What All the Waiting Has Been For

12-25-2022Weekly Reflection© J. S. Paluch Company
Today’s readings are as familiar to most of us as the carols we sing and the commercials that over-whelm this holiday season. Often Christmas finds us tired, struggling with preparations and expecta-tions. What we really want to feel is joy and peace. The stress of preparation, of waiting, is reflected in both Isaiah and Paul’s letter to Titus. Luke tells us of the exhaustion that Mary and Joseph felt: a young pregnant wife and her husband, forced to travel just as she is about to give birth, unable even to find a room to stay in. It must have been miserable. They must have been afraid. In the midst of this exhaustion, misery, and fear, a child is born, a Son is given. The world is then filled with light and hope, joy and peace. In that moment they, and we, know what all the waiting has been for.

God Wants to be One With Us

12-18-2022Weekly Reflection© J. S. Paluch Company

What great lengths God will go to in loving and saving us! Think of the most outlandish circumstance you might conceive. That seems to be what the Lord is saying to Ahaz in today’s first reading. “A virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel.” Not only is the idea of a virgin conceiving beyond comprehension in Ahaz’s time, so would the concept of God wanting to be with us be, as the name Emmanuel indicates. And yet, this is what we celebrate in the Incarnation - God wants so completely to be one with us that God came to be with us in a son born to a virgin, the Blessed Virgin Mary. There is more to this story than even these amazing and outlandish occurrences, however. God wants to be one with us so deeply that God partners with us to make God’s presence known.What great lengths God will go to in loving and saving us! Think of the most outlandish circumstance you might conceive. That seems to be what the Lord is saying to Ahaz in today’s first reading. “A virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel.” Not only is the idea of a virgin conceiving beyond comprehen-sion in Ahaz’s time, so would the concept of God wanting to be with us be, as the name Emmanuel indicates. And yet, this is what we celebrate in the Incarnation - God wants so completely to be one with us that God came to be with us in a son born to a virgin, the Blessed Virgin Mary. There is more to this story than even these amazing and outlandish occurrences, however. God wants to be one with us so deeply that God partners with us to make God’s presence known.

The One Whose Our Hearts Long

12-11-2022Weekly Reflection© J. S. Paluch Company

Put yourself in the scene of today’s Gospel passage. John the Baptist is in prison. He has heard stories of what Jesus is doing, and wants reassurance that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah. John’s disciples and those who surrounded Jesus were faithful Jews who would have known Isaiah’s prophecies by heart. God would send One who would bring sight to the blind, healing to those who were ill, salvation to all who longed to know God’s mercy and peace. Jesus’ response to the disciples’ question rings as powerfully in our ears today as it surely did for the people who were with him that day. His actions are precisely those that the people had been told to expect. Jesus is the One for whom the people have been patiently yet anxiously waiting, like the farmer who waits for the fruits of his labor. Jesus is the One for whom our hearts long.

Harmony

12-04-2022Weekly Reflection© J. S. Paluch Company

Have you ever known a moment when, just for a brief instant, you felt that all was right with the world? It is just such a moment, stretched into eternity, that the writer of Isaiah describes in today’s first reading: the perfection of everything, centered in God’s spirit, where knowledge, justice, and awe in God’s presence reign. In such a paradise, everyone sees eye to eye and thinks in harmony with each other, as Saint Paul describes in his letter to the Romans. Even animals with a natural animosity toward one another coexist peacefully. John the Baptist understood that such harmonious relationships do not simply happen. They are the fruit of living in right relationship with God and others.

People of Light

11-27-2022Weekly Reflection© J. S. Paluch Company

We are called to reflect the light of God’s love through the ways in which we live our lives. Imagine the impact if each of us took this call to heart, every day, at home, work, or school, in our parish, in the world. “All nations shall stream toward it,” toward the love that only comes from God. Yet, we must admit that much of the time we fail to be beacons of God’s light. We fall asleep, complacent, preferring to go the easy route, which often leads to darkness rather than the radiance of Christ’s light. As we begin the season of Advent, Saint Paul admonishes us to throw off the works of darkness, to awaken to the call of light and love. In today’s Gospel, Jesus too tells us to stay awake, to be prepared to greet the Lord of light as people of the light.

The True Kingship of Jesus Christ

11-20-2022Weekly Reflection© J. S. Paluch Company

What kind of King is Jesus? How do you envision him? Remembering that they were promised a king from the line of David, the Israelites hoped for a Messiah who would set their political problems aright and bring about a worldly kingdom of Judaic power. Even Psalm 122 seems to describe this type of ruler. Luke’s Gospel today shreds that image after the whip of the Roman soldiers tore at Jesus’ flesh. Still, the Romans flaunted the traditional notion with their ironic inscription above King Jesus’ crown of thorns. Soldiers and ordinary people jeered the royal title at him. Yet the throne of Jesus was the cross of Christ, from which he dispensed kingly mercy and justice toward the humble criminal who shared his execution. Writing to the Colossians, Saint Paul describes the truth about Jesus and his kingship, using words like fullness, peace, and forgiveness. So let us go rejoicing!

