Father’s Day
A very Happy Father’s Day to all of the men in our lives and our community who carry out two images of God from Scripture, Father and Abba. Jesus repeatedly addresses God as Father and in teaching us to pray he begins with the word OUR. Our Father who art in heaven… In the Aramaic language, that Jesus spoke this is a more inclusive, even communal, title for earthly fathers and for the first person of the Trinity. Abba is a more personal, intimate title similar to the word Dad in English.
However we address our earthly fathers, let us acknowledge them this Father’s Day with gratitude and respect. Thanks to all of our dads this weekend, living and deceased!
Ordinary Time
This year we marked a ten-week period of Ordinary Time following the Christmas Season. We now resume with the eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time following Lent, the Triduum, the Easter Season and four major feast days; the Ascension, Pentecost, the Trinity and the Body and Blood of Christ. Every year this halting and resumption of Ordinary Time is different simply because the date of Easter varies each year.
As we reenter Ordinary Time, our first reading from Exodus this weekend reminds us of the way that God chose Moses to be a broker between Him and the people. God, through Moses, reminds the people of His fidelity to them during their sojourn through the desert. He also reiterates the importance of the Covenant that they share – God with the people, and the people with God. There is such a powerful message for us through God’s words to them – keeping the Covenant leads to holiness.
Paul’s letter to the Romans reminds us that through Jesus Christ, “…we have now received reconciliation.” (Romans 5:11)
In this week’s Gospel from Matthew, we hear a rather urgent statement from Jesus to the Apostles, and to us. He tells us that there is a lot of work to accomplish in bringing forth the Kingdom of God. In the statement, “The harvest is plenty, laborers are few.” He goes on to say that we must, “…ask the master of the harvest (God) to send out laborers (us) for his harvest (the Kingdom).
Another way of saying this is that discipleship, ministry, service, compassion, reconciliation, fidelity to God’s covenant and being a Christian all take work.
As I have written about and reflected on work, I, and perhaps you as well, have seen the many negative connotations of the word work. Labor is among the top negative synonyms for work and the use of it as a plural noun in the above passages by Jesus infers that doing all of the things that make up the essence of a Christian are often work – labor.
However, just like so many other situations and work experiences in our life, the LABOR of Christianity can result in such meaningful impact on the world.
The OUR Father, Father’s Day, and the Gospel passage from Matthew all remind us that so much of the work of our faith can and should be done in community. God is OURs. WE are LABORERS. Let us continue to work together to build the Kingdom.
Podcast
I mentioned a month or so ago that I am starting a podcast with the help of Michael Patti, our Director of Digital Marketing. It will be titled Word and World and include reflections on all four of the scriptures used at each weekend Mass: the first reading and Psalm response from the Old Testament, an Epistle (letter with a spiritual theme) and Gospel from the New Testament. I will use my retreat time to further reflect and clarify the Podcast. Please look for it beginning in mid to late August.
Retreat
I continue to ask for your prayers as I leave for my 30-Day Silent Directed Retreat, The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius Loyola. I will be at the Jesuit Retreat House in Sedalia, Colorado leaving Friday, June 23 and returning around August 1. Please know that I will be praying for each one of you as well.