In "Ordinary" Time

 

The Blessed Scandal of the Ordinary

Carla Mae Streeter, OP

 

The blessed Feast of the Body of Christ (Corpus Christi) has been celebrated. The spectacular feasts of Pentecost, and Trinity too are behind us now. We are plunged into Ordinary Time, and summer comes upon us quietly with rain showers and the silent blooming of lilacs. The Friday and Saturday after Corpus Christi bring us the feasts of two hearts: the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary – a fitting entrance into the scandal of “ordinariness.”

 

The heart is the center of the human person. Where your heart is, there is your treasure, goes the old saying. So where is Jesus’ heart, where is Mary’s heart? They are love-centered. These two human beings are caught up in a compassionate love. We are given them to show us where the Pentecostal fire resides. It resides in our hearts, unless we douse it with the dampness of unforgiveness, complaining, or blaming. We need to keep company with these two, whose hearts are kindled with Spirit-fire.

 

This is the secret behind the scandal of “ordinariness.” Our lives sometimes seem so “ho-hum.” Nothing special, just the day-to-day tasks: taking a shower, laundry, a drive to the doctor’s, supper with friends, shopping, listening to the news, (and getting depressed at its emphasis on human failure and selfishness!).

 

What’s to do? What’s to do is to reflect on the ordinariness of the lives of Jesus’ and Mary’s “hidden” lives. In fact, so

“ordinary” that there is nothing whatsoever written about them. Silence. But these hidden lives were full of common events, just as ours are. This is the quiet hiddenness where love grows. Like the flowers and veggies coming up in our gardens, there is that little green thing, then the bush, then...wonder of wonders! ...flowers and fruit! All of it drawn from “sonning” and coming forth in inconspicuous silence. So, take heart...put your heart and your baptismal presence into the shopping, the trip to the post office, the phone call. Smile your love into whatever your day calls on you to do. Put your “heart” into it, and may

the garden of your soul be fragrant and fruitful in the dull days of ordinary time.

 

Most merciful Heart of Jesus,

Make our hearts like unto your own.

Model our hearts after that of your Mother,

Who lived her days in quiet obscurity,

Yet helped you redeem the world; here I am...me too!

Amen.

 

Special thanks to Carol Wester, OP, for these reflections

 

June 5 — 10^th Sunday of Ordinary Time 1 Kings 17:17-24 — Galatians 1:1-19 — Luke 7:11-17

 

An extraordinary day of compassion in ordinary time. Today we are told the stories of Elijah and Jesus

and how they showed extraordinary compassion to the widows of Zarephath and Naim. As I watched

the news last week, I heard the story of extraordinary compassion of a fourth-grade teacher, a mother of

three, who donated a kidney to an ailing first-grader in her school. She saw the suffering of the child and was

moved with compassion to act and do what she could, even though she exposed herself to considerable

risk. Where else do I see extraordinary examples of compassion in our ailing world? There is nothing

ordinary about this ordinary time!

 

June 12 — 11^th Sunday of Ordinary Time — 2 Samuel 12:7-10, 13 Galatians 2:16, 19-21 — Luke 7:36-8:3

 

An extraordinary day of forgiveness in ordinary time. Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against

God.” Nathan answered David: “Yes, but that’s not the last word. God forgives your sin.” When the town

harlot washed Jesus’s feet with her tears after Simon, his host, had not ministered to him, Jesus said: “She

was forgiven many, many sins, and so she is very, very grateful. If the forgiveness is minimal, the gratitude

is minimal.” Just as Nathan and Jesus saw the hearts of the sinners and spoke words of forgiveness, are we not inspired to put aside rash judgments, accusatory thoughts, and mercifully look into the heart of the other? There is nothing ordinary about this ordinary time!

 

June 19 — 12^th Sunday of Ordinary Time — Zechariah 12:10-11; 13:1 Galatians 3:26-29 — Luke: 9-18-24

 

An extraordinary day of invitation in ordinary time. “But who do YOU say I am?” We are invited to

respond to this question, not because Jesus needs to hear how great he is, but because he wants to make

sure we know that following him will not be easy. He tells us what we can expect for ourselves. “Anyone

who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat—I am. Don’t run from

suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how.” The popular expression—WWJD—what would

Jesus do—can be the motivating impetus of all that we do. There is nothing ordinary about this ordinary time!