The End of Days

11-13-2022Weekly Reflection© J. S. Paluch Company

As we prepare for next Sunday’s feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, we hear descriptions of dire and catastrophic events. Sometimes it seems as though we ourselves are living in the end times, when life as we currently know it will cease for everyone. In answer to what must have been a fearful question, Jesus does not sugarcoat his foretelling of future days. Nor does the Old Testament prophet Malachi flinch from his pronouncements upon an evil world. Saint Paul, still writing to the Thessalonians, warns them prophetically against succumbing to “The End Is Near” syndrome--indolence in the face of the final days. However, both Jesus and Malachi speak of the recompense for living a just life--healing and vindication. Our Psalm 98, typically associated with Christmastime, helps us to rejoice for the King who is coming to rule with justice.

Eternal Life

11-06-2022Weekly Reflection© J. S. Paluch Company

What happens after we die? Most religions and philosophies provide some notion of this, but we are confounded by the mystery of it all. Today’s readings give us a glimpse through the faith of martyrs and in the words of Jesus. In the Old Testament reading, the Maccabee brothers assert with total confidence that the God who gave them life would also raise them to eternal life. This was not universally accepted in ancient Israel. The Sadducees, who denied any resurrection of the dead, try to trap Jesus with a hypothetical riddle. Jesus, known for turning such things around, dismisses their unbelief, noting that even Moses knew that all are alive in God. Saint Paul tells the Thessalonians that we live in everlasting encouragement and hope, and Psalm 17 echoes this with words of faith that we will see God’s face, waking in God’s loving presence.

A Compassionate God

10-30-2022Weekly Reflection© J. S. Paluch Company

Today’s reading from the book of Wisdom presents an image of a patient God who “rebuke[s] offenders little by little” (Wisdom 12:2), an image endorsed by the psalmist, singing of how the LORD is “slow to anger and of great kindness, and com-passionate toward all his works” (Psalm 145:8, 9). The crowd with Jesus, however, grumbles when they see Jesus’s kindness and compassion extended to Zacchaeus, who was not just a tax collector, but the “chief tax collector”-- a title that surely emphasizes his standing as a sinner to be scorned. In the second reading, Saint Paul urges the Thessalonians to be “worthy” of God’s calling, so that “the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you” (2 Thessalonians 1:12); such people, unlike the crowd in the Gospel, would rejoice at Zacchae-us’s determination to change his life after encountering Jesus.

Made Right Before God

10-23-2022Weekly Reflection© J. S. Paluch Company

Although the opening lines of today’s first reading claim that the Lord “knows no favorites” (Sirach 35:15) and is “not unduly partial toward the weak” (35:16), the remainder of the passage makes it clear that the Lord does indeed pay special attention to the weak, the oppressed, and the orphans and widows. The psalmist reiterates: “The Lord hears the cry of the poor” (see Psalm 34:18). In the Gospel, Jesus claims that a tax collector is more justified in his prayer for mercy than the Pharisee, whose prayer was an account of his own righteous deeds. Jesus’ point could not have been clearer: tax collectors in the Jewish society of Jesus’ day were not just lowly; they were considered outcasts and cheaters. They collected taxes for the hated Romans and almost certainly collected enough to assure a generous income for themselves. Tax collectors were among society’s outcasts; didn’t this one just admit his own sinfulness? How could a tax collector be “justified” (that is, made right) before God, while the Pharisee was not? Why would God even listen to the prayer of a tax collector? This surely was a surprise, upsetting common assumptions about righteousness.

Persistence

10-16-2022Weekly Reflection© J. S. Paluch Company

Exodus recounts the journey of the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt to the land promised to their ancestors. It was not an easy journey. In to-day’s reading, they are attacked by Amalek and his soldiers, members of one of the peoples who live in the land through which the Israelites are traveling. Moses was on the hilltop with his arms raised to invoke the LORDS’s assistance in the battle below, a powerful illustration of the LORDS’s favor upon Israel. If the soldiers were to lift up their eyes to that hill (see Psalm 121:1), they would be reassured by Moses’s presence and posture. Paul urges the Thessalonians to persist in proclaiming the gospel, and Jesus likewise commends the widow for her persistence in pursuit of the justice due her. Whether they preach or pray, the followers of Jesus need persistence through periods of difficulty.

The Gift of Salvation

10-09-2022Weekly Reflection© J. S. Paluch Company

Naaman and the leper who returned to Jesus saw God’s hand in their healing. Only through God’s intervention could they have been cured. Through this recognition of God’s presence and action in their lives, they grew in faith. For what are you grateful? Pause for a moment to reflect on all of the blessings in your life. God is the source of these many blessings...life, love, gifts, and so much more. Of all the gifts for which we must be grateful, none is as great, or as astounding, as the gift of salvation offered to us through Jesus Christ. Let this sink in, not only in your mind but in your heart. Like Naaman and the leper who returned, allow yourself to be touched by the immense love of God for you.

The Gift of Faith

10-02-2022Weekly Reflection© J. S. Paluch Company

Faith is a gift. When the disciples asked Jesus to increase their faith, they were going to the source of that faith with their request. God is the giver of all good gifts, including faith. When we put our faith in Christ, we believe that God is with us, even though we cannot physically see God. Or can we? If we are attentive, we see the evidence of God’s presence in the love of family and friends, care poured out in service of our neighbors, the living beauty of creation. This is not blind faith, but rather is the result of seeing with the eyes of faith. Followers of Jesus look beyond what is apparent to see what is possiblewith the power and presence of the Holy Spirit within and among us.