[Salvation]

 

Finding God in Everyday Life

Pastor’s Column

15^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

July 14, 2013

 

“No, the word is very near to you, it is in your mouth and in your heart. 

You have only to carry it out.”

                                                Deuteronomy 30:14

 

Sometimes we think we must go to extraordinary lengths to hear God. But this Sunday’s first reading points out that there is no need to cross the seas to find God, or to go to the highest heavens or to take long journeys. Instead, the Word of God is already within and around us, in our minds and in our hearts, if we would only carry it out! 

          Over the years I have been on many pilgrimages, and before leading one I always invite the pilgrims to ask themselves this question: “Why am I taking this journey? What is my goal? What do I hope to come back with?” Of course, when we go on a vacation we are seeking rest, or new experiences, or reconnecting with loved ones, but a pilgrimage is essentially different: a Pilgrim is seeking to encounter God and to learn his will, and at the same time gain insight about themselves and their life’s journey. 

          When I was discerning my vocation to the priesthood, because I had airline benefits, I found myself traveling all over the country looking at different religious orders and taking many exotic retreats. One day I called my father (who lived in Los Angeles)  from Massachusetts where I was visiting some religious community.  What my father said to me changed my life! He remarked, “So tell me Gary, why is it that you need to fly 3,000 miles to find the will of God?”

          As it turned out, I found my vocation in the Catholic Church across the street! His will, his word, it was all right where I lived and worked and I could not see it! I suspect many of us act the same way at times. Think about it for a moment. Here in our parish church we come on Sunday and hear three readings of the Word of God. All the meaning of life, all the instructions that we need for our journey are contained in the Scriptures and in the church that interprets them. Yet we can feel that extraordinary things are necessary. If we make room for the Word of God, it will carry us home to God every time.

          Here in our local parish church there are so many opportunities to be fed, even in the readings in the bulletin, classes and programs and things to do. Here we have many opportunities to serve, ways to contribute our time and finances, ways to make a difference. 

          Our church of St. Edward is not the only place where God speaks to us, of course! But, if you look carefully at your life, you will find most of the answers to the meaning of life in the circumstances, obligations, and occurrences that each day brings. God’s will is always found in my duties of the present moment, in the person I run into, the people in my life that I am committed to, the work in prayer and leisure that God has called me to do.

                                                                                        Father Gary>

[Salvation]

St. Paul Center Blog

What We Must Do: Scott Hahn Reflects on the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted by Dr. Scott Hahn on 07.12.13 |

Deuteronomy 30:10-14
Psalm 69:14, 17, 30-31, 33-34, 36-37
Colossians 1:15-20
Luke 10:25-37

We are to love God and our neighbor with all the strength of our being, as the scholar of the Law answers Jesus in this week’s Gospel.

This command is nothing remote or mysterious - it’s already written in our hearts, in the book of sacred Scripture. “You have only to carry it out,” Moses says in this week’s First Reading.

Jesus tells His interrogator the same thing: “Do this and you will live.”

The scholar, however, wants to know where he can draw the line. That’s the motive behind his question: “Who is my neighbor?”

In his compassion, the Samaritan in Jesus’ parable reveals the boundless mercy of God - who came down to us when we were fallen in sin, close to dead, unable to pick ourselves up.

Jesus is “the image of the invisible God,” this week’s Epistle tells us. In Him, the love of God has come very near to us. By the “blood of His Cross” - by bearing His neighbors’ sufferings in His own body, being himself stripped and beaten and left for dead - He saved us from bonds of sin, reconciled us to God and to one another.

Like the Samaritan, He pays the price for us, heals the wounds of sin, pours out on us the oil and wine of the sacraments, entrusts us to the care of His Church, until He comes back for us.

Because His love has known no limits, ours cannot either. We are to love as we have been loved, to do for others what He has done for us - joining all things together in His Body, the Church.

We are to love like the singer of this week’s Psalm - like those whose prayers have been answered, like those whose lives has been saved, who have known the time of His favor, have seen God in His great mercy turn toward us.

This is the love that leads to eternal life, the love Jesus commands today of the scholar, and of each of us - “Go and do likewise.