Weekend Reflections for 3/27/20
Weekend Reflections for 3/20/20
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Weekend Reflections for 3/13/20
Weekend Reflections from White House Retreat
There seems to be no greater joy for Jesus than to experience streams of living water flowing from his heart to needy souls who request it. In this Sunday's gospel he asks for a drink from the Samaritan woman and later explains that the drink he really desires is for her to ask him for living water. In other words, we slake Jesus' thirst most effectively by inviting him into the deeper recesses of our brokenness, where we must rely on his mercy, and build up from there.
Seen in this light, we can be sure that Jesus is most overjoyed when you and I make it into the confessional. Note how in this passage he is leading the Samaritan woman to confession. And after confession she becomes a great evangelizer of others, giving effective witness to the transformative experience of mercy.
What is the role of confession in my life? How do I slake Jesus' deeper thirst, going regularly to receive his living water, a water which purifies, strengthens, consoles, and tranforms me also into an evangelizer, one who gives testimony to the work of God within me?
Christ wants to be the rock of our lives, upon which everything else is built. When we touch his heart, as Moses touches the rock at Meribah, streams of living water flow forth from him. And this is his deepest joy. How can I better slake Jesus' thirst this Lent?
-Fr. Anthony Wieck, SJ
Weekend Reflections for 3/6/20
God, in his tenderness, wishes to give us courage in our struggles this Lent. He wants to give us his heart to push through sufferings and difficulties, with a joy-filled spirit.
In this Sunday's gospel, Jesus takes his disciples up Mount Tabor to give them a glimpse of his glory, to offer them a steadfast hope that will supply them with confidence during the suffering he knows is around the corner. Many of us White House retreatants experienced this mountain ascent and descent two weeks ago, on our Holy Land pilgrimage open to all. Jesus reveals his glorious face to his disciples there so as to strengthen them in their upcoming struggles. On the way back down the mountain, Jesus encourages them and tells them that the momentary light they experienced was really meant to help them through the upcoming darkness.
So it is with you and me. The light of Jesus' face we occasionally experience in prayer, our own "Mount Tabor experience", is meant to help us through our upcoming trials. Interestingly enough, as many of us pilgrims walked down Mount Tabor by foot, with its glorious view of Nazareth and the Jezreel Valley below, heading back to the level plain, we were disheartened to see so much trash lying alongside the road. Nonetheless, the joy of our Mount Tabor experience remained greater than the disappointment we encountered on our way back down, and we were motivated to search for an inspired way to make our messy world a better place.
Indeed, our Christian life is made up prayer experiences followed by a barrage of simple daily experiences, sufferings too, into which we are called to inject God's love and hope. May our Lenten prayer illuminate our acts of almsgiving and fasting with a new hope, a new ability to see God in the humdrum of our daily lives.
-Fr. Anthony Wieck, SJ
Ash Wednesday Reflection
As we enter deeply into this Lenten season, we are invited to reflect upon our double origin. Our readings this Sunday remind us that we are made from the earth, and yet God also breathes into us a life-giving spirit. That we are made from the earth is evident, and a frailty we ought never to forget. Adam and Eve forgot. And thus they fell for the temptation to "be as gods" by their own efforts. They chose as their motto, "seize the day!" Bad idea. A better motto for them would have been, "receive the day!"
That's how Our Lord approaches the same temptations in the Gospel. He constantly receives the relationship with his Father, as gift. Jesus makes no power grab. While Satan tempts him (and us) with 1) love of creature comforts; 2) a large following of people who like us; and 3) power over the the things of this world, Jesus chooses relationship instead, every time, to receive the Spirit of the Father, as gift.
For our Lenten reflection: What are the ways I try to control the reality around me, to "seize the day" and "be as gods"? How am I invited to "receive the day" instead, as gift, receiving the life-giving Spirit of the Father?
Happy Lent to all.
-Fr. Anthony Wieck, SJ
Weekend Reflections for 2/21/20
The bible readings for this Sunday offer much to “take home” with us from White House Jesuit Retreats.
In the first reading from Leviticus the Lord makes the simple command: be holy, and then specifies this as removing all hatred from our hearts, running from revenge, refusing to hold grudges, loving our neighbors as ourselves, and even loving strangers as our selves and inviting them into our circle of relationships so that they are no longer strangers. How much hatred seems to be so rampant in our world?
In the second reading St. Paul invites, even admonishes us to the foolish wisdom that Jesus brings to our world, the wisdom that Jesus proclaims and lives in today’s Gospel: we are no longer in an eye-for-an-eye, tooth-for-a-tooth world. No, the wondrous, redemptive, tough love Jesus shows us involves loving our enemies that is the pathway to perfection.
