Sunday Inbox Inspiration: March 20, 2021: 3rd Sunday of Lent, March 20, Cycle C

 Sunday Inbox Inspirations

3rd Sunday of Lent

Cycle C

March 20, 2022

 

Does God Punish? 

 

There is a way of thinking about God that makes me very uncomfortable.

 

Over the years, I have heard some Christians, including some Catholics, labeling certain people as sinful and even evil. As if that isn’t enough, some take it a step farther. 

 

They say that when bad things happen to those “sinful” people, it is God punishing them. So, maybe those people have fallen on hard times financially or maybe they have come down with a serious sickness. 

 

Some say that God is punishing them because they have been bad. The bad things that are happening to them are God’s intentional punishment. 

 

By the way, I even heard some say this about the Covid pandemic. Some have said  that the world has gotten so bad that God sent this to punish us and bring us back to himself. 

 

God Does Not Punish

 

I don’t believe in any of that and, in today’s gospel, Jesus debunks this way of thinking.

 

The people around Jesus bring up a recent event. Some folks up in Galilee were put to death by the Roman official Pilate.

 

They were thrown into a fire that they themselves were using for their religious ritual. Jesus realizes that the people around him are thinking that those Galileans who were killed must have done something bad.

 

They must have been really bad sinners, and Pilate’s action was really God punishing them. And Jesus says: “No way!

 

“They probably weren’t any more sinful than any of you. And for sure, God doesn’t work this way.”

 

Jesus himself then raises another example. A building had collapsed, and some people were killed.

 

And again, Jesus insists that those people weren’t any more sinful that anyone else. This was not God punishing them for being sinful persons.

 

Not Punished for Sin 

 

So, what I see here is Jesus teaching us something about our image of God.

 

The point is that God is not a punisher. Yes, sometimes bad things happen to us.

 

But bad things don’t just happen to bad people. They happen to good people too.

 

They just happen. God is not a punisher or inflictor of bad things.

 

Jesus’ dominant theme is that God loves us. And a loving God does not turn his back on us and punish us; it is we who turn our back on God. 

 

God just keeps loving us when we foul up and keeps trying to draw us closer to himself. That’s the correct and healthy image of God.

 

Punished by Sin 

 

One of our good Catholic theologians puts it this way.

 

We are not punished for our sins; we are punished by our sins. Let me repeat that: we are not punished for our sins; we are punished by our sins.

 

This is really a key point and may be a shift in our understanding. So, yes, you and I can sin, but it is really our sins that punish us.

 

For example, if I keep on holding a grudge against someone, the bitterness in my heart can really eat away at me and distort me as a person. It’s like crunching a piece of paper and holding it tightly in my fist.

 

After a while it is gets painful, and then a little while longer, and my hand almost gets paralyzed and gets hard to open up. That kind of grudge-holding or failure to forgive ends up hurting and punishing me. 

   

So, the point is that we are not punished for our sins by an all-loving God. Instead, we are punished by our sins – to the sadness and disappointment of our loving God.

 

Repentance 

 

At the end of today’s passage, Jesus gives the image of the fig tree.

 

Scripture scholars tell us that Jesus is not saying that he is going to cut us down as someone might cut down a tree that bears no fruit. Instead, Jesus is trying to shake us up a bit. 

 

It’s as if he’s grabbing us by the shoulders and saying: “Wake up! Turn back to God!

 

“Identify the sin in your lives and repent of it. Because if you don’t, that sin is going to hurt and punish you.

 

“Just turn around and look at your loving God! And live out of that love and you’ll be fine.”

 

 

Fr. Michael Schleupner

Sunday Inbox Inspiration: March 13, 2021: 2nd Sunday of Lent, March 13, Cycle C

 Sunday Inbox Inspirations

2nd Sunday of Lent

Cycle C

March 13, 2022

 

Rothschild Mansion

 

There is a story that back in the nineteenth century (the 1800s), some tourists were passing by the famous mansion of the Rothschild family in London.

 

These tourists noted that on one end of the mansion, the cornices and exterior wall were unfinished. They wondered why this was so since the Rothschilds were such a wealthy family.

 

Lord Rothschild explained that he was an orthodox Jew. According to Orthodox tradition, the house of every Jew was to have some part left unfinished.  

 

Why? To bear witness that the occupant of the house is like Abraham, in a sense unfinished, a person on a journey with no lasting home on this earth.    

 

Life as Circle

 

Today’s first reading and gospel express this same belief. 

 

The message is that we are all on a journey. About fifteen years ago, I read a book entitled The Gifts of the Jews by Thomas Cahill.

