Vigilance

 

The Spiritual Waiting Room

Vigilance

Watchfulness   Attentiveness

Stay   Spiritually   Awake

Know Not The Day Or The Hour

Readiness

(Photo and poem by Kathy McNamara)

Scripture:   Matthew 25: 13

Jesus told His disciples a parable about ten virgins: five were wise and took plenty of oil for their lamps but the other five were foolish and did not have enough oil. The five without enough oil did not get into the wedding feast as they were too late since they had to leave to buy oil. The other five had no problem.

Jesus ended His parable with these words:

"Therefore, remain awake, for you do not know the day or the hour."

Reflection

Nobody like to wait. We live in a society that wants everything to happen very quickly. Vigilance is low on our list of things to do and attitudes to have.

Of course we have the old saying "Good things happen to those who wait". However, many people would like to replace it with "Better things happen to those who don't have to wait!".

Speed is everything for us. We are thrilled that AI is going to help us get our daily tasks done so much faster. We can find out through our phones the quickest route to our destination. 

Patiently waiting for a person to mature is challenging for us. We want our children and our grandchildren to always do the right thing and make good decisions. The stupid things that some young people do because it has been posted online can drive us crazy.

Good things happen through our watchfulness. We can keenly observe a change in a child's behavior. We can notice when she or he seems discouraged or disappointed. We can be ready for an opportunity to help or to console.

Our attentiveness can bear much fruit. We can notice that there is a need in our community to bring joy to those who have suffered a loss. A simple phone call or a friendly visit can make a big difference.

We can practice the discipline of being spiritually awake to both our own needs and the needs of others. As we pray the Holy Spirit might gently whisper the name of a person into our hearts. Our reaching out to them in love can lessen the burden of pain in their lives.

Jesus tells us in our scripture from Matthew that we will not know the day nor the hour of the Lord's Coming. There are many people who like to speculate about the Second Coming. We can wind up wasting a lot of time and energy worrying about an exact time.

I remember teaching a religion class at Maria Regina High School one afternoon at 12 PM. There was a prediction that day which had gained some currency about the end of the world and the Second Coming.

At the beginning of the class some of the students were joking about it. Then suddenly it got very dark outside. I could immediately sense a change in mood among the students. There was relief at the end of the class: we all survived!

The advice from Jesus is simple: be ready! 

Our call is to live the Good News each day. If we are vigilant and watch for opportunities to share and live our faith, the Holy Spirit will provide many for us. Our patient waiting will bear much fruit.

Vigilance is not easy. We get tired and distracted. We want things to happen quickly. We love when things happen on OUR schedule. It is a big challenge to wait for God's schedule.

When we do wait and are ready, we are like those five virgins in the parable that Jesus shared. They went into the Feast because of their readiness. Their lights shone. 

They were ready for the Light.

That Light, the Light of Jesus who is the Light of the world, will always lead us and reward our vigilance.

Let us keep our eyes open.

Let us keep our hearts ready.

Jesus is with us!

1. How do you feel about waiting?

2. Is it a challenge for you to wait for those you know to mature?

3. What are some good things that have happened to you through your waiting and vigilance?

4. Have you noticed any needs that should be addressed in your community through your attentiveness?

5. What do you feel as you contemplate Kathy's photo?

(Scripture adaptation, reflection, and questions by John McNamara)

Peacemaker

 

The Spiritual Waiting Room

Peacemaker 

Child of God

Mend Brokenness Wholeness 

Persecuted for Sake Righteousness 

Beatitude

(Photo and poem by Kathy McNamara)

Scripture: Matthew 5:9

“Blessed are the peacemakers, they will be called the children of God.”

Reflection 

We live in a world that needs peacemakers. Jesus calls us to be peacemakers. It is quite a challenge!

Where do we start?

It is important to realize that we are all children of God. If I see each person in this way, my attitude immediately changes. The person or country that I am upset with and contending with has the same Father that I have.

We might come from different countries, the color of our skin might be different, our language might be different, and we might have a different faith but we are all part of the same family: the Family of God.

We are called to mend our feelings of being misunderstood and treated unjustly. We do that by patient listening to the concerns of others. We have to realize that we don’t always get it right. We have to acknowledge that our opponent might be right.

Those relationships sinking into brokenness can be repaired. We see that in so many bitter conflicts.

