Sunday Inbox Inspiration: June 26, 2022: 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time, June 26, Cycle C

 Sunday Inbox Inspirations

13^th Sunday in Ordinary Time – C  

June 26, 2022

 

A Journey

 

In the gospel passage that I just read, Saint Luke uses the word “journey” four times. 

 

Luke apparently is trying to make a point. He sees Jesus’ entire ministry as a journey to Jerusalem. 

 

For Jesus, this was both a geographical and a spiritual journey. Jesus was literally traveling from Galilee in the north to Jerusalem in the south – a trip of about ninety-two miles and he was probably walking. 

 

But Jesus was also on a spiritual journey, a mission for us. Saint Luke wants us to know that Jesus’ journey is symbolic of a spiritual journey that each one of us is on.  

 

Each day is another step in our journey with Jesus. It is a journey with new opportunities and new challenges always coming up.  

 

Seeing my life as a journey helps me to see myself as on the way, not yet there, in other words, as human, imperfect, in need of growth. So, the theme of journey is significant. 

 

Virtues for the Journey

 

Now, in today’s gospel, we see some of the traits that Jesus calls us to have for the journey of life.

 

These traits emerge in Jesus’ response to some people who want to follow him. We need to understand Jesus’ responses carefully because they may seem kind of blunt and callous. 

 

1. Go Beyond Comfort Zone

 

One person says, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus responds, “Foxes and birds have places to stay, but I do not.”

 

Jesus is saying that sometimes following him won’t be very comfortable. Sometimes we will have to push ourselves and go beyond our comfort zone.  

 

So, maybe we’ll have to swallow our pride, admit a mistake, and ask for forgiveness. Or maybe we’ll have to open our minds and be willing to think differently about something.

 

The point: if we are going to journey with Jesus, sometimes we’ll have to go beyond our comfort zone.

 

2. Do Good Now

 

Then, someone says that he’ll follow Jesus, but first he wants to go and bury his father. Jesus bluntly says, “Let the dead bury their dead.”

 

Scripture scholars tell us that from the original wording here, this man’s father was not dead and was not even dying. Instead, this man’s words were an expression of the day, and he was just saying that he’d follow Jesus but not now, sometime later on. 

 

Jesus’ response is that if we are drawn to do something good, do it now and don’t put it off. So, if we feel drawn to send a note expressing our appreciation or love to our parents or children or wife or husband, just do it.

 

The point: if we are going to journey with Jesus, do right now the good things that we feel drawn to do.

 

3. Look Ahead

 

Then someone else says that he’ll follow Jesus, but he first wants to say good-bye to his family. Here Jesus says that if you’re plowing a field and look back over your shoulder, that’s no good.

 

Jesus is using a farming image. His idea is that if you are planting rows of corn, the rows won’t be straight if you’re looking over your shoulder and behind yourself. 

 

Jesus doesn’t want us to get stuck in the past but live in the present and for the future. So, don’t be bogged down in past hurts or in past mistakes or in regrets about the past.

 

The point: if we are going to journey with Jesus, look ahead and make the most of today’s opportunities.

  

Conclusion

 

So, three lessons or points for doing our journey of life with Jesus: 

1) Go beyond our comfort zone. 

2) Do good now. 

3) Look ahead.

 

Try to remember them – maybe I’ll ask you on your way out of church: 

1) Go beyond our comfort zone. 

2) Do good now. 

3) Look ahead.

 

 

Fr. Michael Schleupner

Inbox Inspiration: June 22, 2022: Juneteenth

 Juneteenth       

 

Dear Friends,

Until a year or so ago, I was unaware of Juneteenth or its significance. So, I needed to learn something about this and what I have learned has helped me. 

 

On June 19, 1865, Major General Gordon Granger of the Union Army arrived in Galveston, Texas and issued an order to free the last enslaved people on United States’ soil. President Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. That proclamation freed all slaves and was intended to end the institution of slavery in our country. However, two factors delayed the effect of this. First, communications were not instant as they are today. And second, some slaveowners resisted and were unwilling to free their slaves. So, it was not until June 19, 1865, a year and a half after the Emancipation Proclamation, that all enslaved African Americans were freed. This is why June 19 is called Juneteenth or Emancipation Day or Freedom Day. 

