What Are You Discussing?
We are hearing much of the Gospel of Luke this year during Mass. The author tells us a unique story that is not found in the other Gospels, a story of Jesus joining two disciples as they walk AWAY from Jerusalem on the very day he rose from the dead. This is significant because the entire Gospel is written as a journey TOWARDS Jerusalem.
The disciples do not recognize Jesus as their hopes have been dashed because of his death, and because of their grief. They do not recognize him, nor do they believe he has risen from the dead.
As Jesus approaches them he asks, “What are you discussing as you go your way?” This gives them an opportunity to tell them what they know about HIM, Jesus of Nazareth.
What are you discussing these days about The Lord?
This passage (Luke 24:13-35) is a guide for our Be More Movement of Growth. Please spend some time reading and re-reading it, praying with it and reflecting on it. These past two weekends we have gotten a good dose of the strong social justice message from Luke. Last week the challenge included seeing blessedness in our poverty and a warning in our wealth, and perhaps, most importantly, what lasts, what endures, what is REALLY important in life.
This week we hear Jesus telling us to love our neighbors and reminds us that anyone can love a friend or someone who does good to us.
These messages may make us uncomfortable. I believe that was the point that Jesus was trying to convey. Counterculture messages such as give someone who asks of you even more than what they ask, and there is blessedness in sadness hopefully stir us and make us think and not simply reinforce things that we want to hear.
The portrait of Jesus that the Gospel of Luke paints is one that stirs us if we really listen to it. How does that affect what we are discussing these days?
One of the many reasons that the Emmaus story will guide us is that Jesus’ discussion with the two who had lost hope leads them to invite him to sit down with them and break bread. When Jesus breaks the bread with them, they recognize him. The Eucharistic meal reveals his true presence and causes them to come in touch with how their hearts burned in the earlier discussion. Our strong hope is that our hearts will burn in a similar manner as we discuss the important things of our faith in the Conversations in the Spirit, and that we will recognize Him more fully each time we break the bread and discuss the word at Mass and beyond.
The result of this burning heart and Eucharistic recognition inspires them to go back to Jerusalem. In other words, it turns them completely around and puts them on a new mission to rejoin those they had left.
Be prepared to be turned around by Luke’s Gospel.
Remain in Me Cancellations
Inclement weather canceled our last two sessions of Remain in Me, the most recent offering for our Eucharistic Renewal initiative. The last two topics are From the Sacrifice of Jesus to Our Sacrificial Living and the final session is The Eucharist as the Sacrament of The Lord’s Abiding Presence. We are considering various options for presenting these two topics in the future. Please stand by for further information.
This Year’s Version of Our Annual Parish Mission
Last TUESDAY February 18, our beloved Friar Johnpaul Cafiero gave us a very fruitful image of Franciscan spirituality and those of us in attendance participated in a cultivation and fertilization ritual connected with Evangelization from a Franciscan perspective. The Limelight Hydrangea tree will be prominent in our Narthex as we focus on our Lenten theme of Grow. This coming TUESDAY, February 25 at 7:00pm, Fr. Michael Sparough S.J. will enlighten us with a Jesuit perspective on Evangelization. He will use wheat seeds and the Emmaus story to offer a Jesuit insight on evangelization. These sessions will support the overall goal of our Be More Movement of Growth to GROW Holy Family numerically and spiritually.
Shout Out
Thank you to our Holy Family Catholic Academy students for donating 350 boxes of cereal to the Faith Feeds Food Pantry. This food pantry is a part of the Partners in our Communities Social Service Agency that we will support for this year’s Lenten Social Justice Project.