10/10/2014 – Friday of 27th week in Ordinary Time – Galatians 3:7-14

       We continue to hear from Paul’s letter to the Galatians today.  Paul explains that those who do have faith receive the same blessing as Abraham – our father in faith.  We receive this blessing regardless of being Jew or Gentile.  Paul explains that Christ came to free us from the covenant of the Jewish Law in to give us the path of faith under the new covenant we have in Christ. This God has made available to all people as a freely given gift.

     Paul, as we know, thought Christianity was open to all, not just to those who were under the Jewish covenant with God.  The saint we celebrate today is Daniel Comboni, who was born in Italy in 1831. His dream was to bring Christianity to Central Africa.  He was ordained the Bishop of Central Africa in 1877. He established a missionary institute for priests and brothers and one for religious sisters to bring the Gospel to Africa. He made 8 missionary trips to Africa.  He wrote about his work in the fields of the Lord in his journal: “Blessed be the Lord. Have no fear. Our lives are in God’s hands. Let God do with them what God wills: we have irrevocably sacrificed them to The Lord. May God be blessed….In baptism we promise and dedicate ourselves to God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  We are called to be a missionary, to spread the good news to all we meet each day through everything we do and to love and serve others. Comboni died in 1881 after an illness at the young age of 50, yet he had this to say: “I am dying, but my work will not die.”  Today there are more than 1,800 Comboni missionaries – priests, brothers, and sisters – working in the mission field throughout the world.  I served as a lay missionary with the Comboni Missionaries for three years in Ecuador.  I am for ever grateful for that opportunity and to help out in the work that they do.  I see Daniel Comboni in the spirit of St Paul, in bringing the Gospel to the world. May we live in that same spirit.  

10/11/2013 – Friday of the 27th week in ordinary time - Luke 11:15-26 -

      The crowds have seen Jesus perform healings and many other miracles. Yet, when they see Jesus drive out a demon, they respond that Jesus must be able to do this from some demonic power inside himself.  Jesus responds to them, saying: “For you say that it is by Beelzebul that I drive out demons. If I, then, drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your own people drive them out?”

       Jesus challenges the crowd: “If Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?”  We can see in the reality of our world today that what Jesus says is true.  There are two kingdoms present in the world today.  Bishop Donald Trautman, the retired bishop of Erie, Pennsylvania, who gave the presentations at our bi-annual diocesan convocation this past week at Christ the King parish in Southaven, called the reality of our society today “secular, critical times.”  This is in contrast to the Kingdom of God that we are to proclaim to the world as Christians. Yes, whoever is not with Jesus is against him; whoever does not gather with him scatters.  Jesus invites those of us who follow him to do so completely & without compromise.  Our act of contrition in the sacrament of reconciliation states that we “firmly resolve, with the help of God’s grace, to confess our sins, to do penance and to amend our life.”  This is the theme of Luke’s gospel passage today: that we are to wholeheartedly follow Jesus as his disciples, without reservation and without caveat.

     Jesus expelled demons in today’s Gospel.  How do we turn to God to expel those things that are the demons in our own lives?  How to we turn away from things that are leading us astray and that are tempting us to go down the wrong path?  We know in our hearts that we cannot do this on our own – only with Jesus' help will our continuing process of repentance and conversion be successful.  Only then can we be true disciples.

10/12/2012 – Friday of 27th week in ordinary time - Luke 11:15-26 -

What an interesting Gospel reading we have today.   The crowds have seen Jesus perform many miracles.  Yet, when they see Jesus drive out a demon, they respond that Jesus must be able to do this from some demonic power inside himself.  Jesus responds to them, saying: “For you say that it is by Beelzebul that I drive out demons. If I, then, drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your own people drive them out?”

Jesus challenges the crowd: “If Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?”  We can see in the reality of our world today that what Jesus says is true: There are two kingdoms – the kingdom of God versus the kingdom of Satan. Yes, whoever is not with Jesus is against him; whoever does not gather with him scatters.

Jesus invites those of us who follow him to do so completely and without compromise.  Our act of contrition in the sacrament of reconciliation states that we “firmly resolve, with the help of God’s grace, to confess our sins, to do penance & to amend our life.”  This is the theme of Luke’s gospel passage today: that we wholeheartedly follow Jesus as his  disciples.

Jesus expelled demons in today’s Gospel.  How do we turn to God to expel those things that are the demons in our own lives?  We cannot do this on our own – only with Jesus' help will our continuing process of repentance and conversion to be successful. 

For those who question the source of Jesus’ power and his authority to heal us and to rid us of the demons that inhibit us, we should remember that our Lord calls us to put our trust in him, to have faith even in those situations that we don’t completely understand. The crowds in today’s Gospel story are very judgmental: We should acknowledge the presence of God that can be in our lives and in the lives of others in so many different ways, & not be so judgmental ourselves.