These reflections are a result of more than 40 years of ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. Most of these years I spent in the Diocese of Charlotte which covers Western North Carolina. Now I am retired, and live in Medellín, Colombia where I continue to serve as a priest in the Archdiocese of Medellín.
But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness, for that day to overtake you like a thief. For all of you are children of the light and children of the day. We are not of the night or of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as the rest do, but let us stay alert and sober. (1 Thes 5:1-6, 9-11)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/090225.cfm
Lots of people think the world is going to hell in a hand basket. Well, perhaps it is. The world has been a regular mess for at least the last 10,000 years. But Saint Paul has some pretty encouraging words for all of us: Get over it! As the Apostle gently reminds us: You are children of the light and children of the day. Don’t sleep on the job, we have work to do, telling the Good News of God’s unconditional love for us in Christ Jesus and loving one another as Jesus taught us.
When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury. They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong. But he passed through the midst of them and went away. (Lk 4:16-30)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/090125.cfm
Today we begin the continuous reading of the public ministry of Jesus in the Lucan gospel. The hometown crowd want to kill Jesus for preaching about God intervening on behalf of “foreigners.” This scene is repeated in many parishes whenever the priest preaches about justice for immigrants or other marginalized groups. As the Scripture tells us about little Nazareth: Jesus passed through the midst of them and went away. Sadly, people never seem to learn how politicians love to demonize marginalized groups in order to maintain their own power and control.
Then Jesus said to the host who invited him, "When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous." (Lk 14:1, 7-14)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/083125.cfm
I remember a couple from one of my parishes who always invited those who had no one with whom to share the holidays: Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and the Fourth of July. Sometimes there would be 14-20 of us gathered in their home. Perhaps that’s what the Lord had in mind for the Eucharist as well! Maybe we need to reach out to those who are NOT at the Lord’s Table, especially those no one else would invite.
Brothers and sisters: On the subject of fraternal charity you have no need for anyone to write you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another. Indeed, you do this for all the brothers throughout Macedonia. Nevertheless we urge you, brothers and sisters, to progress even more, and to aspire to live a tranquil life, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your own hands, as we instructed you. (1 Thes 4:9-11)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/083025.cfm
We live in a time where fraternal charity doesn’t exist. Paul’s advice to “mind your own affairs” is rarely heeded. The Virgin Mary reminds us to love one another even as we have been loved in Christ. https://youtu.be/MsjBwfN5zDQ?si=BmZkXX65Ov5LvHOz
Herodias’ own daughter came in and performed a dance that delighted Herod and his guests. The king said to the girl, “Ask of me whatever you wish and I will grant it to you.” She went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?” She replied, “The head of John the Baptist.” The girl hurried back to the king’s presence and made her request, “I want you to give me at once on a platter the head of John the Baptist.” (Mk 6:17-29)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/082925.cfm
The Passion of John the Baptist foreshadows the Passion of Jesus. Even in his death, John the Baptist points to Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. https://youtu.be/NEtwggOmvdA?si=0Tgo4iRIPMGQaJ4d