I was at a meeting a few years ago with two young adults in their twenties who grew up in an atmosphere of brokenness. One was an Israeli and the other a Palestinian.

They were taught to hate one another from their earliest years. Coming together in a college program that was aiming at healing brokenness, they actually started to listen to the concerns of each other.

In this process they came to accept one another and to see the validity in the viewpoint of the other. Eyes and hearts were opened. They moved from brokenness to wholeness. They became good friends and dedicated their time to going around the world to speak to diverse groups about how these broken relationships between Israelis and Palestinians could be made whole.

They were not naive. They knew that this would be very difficult. They knew that they would face opposition and even persecution.

However, they also knew that this was right. They were convinced that each one, although of a different faith, was a child of God and must be respected and valued. They were peacemakers.

The one quality that was clear to me as they shared was the spirit of genuine happiness and joy that radiated from them as they spoke. They were open to all questions and viewpoints. They were living beatitude.

They knew that God had blessed them with a special gift—-the gift of being able to listen to the heart of another person.

The gift of becoming a peacemaker.

It is a calling that is universal.

It is a calling that is needed today.

It is my calling and your calling from God!

1. How is God calling you to be a peacemaker?

2. Do you feel that every person you meet is a child of God?

3. What is the brokenness within you that needs to be mended so that you can become a peacemaker?

4. Are you willing to be persecuted for the sake of righteousness?

5. What do you see as you contemplate Kathy’s photo?

(Scripture adaptation, reflection, and questions by John McNamara)

Twofold

 

The Spiritual Waiting Room

Twofold

Greatest   Commandments

Heart   Soul   Mind

Love God Neighbor As Yourself

Wholeheartedly

(Photo and poem by Kathy McNamara)

Scripture:   Matthew 22: 34 to 40

One day when Jesus was teaching, one of the Pharisees who was a scholar of  the Law asked Jesus which Law He thought was the greatest.

Jesus gave him two:

"You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, soul, and mind."

and

"You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

Reflection

Is it complicated to be a follower of Jesus?

Do you have to study for a degree in Theology?

Do you have to memorize the Baltimore Catechism or the Catechism of the Catholic Church?

Do you have to know every verse in the Bible?

Jesus tells us in this passage from Matthew that the answer is simple and twofold. You just have to follow the greatest commandments.

So many people complicate religion unnecessarily. They can throw all sorts of roadblocks in our way to make religion seem like such a burden. They can get all hung up on various laws and regulations. People get turned off and rightly so.

Jesus breaks it down to the three aspects of love:

the heart---the feeling of connection we have with one another;

the mind---directing our thoughts to care for others;

the soul---realizing the spiritual bond we have with all of creation.

It is so easy for us to lose our focus and to get involved in the trivia that surrounds us in our media. Many people are more concerned about the likes they receive from an online post than actually caring for those who are sick, poor, hurting, or in prison.

People will argue for hours about immigration but will not feed or house the immigrants in their community who are hungry and homeless. We get involved with laws and don't follow the greatest commandments. 

The call from Jesus is simple and direct: love God and love our neighbor. 

How do we demonstrate our love for God? Jesus tells us.

Love your neighbor.

We can talk all about how much we love God but our words are utterly meaningless unless we are eagerly doing acts of charity for our sisters and brothers in need.

The talk stops.

The concrete actions are called for.

Those actions must be done repeatedly and wholeheartedly. 

We have the example of Jesus.

Did he hold back?

1. Do you feel it is difficult to be a follower of Jesus?

2. Is religion complicated?

3. Why do some people reduce religion to following laws?

4. When personally have you become distracted by the trivia in our media and lost focus on following the twofold commandments that Jesus has given?

5. What do you see as you contemplate Kathy's photo?

(Scripture adaptation, reflection, and questions by John McNamara)

Conviction

 

The Spiritual Waiting Room

Conviction

Stand Firm

Faith   Labor   Love

You Are God's Chosen

Hope

(Photo and poem by Kathy McNamara)

Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 1:4

St. Paul was writing to his friends in Thessalonica. He had shared the Good News with them and felt very close to them. He was encouraging them to endure in the faith that they had embraced, and he wrote:

Know always, sisters and brothers, that you are loved by God and you are God's chosen.