The first Juneteenth was observed in 1866. What is called the “Modern Juneteenth Movement” began in 1994 when a group of national leaders met in New Orleans to promote the recognition of this date. One year ago, this date was made a federal holiday. By the way, the word or name Juneteenth refers to the date of the holiday, June 19^th, and is a combining or conflation of the words June and nineteenth.

 

Why is this day and commemoration important? Why do I write about it here? Several reasons.

·      It reminds us of a blight in our American history. The enslavement of anyone, in this case, of African or black people for the development of this country or for any purpose, is a serious injustice. We need to remember that. If we don’t recall the mistakes of history, we might repeat them. 

·      Remembering this date has led me to be aware of the trauma inflicted on the African or African American people. To be treated as chattel, as property, to be abused, degraded, and even brutalized as a people has had dramatic effects on the self-identity, family structure, and culture of African Americans. This trauma, professionals advise, takes centuries – centuries – to come to full healing. 

·      I see myself as a white person not as being burdened by guilt, but as being responsible. I feel responsible to do what I can to assist today in the righting of the injustice that was inflicted. 

 

Father Michael Schleupner

Sunday Inbox Inspiration: June 12, 2022: Trinity Sunday, June 12, Cycle C

 Sunday Inbox Inspirations

Trinity Sunday – C  

June 12, 2022

 

In the Image of God

 

This afternoon/this morning, I want to do something a bit different.

 

As we know, today we honor the Holy Trinity. For me and for all of us, the Trinity is a mystery of faith.

 

We accept God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but we are not able to understand this fully. So, I am not going to try to give some abstract theological teaching about the Trinity. 

 

I am sure that my effort would be very lacking. Instead, I want to focus on us and our life experience.

 

Here is what I have in mind. The Book of Genesis says that we are made in the image and likeness of God.

 

Just think about that. If we are made in the image and likeness of God, then there must be signs or traces of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit right within us and in our experience of living. 

 

The Father

 

For starters, let’s be aware of our desire to give life.

 

For many of us, this desire gets fulfilled by bringing a child into the world. Or, as in my own case, we have this desire fulfilled by instilling the life of faith in others or by assisting others in living a full, happy or healthy life.

 

Also, think of the pleasure we have this time of year in bringing life from the earth by growing tomato plants or flowers. Think of the satisfaction we receive in being a shoulder for someone to cry on and eventually come out of grief or depression and back to fuller life.

 

So, let’s be aware of experiences like these. They are signs of the presence of God, the creator of life, God the Father.   

 

The Son

 

And then, let’s be aware of our thirst to restore.

 

There is something within you that wants to restore your marriage to the love it once had. There is something within us that wants to restore a friendship that has grown distant.

 

Also, if we are honest with ourselves, look at our need to forgive and our restlessness when we do not forgive. Or look at our lack of peace when we have not asked for forgiveness, even though we know that we should.

 

So, let’s also be aware of experiences like these. They are signs of the presence of God, the savior and reconciler, God the Son.

 

The Holy Spirit

 

And last, let’s be aware of our passion for certain things.

 

Look at your passionate care to protect and do whatever you can for your children. Or look at our deep desire to do something, anything to stop the violence in our country. 

 

Also, notice how fervent we can be about our faith as the glue that holds it all together. Or notice whatever it is that we will skip a meal for or even die for, like holding on to our job or being there for an aging parent. 

 

So, let’s also be aware of experiences like these. These are signs of the presence of God, the spiritual energy, the Holy Spirit.

 

Conclusion

 

What I am saying boils down to this:

 

Let’s remember the basic revelation in the Bible about being made in God’s image and likeness. And with that, we can see that at least some of our human experiences confirm or even lead us to our belief in the Trinity – in God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  

 

 

Fr. Michael Schleupner

Sunday Inbox Inspiration: June 5, 2022: Feast of Pentecost, June 5, Cycle C

 Feast of Pentecost – C 

June 5, 2022            12 Noon 

Saint Margaret Parish, Bel Air

 

Fifty Years 

 

Fifty years ago this past May 20^th, Cardinal Shehan, who was then the Archbishop of Baltimore, ordained me to the priesthood.

