12-Jul-2010 Dear Friend,
We have all had the experience of planning, at the beginning of our day what we going to do, and never quite being able to get anything done. There seem to be so many interruptions and unexpected happenings and encounters which take us by surprise. Most people try to get rid of these interruptions and get back to their planned activities. But could it be that God is the God of surprises? Could God be visiting us everyday just to be with us and give us His blessings? Let’s be open and enjoy His unexpected visit and the blessings his presence brings! Relish His present!!! Fr. Jude Sunday Reflections: 16th Sunday ‘Be Hospitable and receive God’s blessings! 18-June-2010 Genesis 18: 1-10 Colossians 1: 24-28 Luke 10: 38-42 The first reading from the Book of Genesis tells of the visit of three strangers who come unexpectedly to the tent-dwelling of Abraham. Abraham sees them as he sits by the entrance and has no hesitation in welcoming them. He accords them a warm welcome and goes out of his way to prepare a tasty meal so that they can relax, enjoy and be nourished before continuing their onward journey. The strangers accept his hospitality and having enjoyed the meal they leave promising to come back the following year. Before leaving they making him a promise that his wife will bear a son. Strangers bring God’s blessings! The Love Squad Oh no! Not company!” I groaned the moment the car rounded the corner and our house came into full view. Usually I’d be thrilled to see four cars lined up in our driveway, but after I spent a week-long vigil at the hospital with an ill child, my house was a colossal mess. Turning off the car engine, I dragged myself to the front door. “What are you doing home so soon?” my friend Judie called from the kitchen. “We weren’t expecting you for another hour!” She walked toward me and gave me a hug, then asked softly, “How are you doing?” Was this my house? Was I dreaming? Everything looked so clean. Where did these flowers come from? Suddenly more voices, more hugs, Lorraine, smiling and wiping beads of perspiration from her forehead, came up from the family room Where she had just finished ironing a mountain of clean clothes. Regina peeked into the kitchen, having finished vacuuming rugs and polishing and dusting furniture in every room in the house. Joan, still upstairs wrestling with the boy’s bunk-bed sheets, called down her “hello,” having already brought order out of chaos in all four bedrooms. “When did you guys get here?” Was my last coherent sentence. “How come….how come... you did all this?” I cried unashamedly, every ounce of resistance gone. I had spent the week praying through a health crisis, begging God for a sense of His presence at the hospital. Instead, He laid a mantle of order, Beauty and loving care into our home through these four “angels.” “You rest a while, Virelle,” Lorraine said firmly. “Here’s your dinner for tonight-there are more meals in the freezer.” “Don’t worry. We’re all praying,” my friends said. “God has everything under control.” After my friends left, I wandered from room to room, still sobbing from the enormity of their gift of time and work. In the living room I found a note under a vase filled with peonies. I was to have come home and found it as their only identity: “The Love Squad was here.” And I knew that God had everything under control. Virelle Kidder from ‘Decision Magazine’ Today’s episode from the gospel according to Luke tells us of the visit of Jesus to the home of Martha and her sister Mary, where apparently he would relax in the company of friends. Jesus was welcomed to this home by both the sisters but in different ways. One preferred to busy herself preparing a delicious meal for the favoured guest, while the other chose to do nothing but just sit at his feet and listen to him. The point of the incident is not to point out which is the better way of welcoming Jesus for both are necessary. Some liken the two ways to two modes of spirituality: the contemplative mode and the spirituality of an active ministry. Here again there cannot be a dichotomy of one or the other for we are all called to contemplation of God and equally to a life of actively serving him. One without the other is incomplete and makes no sense. From our common day to day experience we know that when a friend comes to our home we do not neglect the person or leave the person alone while we get busy preparing a meal. On the other hand we do not spend so much time chatting without offering the person anything. A balance of both is what is required. What is important is the person who has come –a guest into our home, The focus is on the guest and his or her needs not on what we would like to do or give to the person, which might be our need and not the guest’s need. More importantly, the gospel reminds us that often God comes to us in the garb of strangers and visitors and He comes with many gifts and blessings. We can be so preoccupied with what we want to do that we forget to focus our attention on what message He has for us and the blessings that He bestows on us each time he visits us! Sometimes the daily interruptions and the unexpected happenings are God’s entry point into our lives. Can we welcome Him? “There has been much comment on this episode: the welcome of Jesus by Martha and Mary. At this moment when, like Mary, we are seated at the Lord’s feet to hear the word, we must ask ourselves what is this ‘better part’ which Martha’s sister chose and which will not be taken from her. Firstly – Luke is not setting two states of life against one another. Not setting on one side the contemplatives, as aristocrats of the Christian life or the shock troops of the kingdom into which they will be directly parachuted! And on the other, those poor foot-soldiers of the apostolic ministry which the church here below has to use, but who would be condemned by reason of their extrovert temperament or incapacity for contemplation to being saints of the second class. Jesus’ reply to Martha was not intended for the comfort of those who see themselves in Mary. What Luke sets against the many preoccupations, which are taking all Martha’s