What we try to learn and live in our repeated Spiritual Exercises at White House is the message that God’s wondrous love in Jesus is unconditional, incalculable. Our image of God as a great accountant in the sky is not the God of Jesus, but our own mistaken creation. In today’s gospel Jesus reminds us that we need to throw away our counters, ledgerbooks and sinlists for confession and thereby open ourselves to the infinity of God’s gift of grace, God’s unconditional mercy shown in the compassion, mercy, forgiveness of Jesus, crucified risen to walk the road of life with us.
-Fr. Ted Arroyo, SJ
Weekend Reflections for 2/14/20
Today’s bible readings invite us to reflect on this call to discipleship, the demands this call places upon us, and God’s promise of fruitfulness when we generously respond to this call.
Isaiah, at the start of his mission, realizes his own unworthiness before the tremendous and fascinating mystery of God. Even though angels witness his calling, he knows his own unworthiness, his need to be cleansed by a burning coal as he enters more deeply into the sacred mystery he is called to share with others.
Paul, too, acknowledges that his own call to proclaim the gospel to the nations is deeply intertwined with his own purification and salvation. I am not fit to be an apostle, yet by the grace of God, I am what I am; though I have toiled very hard at this mission, it is ultimately a matter, pure and simple, of God’s grace.
In Spanish, a fish which is still swimming around in the water is called “pesce,” while a fish which has been caught, and is ready to be cooked is called “pescado.” The truth of today’s gospel is that it is only because we are “pescado,” only because we have been caught up by God’s grace in Jesus, that we can swim around as “pesce” ourselves, and receive the call to go fishing for others.
We can only toil effectively in our mission as “fishers” for others if we at the same time receive and cooperate with the grace of our calling, the grace accomplished in Jesus. Our experiences of the Spiritual Exercises at White House Jesuit Retreat invite us to deeper and deeper fishing because we have been fished by the grace of God.
Let’s all get caught up as fishy people who have been caught into the mystery of God’s grace, and at the same time, let’s all of us follow in our daily lives, together, and catch up many others in the mysterious net of God’s kingdom! Let’s ask ourselves today: how am I, how are we caught up in this net; how are we going about our calling to catch up others in God’s kingdom?
-Fr. Ted Arroyo, SJ
Weekend Reflections for 2/7/20
In Sunday’s gospel Jesus offers rich images of Christian discipleship, images of how we are to live our faith in our daily lives. We Christians are salt of the earth, we are light for this world. Following Jesus is not putting on a superficial exterior appearance, but entering into the essence of life in this world, giving it flavor, illuminating it with the light of faith.
As salt of the earth, we are challenged to transform our world from within, to bring Christian flavor to our daily lives and to our complex society. In today’s second reading, St. Paul reminds us that we face this challenge in weakness, not with lofty words or wisdom, but with God’s foolish wisdom for this world: the words “Jesus Christ, and him crucified”. This salty, Christian flavor goes much deeper than sugary icing on a cake. It is the flavor of Christ, Christ crucified. It enters deeply into our lives, into our world, to season it with the flavors of Christ’s kingdom: flavors of hospitality, true freedom and deep dedication to love, to justice and solidarity. We don’t bury these flavors where no one can taste them, we don’t hide them where no one can see. Our discipleship is not simply private piety for one hour on Sunday morning – we are to be a city on a hill, a light for the world.
May our regular experience of the Spiritual Exercises at White House Jesuit Retreat strengthen our saltiness and light up our lives and our world. Living the Gospel is not just something secret in our hearts. It is to be visible to everyone. We are light for this world. We are a city on a hill, a lamp on a stand. We may shy away from this, thinking, how can I, little ole me in my darkness, be light for this huge world around me? But if we realize that the true salt, the true light, is Christ, and Christ crucified, and not little old us, we have little to fear.
-Fr. Ted Arroyo, SJ
Weekend Reflections for 1/31/19
Presentations: Mary’s, Jesus’ and Our Own
This weekend we celebrate a feast of presentations in the temple: Mary’s, Jesus’ and our own.
With an echo of the Christmas season we celebrated a few weeks ago, the elder figures Simeon and Anna prophesy about Jesus, and Mary and Joseph stand back in amazement at this fundamental article of faith: Jesus’ life will be given for others.
Mary and Joseph probably realized immediately that Jesus’s pattern of self-emptying will also be their own, unconditionally handing over the child and themselves to the challenges of life and death, in hope of life eternal.
