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Reflections on the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C, September 2, 2007
by Richard Linneberger
You are invited to a banquet this weekend! No RSVP required.
Yes, it is true — you and I are invited to a banquet. We don’t even have to respond in writing or call. Simply show up!
If you are reading this article, you have a standing invitation to that banquet. We have been invited and now we are simply asked to respond by showing up.
And the guest list? Quite honestly, I’m not sure we would invite those on the guest list to our homes. Or would we?
In today’s Gospel reading Jesus tells us to invite outcasts to our table and not just our friends. Jesus also tells us not to take the seats of honor at the banquet, but to take the lowest place of honor. Leave it to the host or hostess to invite us closer!
What is this banquet to which we are invited? It is none other than the banquet of the Eucharist.
The host is the Lord Jesus himself. He prepares the banquet, sets it before us and invites us to share in his very self.
And what about all the other guests who are invited? Who are they? Or better phrased, who are WE?
We are sinners. We are women and men who have missed the mark of living lives of love, compassion, mercy, justice and peace.
If you’re like me, you do not like having mean-spirited and hurtful people around you – much less do I like inviting these individuals to my home. Yet you and I are the sinners and the outcasts who are invited to this banquet. We are the ones present at this banquet.
The “we” at this banquet are also the saints in our midst. They are the caregivers of elderly parents or relatives. These are the parents surrounding their children with lavish love and concern. They are the friends who take time from their busy lives to support us when we are down. You and I sit with the saints for we are all invited to the banquet.
At this banquet we are invited to “come higher.” If we are a saint or sinner, the host calls us to come forward, to come higher, to approach him closely and intimately. Whether we are seated in the back pew, first pew or middle pew, we are told to “come forward.” Jesus says: “Come to me, be next to me — come higher!”
At the banquet this weekend, look around. Remember and see who the host is. Remember we are sinners. Remember there are saints in our midst. And hear the words addressed to you and me: “Come forward… come to me… be next to me… come closely and intimately with me… come higher.”
You are invited to a banquet this weekend! No RSVP required.
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Sending a child off to college
by Mary Hood Hart
Family life is characterized by routines. Sometimes, these routines seem boring, uninspiring. Didn’t I just do five loads of wash? Could it possibly be time for a dental checkup, already? Does the yard need mowing so soon?
Other household routines are unique, full of promise. One of those is the preparation for a new school year. No matter how many children in the family, no matter how many years we’ve been in the cycle of the academic year, the routine of preparing for school feels as fresh as ever.
I’ll never forget the summer before our oldest attended kindergarten. Thinking back, I now laugh at how fraught with anxiety I was. With the amount of emotional energy I invested in Katie’s first year of school, you’d think she was heading off for combat.
It’s easy for me now, from the perspective of years, to see how over-invested I was in the experience, yet at the time I had no other perspective. In the end, we all managed just fine.
Now, I approach my children’s school years with a more seasoned perspective, yet the drama continues. Now, we are sending our third child to college, and our youngest is entering her junior year of high school.
Of the two, Charlie’s leaving for college is the more dramatic event this year, and similar off-to-college experiences are being played out in households across the country.
What I’ve learned from my experience of sending a child to college are a few practical tips: No matter how much your son eats at home, don’t buy the largest meal plan (you’ll end up with a lot of uneaten meals.) Don’t bring too much stuff. You’ll be sorry when you’re unpacking the car and hauling it to the dorm. (You can always get more later, if you must.)
Buy used textbooks whenever you can. In many areas of college life, our family has come to discover that less is best.
Indeed, as you prepare your child for college, everyone tries to sell you something: from prime parking spaces to laundry service to regularly delivered “care packages.” It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking your freshman needs luxuries. The marketing suggests that you will make your student’s transition to college much smoother if you relieve your student from the burden of washing her own clothes or by having a “welcome gift” of goodies awaiting him on move-in day.
And the temptation is to buy into the idea that a “caring” parent would do everything to make life easier at college for a beloved child.
Yet before we fall prey to guilt-induced purchases, we need to consider what we hope our children gain from college life. What do we want our young people to learn in college, besides the obvious (academics)?
