinfulness. The tax collector reserved space in his soul for God. He models that space, that simple opening for us as well. Humility is that space we allow in our hearts, our souls for God to work within us. Humility is the place in which we admit we don’t know all of the answers and that we know only God can fill us up. Humility becomes the journey in which we know that God is God and we are not.

In our society, humility is hard to come by. We live in fast lanes with much expertise about life. We are trained to control things. We are even trained to control other people. We might be trained to control God as well. Our education is vast and we are quick to spout out all the answers and more. Humility only finds a home within us when we have reached a brick wall of some sort.

We may crash into such a wall when our child is sick. Perhaps we will not know what to say when our spouse approaches us for a divorce. Perhaps when our daughter is diagnosed with autism or cancer our lives may become silent enough to hear God. All of these walls become moments of suffering that may silent our arrogance and create the space within our hearts for God to truly change us and mend the lives and situations here on earth. God invites us to surrender, through nature, love, good times or bad.

The first place we can look to enhance our relationship with God is in the silent spaces of our humility. We may not want to look there, but those are the places in which something new happens. These silent spaces of humility actually frighten many people. To shift from attitudes of power and control into letting go of quick answers requires us to become patient and more loving. Humility means that we live close to the earth. Humility requires us honesty and openness. Prayer has a way to open up even the most stubborn.

Blessings,

Fr. Ron

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October 20, 2019

Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Let us pray for persistence in our Church to serve those who cry out in need. May we listen with faithful ears and deep respect for the gospel and people’s needs.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for persistence, conviction and zeal in our efforts to live our faith. May God’s love form our lives and reveal our gifts to help others.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for people who have given up on prayer. May our lives support the basic needs of people who have little money or power.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for those whose prayers have never been answered. May our faces bowed down in disappointment be lifted high with hope for tomorrow.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray to release our lives of false judgment. May we not shame those whose opinions are different than our own. May we not use words, fists or guns to condemn people.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us release our loved ones in death to the glory of their home in heaven. In this Mass…

We pray to the Lord.

When Truth Collapses Around Us

I often feel like a lost child when I climb the one step into our pulpit. This step is daunting unless I remember that I belong to God and to my faith-filled ancestors. I proclaim the Gospel and preach on the backs of Abraham and people who journeyed through fear, including the disciples who climbed Calvary to see Jesus. Bearing the weight of the Gospel in my body rouses fear in me.

Our day is no different from when the disciples faced such fear. Jesus is concerned that testifying to his death and resurrection will not be easy. This testimony emerges from the deep experiences of humanity where division and hatred also live. Truth is never effortlessly proclaimed and never easily taken to heart. When the Gospel flows from our mouths to ears of great resistance, truth often falls to the ground and withers, but it never dies.

Jesus offers us remedy when truth collapses around us. The Holy Spirit is as alive within our generation as it was for the disciples and for the martyrs whom we celebrate today. The Holy Spirit flows even more deeply into our lives than fear, so our words may thrive on the firm ground of love and compassion. When our hearts are open to the Spirit, our words will testify to this truth: only when the poor have shelter and the hungry are fed will love and justice find a true home.

Fr. Ron Raab

Ronald Patrick Raab, CSC, is pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Colorado Springs. Learn more at http://www.ronaldraab.com.

October 20, 2019

Dear Followers of Jesus,

Luke 18:1-8 today invites us to pray without becoming weary. This parable of the widow who finally wore down the judge is a story of how we are to remain consistent in our life of prayer. God, however, is not a dishonest judge. God showers us with compelling love that changes our hearts. Showing up for prayer is often our greatest resistance.

This story invites us to remain persistent in our relationship with God. Prayer first of all is a relationship. Prayer is not a commodity. It is not a slot machine in heaven where we purchase what we need and hope for the best. God is not an aspirin in the sky to take our pain away. God is not a judge with whom we constantly bargain. We don’t pray and make promises that we won’t sin to get an answer to prayer that we want.

Mass, the Eucharist, is our greatest prayer. When we come together as community, we worship God who invites us into mystical union with the Trinity. We receive Christ Jesus in his Real Presence. We become what we eat. We live what we become. The entire Mass is addressed to the Father. We literally stand next to Christ Jesus offering our lives to the Father as Christ offered his life, his passion, his death and his resurrection. Our prayer is in union with Christ Jesus, an eternal offering of love, mercy and compassion.

As Christians, we are slow to realize such a gift of our prayer. We are slow to absorb such a reality that we belong to Christ Jesus. This is our true identity. This is our true life on earth. Sometimes we even fear this reality. God gets too close to us and we don’t know how to love back. So we search the world landing on other identities. We may drink too much or use drugs as an identity. We may grow fearful and angry and live in such a place for years. We may believe that happiness lies outside our selves. This may lead us to sex addiction or hoarding or other addictions and never realizing that real life comes to us from the inside out. Our hearts may grow cold and lonely in the meantime.

The Eucharist will never mean anything to us unless we have a life of deep, honest personal prayer. Our Christian identity cannot be fostered for only an hour on Sunday. Prayer is a relationship with God that is like any other relationship. Prayer is a gift, initiated by God, but we have to do our part by showing up to such a gift of mercy. Prayer challenges us. Prayer is a call to change. Prayer invites us into living a more deeply human life. When we invite God into our hearts, we begin to view life differently. We may not always get what we think we want, but our hearts grow wider into seeing life more abundantly. In prayer, we view the real needs of all humanity. We see our children differently. We view people who are different from us with new eyes. We see our own foibles and silliness with a greater humility.

Believe in God. Believe in all humanity. Believe in your life as a person of prayer. Believe in the Mass.

Peace,

Fr. Ron