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Daily Scripture

+ 4th Week in Ordinary Time

Everyone needs a bit of ‘pocket time’

Readings: 1 Kings 3:4-13 Psalm 119:9-14 Mark 6:30-34

The apostles rejoined Jesus and told him all they had done and taught. Then he said to them, “You must come away to some lonely place all by ourselves and rest for a while.” [Mark 6:30]

The notion of Sabbath rest is rooted in the third of the Ten Commandments, “Keep holy the Lord’s day.” For Christians, Sunday is our Sabbath because it was the day on which the Lord rose from the dead. Holiness is the state of being whole, i.e., fully integrated, mind, soul and body. It is the acknowledgment of God as the ground of our being.

In truth, God doesn’t need the Sabbath; we do!

However, I am of the mind that we need to build into our daily routine, a mini-Sabbath or two. I call it ‘pocket time’ or time out from the pressure of our daily schedule. Some folks call it down time.

Of course, there are different strokes for different folks. A good power walk also can be a great opportunity for conversation with God. It’s an easy script. God talks and I listen.

All of us, married or single and whatever our call and career need pocket time every day and in that way we learn to live in the present moment. As my cousin frequently reminds me, “Yesterday is a cancelled check; tomorrow may never come; the present is a gift.” How true. I’m still a neophyte.

Holy Thursday 2009

Wednesday April 8, 2009

+ Holy Thursday

The ‘eighth commandment.’

Readings: Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14 Psalm 116:12-13, 15-18 Corinthians 11:23-26 John 13:1-15.

After he had finished washing their feet and had once again put on his outer garments, he reclined at table and said to them, “Do you understand what I have just done for you? You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have given you an example. What I have done for you, you should also do. [John 13:12-15]

As a pastor, the celebration of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper is the most soul-stirring liturgy of the entire year because it dramatizes not only the gift of Jesus life given in bread and wine to the apostles and to the Church down to our age, but it also epitomizes what the life of the Christian should be at the table of humanity.

I have read somewhere that the ‘washing of the feet’ or the ‘mandatum’ as it is called in the ritual, was close to being instituted as a sacrament. It certainly is sacramental – an occasion of grace that inspires us to be and do hat we ritualize at worship.

In a survey on expectations of the faithful for priests conducted several years ago, more than any other quality the faithful look for in their pastors is spiritual depth.

That’s a tall order – one that stretches me, as I’m sure it does all priests. On the other hand, I have been inspired and energized over and over again by so many ‘lay priests’ in the pew. In fact, the spirituality of the priest is rooted in the faith of the people in the pew. After all, it is baptism that unites all of us – women and men – baptized into the common priesthood of Christ.

Jesus’ instruction to his apostles to wash the feet of others was meant for every disciple, not just the ‘Twelve.’ This was more than a gesture to inspire. It was indeed a ‘mandatum,’ a command to do as he did.

Washing the feet of others can include anything from a spiritual or corporal work of mercy to the taking of a concrete positive action to change an oppressive political, economic or ecclesiastical system.

The people of L’Aquila in Italy know of what I speak. What can be a more dramatic observance of this sacred day than the rescue of someone buried beneath the rubble of an earthquake?

And what about the people who are building homes and installing fresh water supplies for the people in Guatemala? And what of the many people who bring healing to those afflicted with physical or mental illness?

The Eucharist was the setting for the washing of the feet because it is in the bread of Eucharist that we are joined as sisters and brothers in Christ becoming in fact, the bread that we eat. We are the Body of Christ. Amen.