attention, is the one thing necessary, absolutely indispensable, and about which Mary is concerned: to listen to the word of Jesus in order to keep it and put it into practice. This is what makes the true disciple; other matters are certainly not without importance (someone has to do the housework!) but should not preoccupy us to the point where we turn away from what is essential: him who is visiting us. Is this to say that we should experience no conflict in this area? We are not yet in heaven! The apostles themselves knew the difficulty. Though pulled this way and that, they did not simply conclude ‘After all, to work is to pray’; they devoted themselves to prayer and the service of the word (Acts 6:1-6). Martha and Mary – service and listening – both are necessary. Do not listen without serving. Yet, equally, do not serve without listening. Avoid being so preoccupied as not to pay attention to the Jesus whom one wants to serve.” -Glenstal Bible Missal She Gave Us the Best She Had…. I was brushing my hair, huddled close to the wood stove along with my older brother and three little sisters, trying to keep warm while Mom cooked oatmeal. We heard sounds upstairs so Dad went upstairs to check. Halfway up the stairs he yelled, “The house is on fire!” We lived way out in the country with no telephone, so the house and most of our belongings burned to the ground before help arrived. Family photographs, Mom’s treadle sewing machine and a few other personal belongs were all they could pull from the house while we girls ran to the neighbours. Dad had been unemployed that winter, and we had neither money nor insurance with which to replace anything we lost in the fire. After we stayed a few days with relatives, dad borrowed money to rent an old farmhouse nearby. Mom set up housekeeping with furniture, bedding and kitchen utensils relatives and friends donated. We didn’t have much before the fire, but I hadn’t felt our poverty before. Now I stood in someone else’s too-large dress, in a colorless, bare – windowed house, worn towels and I couldn’t keep from crying. While we were extremely grateful for everything we were given, it was a difficult, dreary time for us. Then a neighbour came with a gift. She handed my mother a set of brand-new, beautifully hand-embroidered pillowcases. The sight of the pure white cotton cases, folded to display the bright, hand stitched pink, lavender and green floral design, almost took my breath away. I could hardly believe she meant for us to keep them. Others had given us what they least wanted themselves, but this neighbour gave us the best she had! We hadn’t lived in that community very long before the fire, and we soon moved away and lost touch with the neighbours. Now, almost 50 years later, I no longer remember who gave us that gift, but I do remember the sense of self-worth it restored to me. We must be okay for someone to give us such a beautiful and precious handmade gift. It is one of my favorite memories and many times it has been the example that directs my own actions. They gave the best they had! Connie Lounsbury from ‘Lifewise Magazine’ Interruptions Or…..? Once a man went to see a friend of his who was a professor at a great university. However, as they sat chatting in the professor’s office, they were continually interrupted by students, who came knocking at the door, seeking the professor’s advice about something or other. Each time the professor rose from his chair, went to the door, and dealt with the student’s request. Eventually the visitor asked the professor, ‘How do you manage to get any work done with so many interruptions?’ “At first I used to resent the interruptions to my work. But one day it suddenly dawned on me that the interruptions were my work,’ the professor replied. That professor could have locked himself away and devoted his time to his own private work. In that way he would no doubt have had a quieter life. But being the generous and unselfish person that he was, he couldn’t do that. Instead he made his work consist in being available to his students. It was no surprise that he was greatly loved by the students. And it was no coincidence that he was one of the happiest and most fulfilled professors on the campus. Flor McCarthy in ‘Sunday and Holy Day Liturgies’ You Abba’s Alms Some time back, my daughter Jenna and I spent several days in the old city of Jerusalem. One afternoon, as we were exiting the Jaffa gate, we found ourselves behind an Orthodox Jewish family – a father and his three small girls. One of the daughters, perhaps four or five years of age, fell a few steps behind and couldn’t see her father. “Abba!” she called to him. He stopped and looked. Only then did he realize he was separated from his daughter. “Abba!” she called again. He spotted her and immediately extended his hand. She took it and I took mental notes as they continued. I wanted to see the actions of an abba. He held her hand tightly in his as they descended the ramp. When he stopped at a busy street, she stepped off the curb, so he pulled her back. When the signal changed, he led her and her sisters through the intersection. In the middle of the street, he reached down and swung her up into his arms and continued their journey. Isn’t that what we all need? An abba who will hear when we call? Who will take our hand when we’re weak? Who will guide us through the hectic intersections of life? Don’t we all need an abba who will swing us up into his arms and carry us home? We all need a father.-There’s a God in heaven who wants you to call him your Abba. Max Lucado from ‘The Great House of our God’ May we enjoy the God of surprises in our lives! Fr. Jude Botelho [email protected] PS. The stories, incidents and anecdotes used in the reflections have been collected over the years from books as well as from sources over the net and from e-mails received. Every effort is made to acknowledge authors whenever possible. If you send in stories or illustrations I would be grateful if you could quote the source as well so that they can be acknowledged if used in these reflections. These reflections are also available on my web site www.netforlife.net Thank you.
