Friday, Seventh Week, Ordinary Time

First Reading

A kind mouth multiplies friends and appeases enemies,

and gracious lips prompt friendly greetings.

Let your acquaintances be many,

but one in a thousand your confidant.

When you gain a friend, first test him,

and be not too ready to trust him.

For one sort is a friend when it suits him,

but he will not be with you in time of distress.

Another is a friend who becomes an enemy,

and tells of the quarrel to your shame.

Another is a friend, a boon companion,

who will not be with you when sorrow comes.

When things go well, he is your other self,

and lords it over your servants;

But if you are brought low, he turns against you

and avoids meeting you.

Keep away from your enemies;

be on your guard with your friends.

A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter;

he who finds one finds a treasure.

A faithful friend is beyond price,

no sum can balance his worth.

A faithful friend is a life-saving remedy,

such as he who fears God finds;

For he who fears God behaves accordingly,

and his friend will be like himself.

Sirach 6:5-17

Surely today's first reading contains true wisdom.  Ben Sirach has done the world a great favor but, if many were asked what Ben has done for humanity, few would recall or even say they knew about his advice for each child of God.

What is friendship?  Interesting question is today's world.  Perhaps something most human beings take for granted.  What is it that allows some women and men to form significant friendships?  On one person's spiritual journey, why should it matter how many friends he/she has?

Ben Sirach was gifted with the graces of the Holy Spirit, seemingly an abundance of wisdom. Why?  He seemed to know how to describe what true friendship is.  Likewise he seems to have known other kind of friendships as well:  those friendships that were not founded on true wisdom.

Today's reading is one that might well be copied and read often.  A colleague  in a previous assignment told me how much wisdom she gathered from the Bible which she wrote out by hand over a two year period.  These words in the first reading today might well be a writing exercise of us today especially in light of the "abundance" of social communications that take up so much of many peoples' lives.

The challenge I put before you today is for you to take some time during the summer holidays which we traditional "kick off" on this Memorial Day weekend.

Are you a parent, a grandparent, an uncle or aunt or already a true friend to a young woman or man who will be receiving a diploma during the next few weeks?  Are you looking for a unique gift for that grad?  Consider writing out these words of wise man Ben and frame them.  Could there be a more meaningful gift?  Once the money gift is spent, it is forgotten.  But these words on friendship, framed and presented, can become a beacon that transforms a young life; a protection for someone stepping out into the world on his/her own; a constant reminder to the grad of your genuine care.  You have given the gift that save countless hours of confusion, loss and pain by giving the keys to one of God's greatest gifts to each of us:  the ability to find a true friend!

Wednesday, 7th Week of Ordinary Time

Readings

(Especially the first reading)

Today consider Ben Sirach's words and insights aboutd the treasure house of wisdom and her many giftds tous.  Verses 11-19, I believe, can open up for each person directions to a happy and peace-filled life.  Here are a few insights that I suggest you ponder.

Those who love her (wisdom) love life;

Those who seek her out win the Lord's favor.

Sirach 4:12

Come Holy Spirit, open you gift of wisdom for me!

"If they remain faithful, they will possess me;

their descendants too will inherit me."

Sirach 4:16

Come, Holy Spirit my ability to live out my resolutions.

"I will walk with them in disguise, and at first I will

test them with trails."

Sirach 4:17

Come, Holy Spirit, impart your gift of understanding, 

that I might know when, where and how you seek to lead me

 and give to me your gift of fortitude 

that I may be strong in facing the trials that I confront each day.

And may the Holy Spirit come to the aid 

of the people of Oklahoma

in their days of trial

and pain.

Happy 25th Anniversary

My Pastor

Fr. Jeff Defayette

the first Associate Pastor

assigned to work with me 

while I was a Pastor

todaycelebrates 

the 25th Anniversary 

of his priestly ordination

Tuesday, May 21, 2013.

Congratulations!

Our best wishes 

to you and your Mom, Jane,

for whom 

this is so special a day

in each of your lives.

Continue to bring yourself

to the God

who extended the invitation to you

to share in the priesthood gift

of Jesus Christ.

Ad Multos Annos

[The Daily Reflection is separately posted below.]

Tuesday, 7th Week of Ordinary Time

Readings

"Wait on God with patience, cling to him, forsake him not.

Thus will you be wise in all your ways."

Sirach 2:4

Trust God and God will help you;

trust in him, and he will direct your way; ...

Sirach 2:6

... and he is a protector to all who seek him in truth.

Sirach 2:11

Read these verses without speed reading ... and with more than simply glancing.  Buried in these words and thoughts of Ben Sirach is a genuine invitation to most Americans today ... the invitation to get off the American roller coaster and opt for a bench before a flower garden.

We know that we are not a patient people.  Personally, I blame the computer for my own inability to pause and let God speak to me in ways that challenge my patience.  Are you a patient person?  The wonder machines of today's technology have infected most lives and prevent patience from become and remaining a principle operative in life.