 

Cahill states that up until the time of Abraham, ancient peoples viewed life as a circle. They believed that what had happened in the past would happen again in a continuous circle.

 

They also believed that everything was determined by heavenly powers. It was not so much our free will, but heavenly powers that determined what would continually happen.

 

And so, our task was to meditate on the ceaseless, circular flow of life. We were to do this until we came to peace with it. 

 

Now, as I said, that was the ancient view of life. But one of the gifts of the Jews, as Thomas Cahill says, is that Abraham changed this way of thinking.

 

Life as Journey

 

The background to today’s first reading is that Abraham has listened to God’s call and set out to an unknown land.

 

He sets out on a journey, and ever since then the way to look at human life is as a journey. This change of outlook now means that there is much more to life than the past simply repeating itself and this being determined by some heavenly power.

 

Now there is the possibility of a different future, and we are responsible for creating it. The Old Testament also reveals that this journey is not just from one country to another, as it was for Abraham and Moses.

 

It is not just an outer journey, a journey outside of me. Instead, it is primarily an inner journey, a journey to our inner self where we can find God.

 

It is a journey of becoming more and more like God. And in the long run, it is a journey back to God. 

 

A Journey with No Tents

 

This understanding carries right over into Christianity.

 

The gospels consistently show Jesus on a journey to Jerusalem. They also call us to see our lives as a journey and they add an important caution about this.

 

The caution is that we have to resist the temptation to pitch our tents, to stay put. In today’s gospel, Jesus will not let Peter do this because he knows that there is still a lot of the journey ahead.

 

Today, like Peter, we might be tempted to pitch our tents. We might be doing this when we say things like: “This is the way I’ve always done it.”

 

Or, “This is the way I learned it and have always understood it.” Statements like these might be saying that we are closing ourselves off to looking at things differently or doing things differently.  

 

For example, we can pitch our tents in the understanding of ourselves. Maybe we just turn off any comment that calls us to examine our attitude about others. 

 

We can also pitch our tents in the understanding of our faith. Maybe we resist understanding faith as being more inclusive than exclusive of others, especially others who are different from us or think differently than we do.

 

And maybe we also pitch our tents in our prayer life. Maybe we resist any openness to a new way of praying. 

 

The point is that like Peter in the gospel, we need to resist the temptation of pitching our tents. This is what the Season of Lent calls us to do – to keep growing, to keep on the journey of life.

 

 

Fr. Michael Schleupner

Inbox Inspiration: March 9, 2021: Lent Musings 1-5

 Lent Musings - 1

Dear Friends,
Today I am beginning a series of columns on Lent – on different ways of approaching this special season.
I am starting with what was the basis of my homily on Ash Wednesday.
As you know, Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel talks about three spiritual practices that have become core for Lent: fasting, prayer, and charitable giving.
As I see it, fasting is the pivotal practice. I don’t really like saying that, because I don’t like fasting – but I think it is pivotal because it leads to prayer and charity.
 
The Church calls us to fast – to limit the amount of food we eat – on just two days: Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. The Church also asks us to abstain from eating meat on Ash Wednesday and on all the Fridays of Lent.
That’s really not that difficult, although the Church also asks us to consider adopting some form of fasting or self-denial that is personal to ourselves – maybe like giving up chocolate or beer, things like that. 
But if we just do the minimum that the Church asks of us, that is fine. 
Our fasting has three purposes.
 
First, the experience of a little bit of physical hunger helps us to experience our spiritual hunger for God.  
It is only God who can satisfy this deeper hunger within us. 
In this way, our fasting can lead to some prayer: the Stations of the Cross, the Gospels, the rosary, whatever it is for us.
Second, our voluntary experience of a little bit of hunger helps to create a bond with those who are hungry without choosing it.
Our fasting can then give us some sensitivity to those who are really hungry. 
It can lead us to some charitable giving and to doing something to assist someone.
And third, fasting from food often connects us with some behavior from which we need to fast.
For example, maybe we need to fast from talking negatively about others or always putting our own preferences first. This is what repentance is really all about.
More musings on Lent, next week, in the Inbox Inspirations of March 16.
 