 

Those of you who have celebrated 50^th wedding anniversaries, or those of you who have returned to your high school or college to celebrate your 50^th year of graduation – you understand how significant these moments can be. I hope all of us can sense this in some way.

 

Given my anniversary, I have looked at today’s celebration of Pentecost with this question. How do I see God speaking to me as a priest here on Pentecost?

 

I am hoping that what I am seeing will also relate to your life and faith experience. To express what I think God is saying, I am recalling an old painting that I like very much.    

 

The Descent of the Holy Spirit

 

This painting is a fifteenth century Russian icon called The Descent of the Holy Spirit.

 

The original of this icon is in a cathedral in Russia. I wish I had a print copy for all of you, but I don’t and instead, I will try to describe it as best I can.

 

This painting – The Descent of the Holy Spirit – depicts the event of Pentecost as completely quiet and calm. It is a very different picture from the strong wind, the fiery tongues, and the fearful disciples that we hear about in today’s readings.

 

This icon portrays Mary and the apostles sitting in a semi-circle in complete serenity. Their eyes and hands convey an openness to receiving the Holy Spirit.

 

So, the icon is conveying that the coming of the Spirit is more of an inner event and not so much of an outer event. The idea is that through the sending of the Spirit, God becomes God-within-us, God-within-us. 

 

Also, the figures in the icon are not looking at or talking with one another. Instead, they are all listening intently to the God-within-them.

 

And each of the persons – Mary and the twelve apostles – each of them is portrayed differently. They have different complexions, different hair styles, different ways of sitting, and even clothes that are different in style and color.

 

And yet, despite all of these differences, the icon portrays complete harmony. The message is that God-within-us makes many individuals into a single, unified, though diverse community.  

 

The Holy Spirit and Oneness 

 

That is the great lesson from this fifteenth century Russian icon – The Descent of the Holy Spirit.

 

The presence of God-within is the common ground among us. And because of that, it makes us one.

 

And so, what we need to do is awaken our awareness of the Spirit’s presence. This awareness leads us to realize God’s presence as our common grounding with all people – with all people.

 

Communion and Community

 

The well-known Trappist monk and spiritual writer Thomas Merton has a brief but excellent insight on this point.  

 

Thomas Merton writes this and I quote: “The deepest level of communication is not communication, but communion. It is wordless.

 

“It is beyond words, it is beyond speech, and it is beyond concept. Not that we discover a new unity – we discover an older unity.

 

“My dear Brothers and Sisters, we are already one. But we imagine that we are not.

 

“And what we have to recover is our original unity. What we have to be is what we are.”

 

Don’t Make Differences into Obstacles 

 

Merton’s thoughts are simple and yet quite profound.

 

Unlike the apostles in the icon, we sometimes make the differences between us into obstacles to communion or community. I am thinking of obvious differences like: 

Ø Black, white, brown, and yellow skin,

Ø Male and female genders,

Ø Christians and Jews and Muslims, 

Ø Catholics and those who are not, 

Ø American citizens and immigrants who want to be citizens,

Ø Political liberals and conservatives, 

Ø Catholic progressives and traditionalists. 

And I am sure we could list more differences between others and ourselves. 

 

We so often allow these differences to obscure the communion and community that is already here. As Thomas Merton writes, “We are already one.

 

“What we have to recover is our original unity. What we have to be is what we are.”

 

Conclusion

 

I see this as one of and maybe the number one message to me as a priest at this time.

 

My role as a priest is to point out and lift up the oneness we all have with one another. And by the word “we” I mean we and all human beings – because we are all sons and daughters of God from the first moment of creation. 

 

I see my role as promoting this oneness and doing whatever possible to remove the obstacles to it. I believe that this needs to be a primary, front-burner work of a priest and of the Church in this twenty-first century.

 

Seeing and accepting this mission from God can, I am convinced, be a way for our Church to come to a new flourishing. It will also be a way for us to make a needed and special contribution to our world at this time. 

 

It is to this that I as a priest commit myself, God willing, in the years that lie ahead. 

 

Conclusion 2

 

And now, I think I had better stop or else we might have a repeat of an anecdote that I remember and maybe you have heard. 

 

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 that about me. 

 

So, I will stop here. Thank you and God bless us all of you!