When Mary and Joseph presented Jesus in the temple, from then on this child was set on the path eventually leading back to Jerusalem, showing us the way. What we can present today is our own open hands to follow him in the path of faith, not running from the word but growing on this journey with the child as he grows into his ministry and our redemption.
Jesuit poet Gerard Manley Hopkins compares our own life patterns to those presented in the temple on today’s feast.
Of her flesh he took flesh:
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He does take fresh and fresh,
Though much the mystery how,
Not flesh but spirit now
And makes, O marvellous!
New Nazareths in us,
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Where she shall yet conceive
Him, morning, noon, and eve;
New Bethlems, and he born
There, evening, noon, and morn—
Bethlem or Nazareth,
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Men here may draw like breath
More Christ and baffle death;
Who, born so, comes to be
New self and nobler me
In each one and each one
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More makes, when all is done,
Both God’s and Mary’s Son.
As we make the Spiritual Exercises at White House, we too can grow in our own presentations of the pattern of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, repeated in our daily prayer as well as annual retreats.
-Fr. Ted Arroyo, SJ
Weekend Reflections for 1/24/20
Challenge of Christian Unity
In this Sunday's Gospel we are told that Jesus, although having been baptized by John, does not begin his public preaching until after John’s arrest. It's as if Jesus did not want to be seen in contention with John's work and instead tried to avoid any type of conflict, divisions and dissent with John and his disciples. Moreover shortly before while John is in prison, he sends some of his disciples to ask Jesus if he is indeed “the expected” one. Jesus responds to their questioning by telling them to go back and report to John what they are seeing of Jesus and his works.
When John’s disciples depart, Jesus proclaims to his own followers his great estimation of John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes I tell you, and one who is more than a prophet truly…. I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist!” (Matthew 11.7-11)
In fact throughout his public ministry Jesus shows his appreciation and understanding of the work that John is doing.
In the second reading for this Sunday, Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, we perhaps see why Jesus was so concerned not to alienate John’s followers and to avoid divisions. Paul is speaking to the community at Corinth, probably less than 20 years after the resurrection of Christ. There are already divisions within the Corinthian community, and people are arguing and competing with one another. What has been come important to some is not the Good News they have received, but rather whose disciples were responsible for bringing them to their belief in Jesus, e.g. those of Paul, or Cephas, or Apollos.
Such divisions, squabbles and arguments have been within the Christian community from the very beginning and unfortunately are still very much with us today. They can diminish our appreciation of the gift we have in Christ’s and distract us from the heart of his message of service and love for our neighbor. Jesus aware of this danger prayed to his Father: “that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they may also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (John 17:21) We have so much work to do to bring about this unity and let us pray that the Holy Spirit inspire and enable each of us to do our part.
Jim Blumeyer, S.J.
Weekend Reflections for 1/17/20
In this Sunday's Gospel we learn of the day when it was revealed to John the Baptist that Jesus was God’s anointed, the one for whom John’s life endeavors were preparing his people to receive. The very next day, (John 1, 35-42), we are told of the role he performs in gaining disciples for Jesus. When John again sees Jesus walking on the other side of the Jordan River, he tells his disciples that Jesus is the Lamb of God who will take away the sins of the world.
How startling they must have been to hear this. Why? Because they remembered that when the religious authorities came from Jerusalem to ask John who he was: the Messiah, the prophet who would bring about the kingdom of God and the freedom of the Jewish people from the Roman domination. John said no, he was not. But then added that this person had indeed arrived and was already in their midst.
John’s disciples, one of whom was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, probably realized that John was just not making idle conversation. Rather he was encouraging them, if they were so inclined, to follow Jesus and to find out more about him. Could he possibly be the longed for messiah? So they decide to follow and investigate Jesus.
The gospel narrative relates how their curiosity is rewarded. Jesus invites them to come and spend the day with him. They did, and this would be an afternoon and encounter they would never forget. After they had spent the afternoon listening to him, discussing and questioning him, the two just wanted to share this most wonderful news with the important people in their lives. So when they finally departed, they rushed off to share with their companions and relatives what had happened. Suddenly Jesus was becoming the focus of their lives. He was indeed the one that John had been referring to when responding to the religious authorities. And now the two had met him.
It’s good for us to recall how Jesus has come into our lives. Who were the one or ones that brought this about for us? How am I sharing this good news?
-Fr. Jim Blumeyer, SJ
Weekend Reflections for 1/10/20
The Baptism of Christ
Besides the circumstances surrounding the birth of Christ, the few years in exile in Egypt and his being lost in the temple at the age of 12, we know little else about 30 years or so of his life in Nazareth. Being the son of Joseph the carpenter we naturally assume that he acquired this trade as well. But without describing how or why the Gospels tell us that he leaves Nazareth and sets out some string to be with John the Baptist.