Father Michael Schleupner

Lent Musings - 2

Dear Friends,
Last week’s Inbox Inspirations concluded with my saying that fasting from food often connects us with some behavior from which we need to fast.
In fact, isn’t this the real purpose of any fasting?
Ultimately, fasting during Lent needs to become transformative.
Fasting from food needs to lead us to fast from certain behaviors and embrace other behaviors.
And so:
 
“Fast from judging others; Feast on Christ dwelling in them.
Fast from emphasis on differences; Feast on the unity of all life.
Fast from apparent darkness; Feast on the reality of all light.
Fast from words that pollute; Feast on phrases that purify.
Fast from discontent; Feast on gratitude.
Fast from anger; Feast on patience. 
Fast from worry; Feast on God’s providence.
Fast from complaining; Feast on appreciation.
Fast from negatives; Feast on affirmatives.
Fast from unrelenting pressures; Feast on unceasing prayer.
Fast from hostility; Feast on non-resistance.
Fast from bitterness; Feast on forgiveness.
Fast from self-concern; Feast on compassion for others.
Fast from discouragement; Feast on hope.
Fast from facts that depress; Feast on verities that uplift.
Fast from lethargy; Feast on enthusiasm.
Fast from suspicion; Feast on truth.
Fast from thoughts that weaken; Feast on promises that inspire.
Fast from shadows of sorrow; Feast on the sunlight of serenity.
Fast from idle gossip; Feast on purposeful silence.
Fast from problems that overwhelm; Feast on prayer that sustains.” 
More Lenten Musings next week, in the Inbox Inspirations of March 23!
 
Father Michael Schleupner
 
Quotation From A Lenten Prayer by William Arthur Ward

Lenten Musings - 3       

 

Dear Friends,

In my Inbox Inspirations of March 9 and 16, I reflected on the value of the three traditional Lenten practices of fasting, prayer, and charitable giving.

Jesus specifically mentions these three practices in the gospel of Matthew, and this passage is read every year on Ash Wednesday. 

I also looked at how fasting from food needs to lead us to fast from certain behaviors that are not consistent with the gospel and to embrace other ways that more expressive of the gospel and our faith.   

For example, we might fast from always seeing the downside of things and instead try to see God’s presence and blessings in our lives. 

I review what I have said in the past two weeks because today my Lenten Musings take a direction that may seem opposite of the above. 

 

Sometimes, we might think that we have to give up something or maybe add something to our lives during Lent. 

And sometimes it is a good idea to do this: maybe to give up something desserts or add prayer during Lent.

But sometimes we may already feel quite burdened with things in life or we may already be too busy. 

In these situations, giving up something may just lead us to feel even more burdened and adding something may just lead us to feel more put upon. 

 

So, in some instances, Lent may consist in just choosing the life we already have with all of its built-in crosses and demands.

It may be choosing the life we already have and trying to live it with a new spirit – maybe with more patience or with more listening or whatever. 

In other words, Lent may mean that we simply pray to God to help us to do what must be done and about which we have no choice,

and that we pray to God to help us do what we have to do more fully in the spirit of Jesus.

 

Sometimes it may be that simple. 

 

Father Michael Schleupner

Lenten Musings - 4       

 

Dear Friends,

“Repent” – this is the word that begins the Season of Lent with the placement of ashes on our forehead.

“Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

What is repentance? 

 

Often, we – or at least I – have been led to see this as focusing almost solely on myself, as doing a serious examination of conscience and seeking God’s forgiveness.

The emphasis has been on my faults, my dark sides, my sins. 

I think many of us have been given, and maybe are still being given this understanding or approach to repentance. 

By the way, I have looked through the ordinary prayers of the Mass – the prayers that we usually offer every time we celebrate Mass.

The word “sin” appears at least ten times.

So, there is a significant emphasis on sin and repentance built right into the celebration of the Mass. 

 

I now believe that this understanding of repentance may be incomplete.

Why do I say this? 

Because it places “me” so much at the center of it all.

This practice of repentance, with the strong emphasis on sin, can become deceptively self-focused.

It can lead me to think that my spiritual and personal growth depends completely on me.

It can lead me to think that I can do all I need to do to be forgiven and, in fact, that I have to do all of this myself.

It can lead me to forget the power of God.

And, there is one more pitfall to this approach to repentance with its heavy emphasis on my sin. 

It may lead me to an inappropriate, even unhealthy guilt.

Sometimes, I should feel guilty for something I have done or failed to do.

However, guilt can become unhealthy when it injures my self-esteem and even evolves into shame.

Guilt means that I have done something bad.

Shame means that I am bad; here guilt has become unhealthy and unholy. 

In next week’s Inbox Inspirations, I will propose a three-step process of repentance which, I believe, is a Scripturally and spiritually helpful approach.

 

 

Father Michael Schleupner

 

Lent Musings - 5

Dear Friends,
Last week’s Inbox focused on repentance.
I said that sometimes, repentance has been presented as focused almost exclusively on my faults, my dark sides, my sins. 
I now believe that this understanding is incomplete. 
Why? 
Because it places “me” so much at the center of it all.
This understanding and practice of repentance can become deceptively self-centered – as if it all depends on me, as if I have to do it all myself.
 