 

June 26 — 13^th Sunday of Ordinary time — 1 Kings 19:16b, 19-21 Galatians 5:1, 13-18 — Luke 9:51-62

 

An extraordinary day of freedom in ordinary time. Paul tells the Galatians: “It is absolutely clear that God

has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you do not use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever

you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather use your freedom to serve one another in love.” Elisha

and Paul were invited by God to follow him; so are we. We are invited to be free, not to be slaves to

anything or to anyone. We are invited into a radical trust, making us as free as Jesus was with no place to

rest his head. In this place, in this time, I have been given the freedom and opportunity to be of service to

others. What an extraordinary gift! There is nothing ordinary about this ordinary time.

"...she pondered all these things in her heart..."

…she pondered all these things in her heart…

Carla Mae Streeter, OP

What was Mary, the Mother of Jesus, thinking about in the time after her son’s resurrection? Was she marveling at how things had turned out? Was she learning from those dark days when the temptation to lose trust in God was so strong? Was she knitting everything together with one “Aha!” moment after another?

First, there he was, her beautiful son, alive…wounds shining. Did she sense that he was no longer just “hers”? Did she realize that he was not just for the Jews, not just for any group anymore? That he belonged to the whole world now?

Did she understand that of course he would return to his Father, taking our humanness with him to prepare for all of us to follow? Did she grasp that the Spirit of God that overshadowed her was now loose in the world, forming bonds between people? Is this what she was thinking about?

What are we thinking about? We began our Paschal Mystery in the darkness of Holy Saturday night. We were led back to the baptismal font to remember where we died with him and put on our new life, our baptismal robe of joys and grief, of failures and heroic decisions. Then we walked with him as he opened up his very body and cleansed us in his own blood. Death thought it had silenced him for good, but up he came and danced on its head, freeing those long waiting for him, and whisking them off into their own resurrections. Then he leaves us, telling us it is necessary that he go so that we learn to live by the faith the Spirit will provide. From that open heart of his, he breathes his own Spirit into us to complete our walk here, a walk of peace-making and mercy. The fifty days of Easter, to top the forty days of Lent. Will wonders never cease!

Risen Jesus,

we are entering the Mary-month of May,

the month of your Mother.

No one grasped the wonder and beauty

of your Paschal Mystery

as did she who pondered all things in her heart.

Mother, teach us to ponder the wonders of your son!

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­___________________________________________________

Special thanks to associate Shirley Talbot for these reflections

May 1 – 6^th Sunday of Easter – Psalm 67:2-3, 5-6, 8 – Acts 15:1-2, 22-29
Revelation 21:10-14, 22-23 – John 14:23-29

In the earliest gatherings of the church, people misunderstood each other and misunderstood God. Paul was among those sent to speak and to clarify. We are still speaking and clarifying. Until that day when Jesus will be our light in the New Jerusalem, we listen to each other, love each other, let God’s Spirit teach us, and rely on the peace given to us as Jesus went to intercede for us before God’s throne. Today may our words be couched in love like a bouquet of spring flowers tucked in a basket on our neighbor’s doorstep.

May 8 – Ascension Sunday – Psalm 97 – Acts 7:55-60
Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20 – John 17:20-26

Even words spoken in truth and love are not always well-received. How often did we respond with anger to our mothers’ words of truth and love? The light shining brightly makes shadows more visible. “Come!” Jesus cried. “Come take the water of life!” Jesus prayed for us… that we might be one… with God… with each other. Children at heart, we draw back from the light that makes shadows so plain. Today lift us over our fear and give us enough light to see by as we speak and listen to words of truth and love, especially to those who have mothered us.

May 15 – Pentecost Sunday – Psalm 104 – Acts 2:1-11
1Corinthians 12:3-7, 12-13 – John 20:19-23

There are people who continue the worship style described in that Upper Room on Pentecost Sunday. As Jesus was born during a time of enforced taxation and travel, surrounded with chaos, so God’s Spirit descended with wind, flames and chaos where people saw and heard things they couldn’t understand. Into the midst of our chaos God comes bringing peace that we cannot understand. Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.

May 22 – The Holy Trinity – Psalm 8 – Proverbs 8:22-31
Romans 5:1-5 – John 16:12-15

Wait a minute…God from God? Fully God and Fully Man? Wait a minute! Pastoral care was born in the heart of God as God sprang from God before the world was made. God pastored God. God encountered need and met need. God loved and was loved. This Glory of God now comes to us and is ours. What is this human being that God should be mindful of them, the offspring of such that God should care?

May 29 – The Body and Blood of Christ – Psalm 117 – 1Kings 8:41-43
Galatians 1:2,6-10 – Luke 7:1-10

Abram, before promises fulfilled, returned with thanks and was blessed. Bread and wine blessed to God again in the hands of Jesus. Blessed in Jesus’ hands loaves and fishes, thousands fed by the hands of Jesus’ followers.  Surrounded by the hungry now we lift our hands, God still blessing, we too return with thanks.