He's beginning has public life; he's beginning a way and manner of living seemingly almost completely foreign to him. But he somehow realizes that his time in Nazareth is over and that is he's to begin a completely new way of life proclaiming the kingdom of God. Even in the remote town of Nazareth he would've heard about John's preaching about this kingdom. It seems he would've well wondered about how this applies to him and his own mission in life.
Certainly Mary and Joseph discussed with him the unique and unusual circumstances of his conception and birth. This event in the life of Christ can provides us with rich material for imaginative prayer. There is Jesus trying to explain to Mary and his family his leaving, what is he going to do, how will John the Baptist sit in with this new venture, will Jesus become one of John's disciples?
You can see Jesus making the journey to the Jordan River where John is preaching and baptizing. How he too must've pondered all of this in his prayed and talked with His father about it. Jesus in his humanity must have had many more questions than answers at this time.
Some he could find out from John: how he began his public ministry, how he decided where to preach, how he gathered disciples, how he dealt with the religious authorities who questioned what he was about? Most importantly Jesus would often wondered and asked himself “Am I going about this in the right way?”
Jesus arrives at the Jordan; he sees all the people listening intently to John, and then they approach is to be baptized. Jesus realizes that he too should be among those baptized. John, who had first sensed the holiness of Jesus while in the womb of Elizabeth, now senses that same holiness. John is confused; he hesitates; but then Jesus assures him that he too should be among those being baptized.
What happens next is the Father's answer to Jesus' questions and prayers: he is the father's beloved son in whom he is well pleased.
That evening as Jesus retired you can well imagine him resting peacefully knowing that he is beginning the work of the kingdom as his Father desires, and that he is well beloved in doing this. After such a momentous few days what a wonderful manner to end the day and slip off into peaceful sleep.
Jim Blumeyer, S.J.
Weekend Reflections for 12/20/19
Christmas
As the sun rises later and sets earlier and the darkness grows, we know it will reverse and once again shine forth with light and warmth. In our quiet and silent moments we are aware of our own darkness, our weakness and sin, our fears and failures, our pain and confusion. The Church reminds us that it’s into our human reality that God sends His Son to share our life, death and resurrection, so much does He love us. Jesus Christ enters our darkness with the light that blazes with the Father’s love and assures us that we are His beloved sons and daughters. He will always come when we invite Him. Jesus didn’t come to change God’s mind about us but to change our minds and hearts about God.
May the God of Love bless you and yours with a stronger faith and awareness of His presence in your life.
Fr. Ralph Huse, S.J.
Pictured L to R: Fr. Jim Blumeyer SJ, Bill Schmitt, Fr. Ted Arroyo SJ, Fr. Anthony Wieck SJ, Fr. Frank Reale SJ, Fr. Ralph Huse SJ.
Weekend Reflections for 12/13/19
The Patience of a Prophet
In the Scriptures a prophet is not someone who foretells the future. He or she is one who looks at the present reality and identifies what is of God and what is not.
In Sunday’s first reading Isaiah realizes that the Hebrews are about to be set free from their captors and allowed to return home. He describes this homecoming with images of nature and healing: deserts will bloom with flowers and the sick and disabled be healed. These are the signs that Emmanuel (God is with us) has come to His people.
In the Gospel John the Baptist’s disciples ask Jesus “if he is the one to come, or should we look for another?” Jesus tells them to look around and see what he is doing. He is healing the sick and preaching the good news to the poor. In his letter St. James encourages us to be patient like the prophets until we see and recognize the coming of the Lord. In this Advent season of waiting we ask for the grace to see the signs of the Lord’s presence among us in how we treat one another.
Fr. Ralph Huse, S.J.
Weekend Reflections for 11/29/19
First Sunday of Advent
On Sunday we begin the season of Advent, a time of waiting and preparing for the coming of the Lord. Of course He came to earth two thousand years ago and we celebrate that on Christmas but our faith and experience tell us that He comes into our reality every moment of our lives. Our God loves us with an unbelievable love and is always sharing our time and space.
Most of us hate to wait for anyone or anything. One of my doctors always keeps me waiting in the exam room for at least an hour. If he wasn’t such a good doctor whom I trust, I’d find another one. Children often ask, “Is it time yet, are we there yet?” Advent waiting can help us to be aware that it’s always time and we’re always there. God is here and Christ is now, wherever we are and whenever it is.