I prefer to think that there is a three-step process involved in repentance.
First, we need to start with God and with opening ourselves to God. 
We need first to look to the One in whose image we are made and whose way we are to follow. 
Repentance is not just remorse.
Instead, it is conversion – the re-centering of our life upon God or Jesus. 
So, we are to look first at God – at the love of God, the love of Christ. 
This is why I often begin the Penitential Act at the beginning of Mass with words like: “Let us open our minds and hearts to the love of God.”
 
That needs to be the first step – God, not me – and yes, this will lead to an awareness of my sinfulness as the second step in the process.
Here, I recommend, we can do an examination of conscience. 
We begin with the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17) and then turn to Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount where he brings the Commandments to fulfillment (especially Matthew 5:13-48).
Finally, we look to the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-10) to see a description of the kind of person Jesus calls us to be.
All of the above is the second step in repentance – a look at ourselves.   
 
And then the third step returns to the love and forgiveness of God.
We entrust ourselves to God’s complete love for us.
We may do this with an Act of Contrition, sometimes with the Sacrament of Reconciliation, or simply with the Penitential Rite at the beginning of Mass. 
 
I believe that the above approach to repentance runs far less chance of becoming a self-centered and negative experience.
It is much more of a God-centered and positive experience.
 
 
Father Michael Schleupner

 

 

Sunday Inbox Inspiration: March 6, 2021: 1st Sunday of Lent, March 6, Cycle C

 Sunday Inbox Inspirations

1st Sunday of Lent

Cycle C

March 6, 2022

 

Temptation 

 

There is a story about a man who, let’s just say, had put on a few extra pounds.

 

At the beginning of Lent one year, he made a firm resolution to go on a diet. He even changed his usual route to work so that he would avoid driving passing his favorite bakery.

 

He had often gone there on his way to work and bought a couple of donuts or a pastry. So, he stopped doing that, but then one morning, he arrived at the office carrying a large, cream-filled, dark-chocolate-covered éclair.

 

His fellow workers started to give him a hard time, and he just shrugged his shoulders. “What could I do? This is a very special pastry.

 

“What happened is that, by force of habit, I accidentally drove by the bakery this morning, and there in the window was a display of these wonderful eclairs. I felt that it was no accident that I happened to pass by the bakery and so I prayed.

 

“’Lord, if you really want me to have one of those delicious eclairs, let me find a parking space right in front of the bakery.’ And sure enough, there it was – on my ninth time around the block.”

 

Temptations and Helps 

 

Our friend was dealing with a very human temptation to break his diet. In today’s gospel, Jesus is also dealing with some very real temptations. 

 

I suggest that Jesus’ three temptations are three fundamental ways that we might also be tempted. And I also suggest that the three traditional Lenten practices of fasting, charitable giving, and prayer help us to deal with these temptations. 

 

1.    Comforts

 

 First, Jesus is tempted to change stone into bread.

 

This temptation is really about finding our satisfaction in physical comforts. We all like comforts, but the issue is that we can be lured into living as if we can find lasting satisfaction in these things. 

 

Jesus resists this temptation and his lesson is that only God can satisfy our deepest hunger. The Lenten practice of fasting helps us with this.

 

The fasting that we Catholics are asked to do as a community is very minimal: limiting our food on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, and not eating meat on Ash Wednesday and the Fridays of Lent. These practices and any others that we may choose can be very positive.

 

Fasting reminds us even physically that we will find lasting satisfaction only in our relationship with the Lord Jesus. 

 

2. Ego 

 

Jesus is tempted to seek control over the entire world.

 

This temptation is really about letting our ego needs dominate what we do. This can take the form of making ourselves the center of every conversation or pretending we know things we don’t know. 

 

Jesus also resists this temptation and his lesson is that we are not to make ourselves the center of the universe. The Lenten practice of charitable giving helps us with this.

 

It leads us to look beyond our own egos to the needs of others. It moves us to do something for the well-being of someone else.

 

It helps us to keep ourselves in the proper perspective in life.  

 

3. Miracles 

 

Finally, Jesus is tempted to jump off of the roof of the temple to prove that he is the Son of God.

 

This temptation is really about always expecting the miraculous from God. Now sometimes we may legitimately ask for the miraculous, as when we are seriously sick, but sometimes we seek the miraculous and ignore the ordinary ways that God is already helping us, as with available medications and treatments. 

 

Jesus also resists this temptation and his lesson is that we need to trust that God is with us in the down and challenging moments of life. The Lenten practice of prayer helps us with this.