What the Resurrection is Really All About...

We are about midway through lent. Before the month is over this March of 2016, we will celebrate the Resurrection. We will breathe a sigh of relief, and think, “Thank goodness that is over now for another year!” But don’t be so sure.

The Passion begins with the Infant Christ. The first step down is the Word confining itself to the virgin’s womb…the size of a man’s fist. The Word incarnate thinks it’s just fine to slowly be clothed in humanness for the usual nine months. Infinity confined to a small space. We celebrate this wonder in the Advent and Christmas season.

But there is another step down. There is the day-to-day frustration with companions who just don’t get it. They need to be shown that leadership means washing feet, that we all are called to become a new kind of family where no one is excluded, and that the poor are the primary members of this new “kin-dom.”

Then another step down into the chaos of agony, sin, and death. Doesn’t this Holy One realize he doesn’t belong here? After all, he has engineered the cosmos. Could it be that he goes there because he knows that’s where he will find us, and he just has to be where we are? Crazy. And then grasping us safe, he springs up from the depths of death like some Olympic athlete, shining with the glory-sweat of victory. But he still does not know when to quit.

Another step down. Bread. Kept in a box, waiting to be eaten. Taking on the appearance of a “thing.” Does this self-emptying never stop? Is this what he is “passionate” about? Be careful. To eat him is to become him. Surely you don’t want to go up in flames loving like this…or do you? Eucharist is inch-by-inch being transformed into your own resurrection down the road a bit…like the butterfly. In the meantime you might find yourself baked, cut, chewed up…because that is what you are resurrected from. That is what resurrection is all about.

*****        *****         *****         *****         *****          *****         *****          *****

Loving Lord, your earthly passion began when you entered our time and space world. This is the “baptism” with which you longed to be baptized. What kind of love is this, that you will bond yourself with each of us, holding us tight as we ride the wild ride of what life dishes out to us? What kind of love makes you so “passionate?” No “atonement” here…no “pound of flesh.” Pure revelation of a God who will go to the depths of death to wisk us from the jaws of hell. Suspended between heaven and earth like some majestic lightning rod, you draw the very lightning flash of justice to yourself. You absorb your justice, making it one with your mercy. Keep holding me tight…during the rollercoaster of today.

Promoter of Preaching for March

The 800^th Anniversary is on! Celebrations abound, bringing back memories of what has been, and challenging us to dream a future for the Dominican Order of our own times. Dominic had to contend with a heresy, a twisting of truth to suit its own purpose. That purpose was to make sure we believe the lie that only “spiritual” realities matter. The physical, the material, are to be despised. It was a purist dualism, and looked so deceitfully holy. But Genesis and the Incarnation beg to differ. The universe is strewn with matter still evolving, and nothing beats a physical hug when your heart is breaking and you are crying your eyes out. The Christ could not be more explicit when he says, “This is my body.”

But this is 2016, and I suggest we have the direct opposite heresy to contend with today. We don’t despise matter. We worship it. Materialism and consumerism rule, and if we listen to the media, nothing, not even God, should question my overcrowded closet or my bulging bank account.

Where would we find Dominic today? I suspect he’d be living in a redeveloped abandoned convent in the central city, where he and his followers are very present in centers of learning and organizations where young and old are learning why they should be protesting unjust penal systems, trafficked human beings, and rampant exploitation of land and water. Why? Because we are to be holy as God is holy. He would be unapologetically proclaiming that this Mystery, contrary to being relegated to the periphery, is the center of every atom, galaxy, and greening effort we attempt. He would be about the business of righting the balance: not spiritualism nor materialism, but a created world held in the arms of a merciful Shepherd. And he’d be ready to die to get that good news out. Maybe we can live for it, into our future.

I have a plan for you...

“I have a plan for you…”

 

You never quit

do you.

 

First you step down

ever so gently

into a virgin’s womb

to be fitted into new clothes.

“Human Made” says the label.

 

Then another step down –

into the chaos of betrayal, beating, ridicule, and execution.

 

Don’t you realize this is no place for you?

 

But no – one more step – down.

Bread? Come now.

Something that is locked in a box waiting to be eaten?

 

What must you be thinking?

 

Life? Mine? Ongoing and forever?

 

You have a one-track mind and you never quit – do you.

Even when we are too busy to notice.

 

Thank you….thank you.

 

 

“I have lost nothing

 

that you have given me.” John 17:12

 

 

                                                                                                Easter, 2016

                                                                                                Carla Mae Streeter, OP