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Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
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Our readings this Friday draw a parallel between Joseph and Jesus. In the First Reading the brothers of Joseph want to kill him, and in the Gospel through the parable of the Vineyard the Pharisees sought to kill Jesus. Both Joseph and Jesus go through great agony but in the end God’s plans triumph.
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Jeremiah gives us today two portraits, and they could not be more different. The first is a barren shrub in the desert — a man who trusts in human flesh, whose heart has turned from the Lord. He cannot see goodness when it comes. He stands in scorched earth, in a salt land no one inhabits. The second is a tree planted by water. Its roots reach deep toward the stream. It does not fear the heat. When drought comes, it does not wither. It yields its fruit in season, and its leaves never fade. The difference between these two men is not talent. It is not circumstance. It is the direction of their roots. One has planted himself in flesh; the other has planted himself in God. And everything — their fruitfulness, their joy, their very capacity to endure — flows from that one decision.
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The great preparatory seasons of the Church, Advent and Lent, both have multiple facets and their own rhythms and trajectories. Advent begins with an emphasis on the future coming of Christ and then it focuses on our celebration of the Incarnation, all the while fostering our spiritual preparation to receive Him in His comings. Lent, as we’ve experienced these first two weeks, begins by encouraging us to take up the practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving as a means toward deeper conversion and more sincere relationships with God and our neighbor. But today, we see, especially in the Gospel, the beginnings of another emphasis of Lent, its path toward the mystery of the Cross and Resurrection. These themes are related, of course, because prayer, fasting, and works of charity are disciplines that can strengthen us to embrace the Cross in our lives.
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Holy Women's History Month | Holy lives of inspiration | Old Testament
For Holy Women's History Month, Karen Estep discusses Ruth, an Old Testament woman who still inspires modern women. Wherever you go I will go, wherever you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people and your God, my God. (Ruth 1:16) These words were read at my wedding. At the time, I meant for it to be part of our family motto because my husband was a football coach, and I wanted to support the teams he would coach. When you’re a football coach and a football coach’s wife, the teams eventually become your family, no matter which team it happens to be. I had no idea what Ruth would ultimately mean to me as a woman in a modern age.
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In 1980, a retired NYPD detective, Frank Bolz pioneered something that transformed law enforcement forever, especially hostage negotiation. His radical, counterintuitive insight was breathtakingly simple: he said, don't storm the building. Talk first. Because the moment genuine conversation begins, something irreversible happens. When you talk, a relationship is established. The standoff becomes a relationship. And relationships, real ones, change people. God, it turns out, invented this long before Frank. What Isaiah records in the first reading is a divine hostage negotiation situation. And here's the twist; we are simultaneously the hostage and the hostage-taker. We have taken ourselves captive, barricaded inside our own comfortable habits, our carefully curated religion, our elaborate self-justifications. And God, rather than sending in the SWAT team, simply picks up the phone. "Come now. Let us talk this over." He doesn't kick the door in. He calls. He begins a conversation and that distinction is everything.
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Holy lives of inspiration | Learn more about our faith
In the marketplaces of Galilee, grain was not sold in tidy, sealed bags or neat plastic packages, like what we have in the supermarkets, but they were scooped from large baskets into whatever container you brought from home. A standard measure, usually, smaller household bowl was used to fill your bags before your eyes. But how it was filled made all the difference. A stingy merchant would pour the grain in loosely and stop when it looked full. Air pockets remained. Space was wasted. It appeared full and generous, but it was not. An honest seller, however, would press the grain down firmly with his hands. He would lift and shake the container so the kernels settled into every hidden gap. Then he would pour more on top until it formed a small mound above the rim, threatening to spill into your cloak. You went home knowing you had received more than expected.
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