Reflection

I have always admired people with deep conviction. I think of the saints like St. Francis of Assisi who was convinced that God wanted him to rebuild the Church and devoted his whole life to that conviction.

I think of Mother Frances Cabrini who devoted her life to helping immigrants who were trying to adjust to a new country and were facing discrimination and poverty.

I think of Dorothy Day who was convinced that she was being called to the Catholic Church and sacrificed her relationship with the man she loved when she made that choice.

These three and many others inspire us because they stood firm in the face of much opposition and ridicule. It is amazing that when that opposition and ridicule died down and people saw them standing firm, many others joined them and contributed to and carried on their work.

They were motivated by faith. They felt that God was speaking to them and asking them to follow God's call in a way that was different. They took a stand against their culture. Many considered them weird and strange. Even their fellow lay Catholics and members of the clergy told them that they were wrong and that they should return to a "normal" path.

They did not labor for recognition or acceptance by those in power at the time. They challenged those authorities and pointed them in a different direction---the path of the Gospel. Their labor was for Jesus and not for themselves.

They were in love with Jesus. They talked with Him every day and followed His message. Their love for Jesus grew through their prayer and helped them to overcome the daily obstacles they faced.

That love inspired St. Francis to embrace lepers, Mother Cabrini to establish hospitals for the immigrants who were not accepted at the private hospitals of her day, and Dorothy Day to publish a newspaper featuring articles about the social justice issues of her day and to establish houses of hospitality to feed the hungry.

They felt that God had chosen them for this labor of love. They knew that this would not be an easy path and many of their "friends" questioned them. 

What helped them to persevere? They all had the conviction that God had chosen them for this labor.

The Church had to be rebuilt---it was too complacent and corrupt.

Immigrants had to be helped---Jesus was dwelling in them and with them.

The hungry had to be fed---Jesus was on the bread line with them.

People of conviction like St. Francis, St. Frances Cabrini, and Dorothy Day are signs of hope for us. They remind us that God has a message for each one of us and calls us to a labor of love. God asks us to reach out to those who are hurting, neglected, and forgotten.

God has a message of Hope for them through us:

you are loved!

1. Who are some people of conviction that you admire?

2. What has given you the strength to hold on to your convictions in the face of ridicule and opposition?

3. Are you willing to make sacrifices for your convictions?

4. What are some of your convictions that challenge the culture of today?

5. What do you see as you ponder Kathy's photo?

(Scripture adaptation, reflection, and questions by John McNamara)

Invitation

 

The Spiritual Waiting Room

Invitation

Inclusion/Exclusion

Reject   Comply   Accept

God Will Supply All

Salvation

(Photo and poem by Kathy McNamara)

Scripture:  Philippians 4:19

My God will supply all that you need.

Reflection

Isn't it wonderful to get an invitation to a wedding feast?

Jesus talks about a wedding feast in The Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 22, verses 1 to 14. At this feast many refused to go. They even killed the servants that were bringing the invitations!

Jesus is talking about how we respond to His invitation in this parable. Are we open to responding to His call to follow Him?

The invitation that Jesus gives is for All. Everyone is included and no one is excluded. Jesus wants all people to be at His Wedding Feast. 

He calls us to follow Him so that we can experience how much and how deeply He loves us. We have all had the experience of being left out. We feel sad when we learn that there is a party and all of our friends have been invited but we have been ignored. We wonder why we were excluded. Our feelings are hurt.

There can also be an issue when we give an invitation to a feast that we are having and people do not respond or turn down our invitation. Again our feelings are hurt.

Jesus came (and comes today!) to share Good News with us and to invite all of us to be part of the Kingdom of God. We are free to reject or accept that invitation. We might wonder if we have the courage to comply with the requirements of being part of the Kingdom.

We can respond by saying that we are not the brightest, or the most athletic, or the prettiest, or the most handsome one. We can feel that there are many other people who are more qualified to be part of the Kingdom.

Then we realize, as St. Paul shared in his Letter to the Philippians, that it is not about us and our "qualifications". It is all about God and the depth of the Love that God has for each person. God will supply all that we need.

The invitation that God gives us is an invitation that leads to salvation. This is why God sent Jesus to us. God wanted to give us a little glimpse of how deeply we are loved. 

The root meaning of salvation is health and well being. God wants to heal all those parts of us that are broken and wounded.