Sunday’s Responsorial Psalm is “Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.” This weekend try to be aware and share that expectation as you prepare and leave for church and then enter the house of the Lord.
Fr. Ralph Huse, S.J.
Weekend Reflections for 11/22/19
What's in a king? The upcoming solemnity of Christ the King of the Universe brings to a close our Church liturgical year, before the new year begins the first Sunday of Advent.
How do we envision Christ as king? Shakespeare clearly had his pulse on the true nature of kingship when he wrote his great work King Lear. The king in the play initially lords his power over the people, and his kingship is but a show of force. But after he is stripped of his regal privileges by two of his scheming daughters, he learns compassion for the common folk by walking with them for the first time. Thus he arrives at an understanding of true kingship--and humility, he learns, is the key. No king worth his salt can ever lose track of the commoner, but rather must always keep his plight in the forefront of his mind and in his heart.
This Sunday's Gospel invites us to reflect on true kingship as manifested by Jesus on the cross. What a paradox for a kingly throne! Next to Jesus, the crucified thief asks Jesus to remember him when he enters his Kingdom. Jesus responds that he will indeed be with him in that Kingdom "today"!
Here we realize, perhaps for the first time in history, that God's kingdom is one of Compassion. And there is nothing more powerful than Godly Compassion. It not only sustains the entire universe, but even more amazingly, redeems it.
You and I are baptized into that same Kingship of Christ and thus are called to be instruments of his radical Compassion. Thus the mark of authentic kingship we are all called to exercise is a powerful spirit of Compassion that meets people in their misery and draws them into God's Mercy.
Christ Our King, reign in our hearts and minds and bodies!
-Fr. Anthony Wieck, SJ
Weekend Reflections for 11/15/19
Jesus occasionally has to remind us that the things we find most stabilizing in this world will have to be broken down, and only reassembled insofar as they point to God. The Temple of his time, so huge and sturdy, would be destroyed within 40 years, as he promised...unthinkable for believers of his time.
Jesus goes on to promise that families will experience tumult. Many children will leave the right path, even confronting fellow siblings or parents in the spirit of the age. For them. the unholy spirit of "offense" will proceed that of "rebellion." The foundation stones of family stability will indeed be uprooted. In this time of crisis Christ will be our only rock; indeed our families will find their solidity only insofar as they are ever-anew built on Christ.
On the personal level, humility will be necessary to accept my own being broken down. Everything in my life must be rebuilt on Christ. Even those natural gifts which have brought me so far till now will have to be reordered only to the building up of the Body of Christ. Am I ready to surrender these to such a purpose?
Jesus is tough sometimes, and he's not afraid to allow the edifices of our family and individual persons to be razed so as to build them back up on more solid foundations. One day we will be incredibly grateful In the meantime it is both scary and painful.
-Fr. Anthony Wieck, SJ
Weekend Reflections for 11/8/19
Marriage in this life is a privileged way to live within the covenant of God, a covenant that requires continual self-gift. Marriage is really a training in sacrifice (literally, "making holy"). Religious life is also.
In this Sunday's gospel, Jesus reminds us that marriage, with its double purpose of continual openness to children and mutual sanctification of the spouses, will no longer be necessary in heaven. Our focus there will be on an ever-deepening relationship with God, joined with all the saints, including loved ones from this life. There is no more need for children in heaven for no one will die, says Jesus. No more need for mutual sanctification either, for all will be sanctified.
As with last week's gospel, humility is the key. To allow myself to be drawn into the eternal covenant of heaven requires passing through the narrow door, following a path that is steep, a path of sacrifice, whether in married life or religious life (or a life where neither opportunity becomes available). But the vistas and rewards after ascending the summit--by Gods grace and through humble self-sacrifice--will be out of this world!
-Fr. Anthony Wieck, SJ
Weekend Reflections for 11/3/19
Luke's Gospel this Sunday tells us that Jesus intended to pass through Jericho (the oldest city in the world today--10,000 years old) but was waylaid by Zacchaeus. Somehow the Lord changes his original plan when you or I welcome him unexpectedly.
Zacchaeus' small stature speaks to his humility, which attracted Our Lord greatly. Jesus decided to spend the night with his family even, thanks to Zacchaeus' overt humility. This has deeply Eucharistic connotations for us, and our call to receive Our Lord similarly.
The Zacchaeus scene reminds me of a 1970s song my family used to regularly sing from the Medical Mission Sisters...https://youtu.be/D_bMXh9dyRo
I always loved their Scripturally-based music. f you and I choose the path of humility, salvation will come to our household also. What will it look like for me to receive Our Lord more humbly?
-Fr. Anthony Wieck, SJ