Month: August 2022

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Hospitality

Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Luke 14:1; 7-14

 

The nomadic peoples of the ancient Middle East considered it a serious moral duty to offer nourishment and protection for travelers passing their way. The heat of the day, coupled with the scarcity of food and water, were themselves life-threatening. Travelers weakened by a lack of nourishment were also easier prey for robbers. In Genesis 18, we see how Abraham sees three travelers passing by “in the heat of the day”. He runs to them and practically begs them to honor him by letting him serve them food and drink. After Abraham’s generous hospitality, one of his guests is revealed as the Lord himself, who in turn blesses Abraham with what can easily be seen as an act of hospitality, assuring him that he would finally have a son by that time next year. Thus, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are in the Promised Land, not as owners but as nomadic wanderers who live in the Lord’s land. They are to trust in the Lord’s hospitality to them and to show that same hospitality to others. They live as outsiders, seemingly with no status in this land, yet they are the ones whom the Lord welcomes. Continue reading “Hospitality”

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How Many Will Be Saved?

Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)

Luke 13:22-30

 

Salvation.

The Bible is filled with many images that seek to portray salvation in some way. The return from exile. The coming of the Kingdom of God. The wedding feast of the Lamb. A new creation. The new Jerusalem. Salvation involves being purged – freed – healed of the effects of sin so that we can become all that the Lord intends us to be. We can then rejoice together with Him forever. Salvation begins whenever we first say yes to the Lord’s invitation to believe and repent, and reaches its fulfillment beyond this life in an everlasting feast of love with the Lord.

It’s a wonderful vision! Yet, we notice that not everyone appears to say yes to this vision. We have our own struggles, temptations and sins even as we strive to follow the Lord. Our faith speaks to us of heaven (another name for the new Jerusalem or the wedding feast of the Lamb) and hell (I’ll save purgatory for a post of its own.)  Throughout the centuries, artists of all kinds have presented us with their interpretations of heaven and hell, leaving us with various images etched into our memories. Continue reading “How Many Will Be Saved?”

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A Cloud of Witnesses

Twentieth Sunday of Ordinary Time (C)

Hebrews 12:1-4

 

In this world we have our troubles
Sometimes lonesome, sometimes blue,
But the hope of life eternal
Brightens all our hopes anew.

(Chorus)

I don’t want to get adjusted
To this world, to this world,
I’ve got a home that’s so much better,
I want to go to sooner or later,
I don’t want to get adjusted to this world!

– From the song “I Don’t Want To Get Adjusted”, attributed to Sanford Massingale. This quote is from the version that the folk group The Weavers recorded and sang live in the early 1950’s.  Many recorded versions of this song exist today. 

The terms “adjusted” and “well-adjusted” may be used less frequently now than they were a generation or two ago, but the meaning these terms express remains an ideal in psychology. One dictionary definition for “well-adjusted” is the following: “A well-adjusted person is reasonable and has good judgment. Their behavior is not difficult or strange”. Such a person is seen as socially acceptable and popular, a model for others to imitate. Continue reading “A Cloud of Witnesses”

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The Hermit’s Way of Life in the Local Church

In 2017, Michael Finkel published a book with a provocative title that became a surprise best-seller. It was The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit. The book told the story of Christopher Knight, a young man who one day, without telling anyone, simply wandered into the central Maine woods and decided that he would live there, on his own, indefinitely. Though skillful in many ways, he could not feed himself adequately in the woods, so he began to steal food from nearby camps and homes. Local folks began whispering about a mysterious person that no one had ever seen whom they called the North Pond Hermit. This went on until a deputy sheriff caught him stealing items one night – 27 years after our hermit had first ventured into the woods.

We can debate as to how “true” a hermit Christopher Knight was, but the success of the book reflects the fascination many people feel with those who choose a solitary life. The popularity of books such as Henry David Thoreau’s Walden, May Sarton’s Journal of a Solitude, and Anthony Storr’s Solitude (many, many more examples could be named) show how this fascination has been strong in our secular culture for generations. In the Catholic Church, the twentieth century saw a renewal of interest in the vocation to live a more solitary life as hermits. Catholics such as Charles de Foucauld, Catherine de Hueck Doherty and Thomas Merton witnessed to the enduring power and fruitfulness of the hermit life. Continue reading “The Hermit’s Way of Life in the Local Church”