As summer begins, let the days and weeks ahead be marked by an effort to make patience a part of life. Why?  Simply because ... because ... because in is one of the keys to genuine wisdom.  Remember wisdom?  A gift of the Holy Spirit.

Ben Sirach was a man of peaceful wisdom.  Although life will always be an experience with its trials, nevertheless, we should not distance ourselves from God.  Life in the God-lane --- very different from the fast lane the millenials and ourselves will always require perseverance, loyalty and patience.

Our sage, Ben, says three times "Fear the Lord."  He is not asking us to be afraid.  Far from that, he invites us, he encourages us to surrender ourselves to God with genuine fealty.  Do that, he would say, and you will never experience an absence of God's presence in your life.

Monday, 7th Week of Ordinary Time

Today's Readings

Today we return to Ordinary Time.  Perhaps our last day in Ordinary time may seem to have been months, months ago..  That may give us some inkling how swiftly time flashes by when we are busy or have been occupied in our work ... and hopefully in our prayer.

"To grow in Christ is to grow in wisdom" is a remark that most would accept.  This particularly true on the day after Pentecost Sunday.  What lies between today and the beginning of the next major Church season of Advent is the green fields of Ordinary Time.

These months are a time for us to decide how much wisdom we recognize as needy in each of our lives.  The summer will pass swiftly.  Begin now to look at what might be good for us to embark upon during these days ahead.  How will I seek to strengthen the wisdom God has already given?

Now is the time to consider some spiritual reading for the summer.  Perhaps we might even embark upon a time to engage in some serious daily readings of the writings in the Bible.  If we seriously take time to grow in Christ, our friend, our Lord, as we did during the Lenten season, we will naturally grow in wisdom.  To do this demands that we plan our strategy through prayer.  Again the more we engage Jesus in prayer, the stronger does our ability to grow in wisdom happen.

All wisdom comes from the LORD
and with him it remains forever, and is before all time
The sand of the seashore, the drops of rain,
the days of eternity: who can number these?
Heaven’s height, earth’s breadth,
the depths of the abyss: who can explore these?
Before all things else wisdom was created;
and prudent understanding, from eternity.
The word of God on high is the fountain of wisdom
and her ways are everlasting.
To whom has wisdom’s root been revealed?
Who knows her subtleties?
To whom has the discipline of wisdom been revealed?
And who has understood the multiplicity of her ways ?
There is but one, wise and truly awe-inspiring,
seated upon his throne:
There is but one, Most High 
all-powerful creator-king and truly awe-inspiring one,
seated upon his throne and he is the God of dominion.
It is the LORD; he created her through the Holy Spirit,
has seen her and taken note of her.
He has poured her forth upon all his works,
upon every living thing according to his bounty;
he has lavished her upon his friends.

Pentecost Sunday 2013

Today's Readings

Today, is a special day in my life.  On my ordination day, June 3rd, in 1972, I celebrated my first Mass.  In that year it was the feast of Pentecost.  Consequently Pentecost has had a significance for me throughout the 41 years I have celebrated Mass on this feast day.

Today, in 2013, let me ask myself as well as yourselves, if this feast day has significance and what would it be.  My thoughts a filled with wonder.   I wonder what might happen if on this feast day the Holy Spirit were to come down upon all of us with all of God’s power?  Have you ever given this notion time for wonder-thinking?

Recall this:  the Jewish people had come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Jewish feast of Shavuot.  It is the feast that commemorates and “celebrates the revelation of the Five Books of the Torah (or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible) by God to Moses and the Israelites at Mount Sinai.” (Wikipedia)

While in Jerusalem, the disciples gathered alone, in private, still in fear of Jewish soldiers being ordered to jail them for interrogation, like Jesus endured.    It while they were sequestered from the crowd, the Holy Spirit came to bring about an incredible reality.  We live in the consequences of that moment even today.  For those devout followers of Jesus this became for them a day of transformation.  No longer were they simply a band of Jesus-followers.  In this event these believers became the Church of Jesus Christ, the risen Son of the Father.

For you and me it is an event or moment that is ratified by our Confirmation, when we fully embrace the Catholic Church.  It is the day when we move into a new way of life and being ... if we allow the Spirit to enter our lives.  It is the day when the Church came to life for the apostles and humanity.  Today celebrate this moment by a genuine conversation with God.  Let the readings for today give you material to strengthen your conversation with the Holy Spirit.

Recall the gifts you may have received during the days of the just concluded Novena to the Holy Spirit.

NOVENA TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

Pentecost Novena: May 10 to May 18, 2013

The link just above will afford us both a reflection

and novena prayers for the

Novena to the Holy Spirit.

I encourage you to join with me in

embarking on and continuing to the end

this novena to the Holy Spirit.

May your intention during this novena

be brought to fulfilment in your life 

in the near future.  Regular postings 

on Prayer on the Hill

will resume on Pentecost Sunday.