I remember a conversation that I had with a friend whose son had committed suicide. We spoke about the goodness in his son and how generous and caring he was. His suicide was a shock. I told him that there are some wounds that we cannot see and that God can only heal. 

Salvation is an invitation to healing.

It is God saying "I will Love you forever."

It is an invitation for all. 

How are you responding to your invitation?

1. How do you feel when you get an invitation to a great feast?

2. Has anyone ever excluded you from an invitation to a party?

3. What are some invitations that Jesus has given you lately?

4. Do you ever feel inadequate to respond to God's invitations?

5. What do you see in Kathy's photo?

(Scripture adaptation, reflection, and questions by John McNamara)

Receive

 

The Spiritual Waiting Room

Receive

God's Peace

Transcends All Understanding

Put It Into Practice

Pray

(Photo and poem by Kathy McNamara)

Scripture: Philippians 4:9

Paul is writing to the community in Philippi and encouraging them to seek peace. He says:

Keep on doing what you have learned from me. Then the God of Peace will dwell with you.

Reflection

Answer

 

The Spiritual Waiting Room

Answer

Actions   Words

Honesty   Change   Obedience

And Believe In Him

Truth

(Photo and poem by Kathy McNamara)

Scripture:   Matthew 21:32

One day Jesus was talking to the chief priests and the elders and shared a parable about two sons. Their father had asked them to do some work. One of the sons refused the father but did the work and the other son said yes but did not act on it. Jesus compares this to the response of some of the chief priests and the elders to John the Baptist and says to them:

"When John came to you in the way of righteousness, you did not believe him. Tax collectors and prostitutes did. Yet when you observed that, you did not change your minds and believe him."

Reflection

Sometimes we get answers that are very helpful for us and bring change in our lives.

There are also times when we give answers and do not act on them.

We might also struggle to find an answer to a difficult situation we are facing.

Answers don't always come instantly.

When we get or give an answer, we then have to translate that answer from the words into concrete actions.

In our reading from Matthew the chief priests and elders with whom Jesus is speaking (we have to note that this encounter certainly does not represent all of the chief priests and elders!), received an answer from John the Baptist but were not able to accept it even as it was accepted by prostitutes and tax collectors.

This reflects our own attempts to accept an answer that we might find difficult to reconcile with what we believe. These particular chief priests and elders did not feel that they had to accept the answers that John the Baptist was giving.

There are times in all of our lives when we cannot accept an answer. In those moments we have to take an honest look at our lives and see if there are changes that we need to make.

The son in this parable of Jesus who initially gives a negative answer to his father changes his answer through his actions. There are times when all of us follow this path. We reconsider our initial answer and make a change. 

That change led this son to obedience. He did what the father wanted him to do. After his initial resistance, he truly listened to not only what the father wanted but what he felt he should do.

These particular chief priests and elders had listened to John the Baptist but could not accept the answers that he was giving at that point in their lives. 

Of course we do not know if their response changed later on as the son changed his response. So many times we reflect on the words some one has shared with us later on after our initial encounter. We start to see the wisdom of those words and that can lead us to change.

Those changes can lead us to a deeper belief. The son changed and believed in his father. He realized that it was more beneficial for him in the long run to do what his father asked him to do. 

The other son answered in the affirmative but did not answer with his actions. He did not follow through. He said what he thought his father wanted to hear; but he did not really believe it was right for him to do what the father had asked. He excused himself from his answer.

It comes down to our embrace of the truth. 

Do we believe in our answer?

Do we feel that it is the right thing to do?

Are we willing to change from our preconceived notions of what we feel is the right path?

Do we want to take an easier path or one that will not demand as much from us?

The prostitutes and the tax collectors were open to the message from John the Baptist. They were willing to change and embrace the truth that God loved them in spite of their failings. They answered by saying yes to God's invitation.

What is your answer?

1. Have you ever been given an answer that you found difficult to accept?

2. Can you think of a time in your life when you reconsidered an initial answer and made a change?

3. Do you sometimes answer with what you think the other person wants to hear from you?

4. Can you relate to the prostitutes and the tax collectors in this story?

5. What do you see as you reflect on Kathy's photo of the Peace Pole?

(Scripture adaptation, reflection, and questions by John McNamara)