 

Our prayer can be reflecting on a passage in the gospel, speaking to God in our own words, praying the rosary, or whatever is good for us. Prayer helps us to rest in the presence of God.

 

It helps us to trust that God will see us through the tough times even without some miraculous intervention.  

 

Conclusion

 

So, this First Sunday of Lent presents us with some of the ways we might slip away from God and some of the practices that can help us to deal with these temptations. 

 

 

Fr. Michael Schleupner

Sunday Inbox Inspiration: February 20, 2021: 7th Sunday Ordinary Time, February 20, Cycle C

 Sunday Inbox Inspirations

7th Sunday in Ordinary Time 

Cycle C

February 20, 2022

 

Quite a Gospel 

 

Well, that is quite a gospel passage.

 

It is loaded with challenging statements, like loving your enemies. One author recommends that we just pray for whomever we classify as an enemy – someone who is against us or dislikes us or tries to make us look bad.

 

Don’t pray for anything specific. Just ask God to touch their heart in the way that God wants.

 

And then Jesus says to stop judging. Another tough one.

 

Maybe we all have some opinions about some people. But at least try to stop acting out of negative perspectives of others.

 

And, of course, forgive. We’ve heard that before. 

 

We pray about this every time we offer the Lord’s Prayer. Again, not easy, and maybe very complicated, but Jesus still calls us to work at it.   

 

“Be Merciful”

 

I think it all boils down to one sentence in this long passage.

 

“Be merciful, as your Father is merciful.” So, we are to be merciful not because of what others may or may not deserve.

 

We are to be merciful because of God, because that is what God is like. Pope Francis says that there two dimensions to mercy: forgiving and giving.

 

The forgiving dimension applies to Jesus’ statements about loving enemies and not judging and, of course, forgiving. The giving dimension of mercy applies to what Jesus says at the end of this passage. 

 

“Give, and gifts will be given to you.” “Give, and gifts will be given to you.” 

 

Annual Appeal 

 

Those words are a good segue into what I want to say today about the Annual Appeal for Catholic Ministries.

 

My bulletin column this weekend gives some helpful information about this, and I am not going to repeat all of that here. I do hope you will read the column.

 

As usual, it is excellent! May God be merciful to me for my pride!

 

This Appeal supports ministries that individual parishes alone cannot do. But, all of us together, all 140 parishes as an Archdiocesan Church, we can provide these needed services.

 

Here are a few examples: 

The O’Dwyer Retreat House in Sparks where thousands of our youth can make a Confirmation or high school retreat each year;

Chaplaincy ministry in many of our hospitals, including Hopkins and GBMC;

Campus ministry at some of our universities, such as Towson;

Catholic Charities as the largest private social service provider in the state of Maryland with 80 programs, services, and locations, like Our Daily Bread;

Ministries to Blacks and Hispanics;

Tuition assistance for 350 families who otherwise would be unable to send their children to a Catholic school.

And the list goes on. 

 

Our Goal 

 

This year, the total Archdiocesan goal for the Appeal is $8 million – the same as last year.

 

Our Lady of Grace’s goal as part of this is $50,800 – about $100 less than last year. Last year, even during the pandemic, our parish gave over $47,000, just shy of the goal. 

 

That was great, and this year I think we can meet or even exceed our goal. Some of you have already contributed to this year’s Appeal.

 

 On behalf of the Archbishop, I thank you for that. And I encourage all of us to consider making a gift. 

 

By the way, I should add that part of what we give comes back to Our Lady of Grace for our own ministry or charitable causes. In brief, we receive back 10% of every dollar donated up to our goal, 40% of every dollar over the goal. 

 

My bulletin columns this week and next week give more detail about all of this. Next weekend there will be an opportunity for giving when you come to Mass. 

 

Conclusion

 

Okay, I want to conclude with a brief story.

 

One day a group of retired business executives were meeting. Each of them was invited to give a two-minute talk after dinner about their retirement. 

 

The toastmaster was instructed to rap the gavel when the two minutes were up. Well, the first speaker was still going strong at the end of the two minutes.

 

However, the toastmaster just couldn’t bring himself to rap the gavel. On and on the speaker droned until the other guests started murmuring.

 

Finally, the elderly toastmaster gave in. He wound up and brought the gavel down full force, but he accidentally hit the head of the man sitting next to him. 

 

As that man was sinking down under the table, he was heard to say, “Hit me again – I can still hear him.”  I don’t want you to be tempted to say tat about me. 

 

So, I will stop here. Thank you very much and may God bless us as a parish and as an Archdiocesan Church.  

 

 

Fr. Michael Schleupner