My apologies for the belatedness of this and this coming Sunday’s posts. I am one of the election workers in our jurisdiction (officially, “election inspector” and sometime precinct co-chair). Terrific but ’tis a commitment. 🙂
Our readings for Sunday are here.
These are the poems, my notes, and interpretations of Fr Dennis’ homilies from the Masses of
- October 22, 2017 10AM (I am sorting this out … it might be off a week.)
- October 26, 2014 Noon & 9PM Masses
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The poems Fr Dennis references these years are:
- Room Service English Muffins by Kim Dower (22 Oct 2017)
- How the Trees on Summer Nights Turn into a Dark River by Barbara Crooker (26 Oct 2014)
- Choices by Tess Gallagher (26 Oct 2014)
In 2014, we reflected on —
This year, the verse “my ways are not your ways” comment of God has been with D2 all this month (the line from the 26th Sunday, 28 Sept 2014).
We are all created in God’s image but sometimes …
… as in Exodus, God seems to be saying, you need to treat people right, or I’m going to make their situation be your situation, e.g., the lines concerning orphans, widows, cloaks, and so on.
So God will change all that, and it inspires us to be compassionate and giving like God … but we aren’t, and even when we are and can, our resources are often limited (not infinite, like God). And. Yet. Jesus in the gospel calls us to love with all our heart and say, “I’m all in!”
God is so compassionate it almost gets the best of God. 🙂
We gather together, with and in our respective failings, to celebrate our thanksgiving, our Eucharist, in the Mass.
The Crooker poem struck D2 as saying, in essence, the only meaning in and of our life is to give our whole life to love.
Gallagher’s poem, Choices, simply and with brevity shares this sort of Love, an arc-changing Love, the one that turns us over to each other.
This entry’s image is one of the now 30+ installations of Timothy Schmalz’ Homeless Jesus, available as a life-sized sculpture of a person wrapped in a blanket prone on a street or park bench. The only identifying indicators of the figure are the crucifixion wounds in the bare feet. A good article from 2015 in America Magazine / Media by the pastor, Fr Tim McCabe, SJ, is honest and reflects the response of many of us, and hopefully also the grace of God we may move toward in owning our very human reaction.
The artist, Timothy Schmalz, details the symbolism of the work on this page from his website.
Being in Love, like God is in Love with us, is an aspiration and hope on our part. One that we are rarely ready or looking for, but are given the Grace, if we accept it, to make a step into such Love.