Isn’t part of leaving home the opportunity to become self-sufficient, independent? We don’t do young people any favors by making life’s little burdens disappear. In fact, it’s often in doing little tasks for themselves that our sons and daughters develop confidence to tackle the larger ones. (And, ideally, the opportunities for self-sufficiency should begin long before they head off for the college dorm.)
Soon, our third child will enter college. And while the practical aspects of preparing for the experience have become easier, the emotional experience remains as fresh and raw as ever.
We will take leave of our son with high hopes and with heavy hearts. We know that as he enters this phase of his life, he will need us less and less. We pray that he will find in university life opportunities to develop– intellectually, to be sure, but also spiritually, psychologically, emotionally, and socially.
We hope that the people, ideas, and experiences he encounters will challenge him to grow as a student, a friend, a Christian, a man.
As he is sent forth to a new life, we pray he will always think of his family home as the place where he is deeply loved.
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J-O-Y, Just offer yourself
by Barbara Hughes
All weekend long the thought kept coming to me, “If you want to experience joy, Just Offer Yourself.”
It was the Women’s Cursillo weekend and I was part of the team, once again serving as a spiritual advisor. As always, the weekend was a source of grace, challenge and affirmation. But more importantly, Cursillo continues to be a testimony to the power of the Holy Spirit.
The women arrive on Thursday evening not knowing what to expect. Some come with a tinge of apprehension; others seem to bring a truckload.
When I made my Cursillo 29 years ago, I fell into the latter category. I wasn’t sure why I was there or if I would get anything out of it but, as the weekend progressed, I discovered there was much to learn about myself and my walk with the Lord.
In the end, it turned out to be one of those life altering experiences.
That’s the beauty of an encounter with God. We receive living water, in exactly the right amount, even when we have no idea that we are thirsty. And so in the process we learn to place our trust in the goodness of God.
As mysterious as it all sounds, the reality is God works through people.
Most people come to a Cursillo because someone invited them. On the weekend, people of various ages and backgrounds learn they have much in common. More often than not, it’s their realization of a common woundedness that unites them and when the Holy Spirit enters into the mix, wonderful things are bound to happen.
For those not familiar with the movement, Cursillo is a worldwide spiritual awakening that begins on Thursday evening and ends on Sunday afternoon. Men and women attend the weekend separately and I recently learned that the one that took place August 9-12 was the 401st Cursillo to be held in the Diocese of Richmond. Now that’s a lot of grace!
From the 20 to 30 somethings to white haired grandparents and great-grandparents, all leave with a deeper appreciation for their faith and the presence of God in their lives.
And since God meets every person where they are, it’s impossible to say what Cursillo is except that it’s an opportunity to be free from the regular worries and distractions of life so that you can spend time with God. Those who make a Cursillo weekend leave with joy-filled hearts.
In a way it’s a type of Pentecost. Just as each person at that first Pentecost heard the message of salvation in their native tongue, so every person who attends the Cursillo hears the Lord’s special message to them in the secret of their heart. It truly is an encounter with God.
Those who encounter the wonder and power of God often come away from the weekend on what is referred to as a spiritual high. But until we’ve been lifted high on the cross, we haven’t really encountered Christ, for Jesus reminded us we must pick up our cross daily if we desire to follow him.
Some days this is easier than others but the beauty is: if we fail one time, another opportunity is just a moment away for grace is always with us. And over time we discover that we never give more than we receive.
This truth has once again been reinforced in my life. The day after the Cursillo ended, my mother–in-law came to live with us. Cancer has returned and she is dying. It is a graced opportunity for our family to treasure every stage of life as a gift from God, no matter how debilitated one becomes.
Yes, sacrifice is involved, but so is grace and that’s what makes it not only possible but a privilege.
It is an opportunity to put into practice the words that kept coming to me on the Cursillo weekend. “If you want to experience joy, just offer yourself.”
Not everyone is called to care for a loved one during the end stages of life, but we are all called to offer ourselves to God. We experience this in a heartfelt desire to love God but, until we translate that desire into real time and real circumstances, the desire is merely wishful thinking. And so it’s little wonder that the spirit of joy escapes many.
Joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit but as with any gift from God, it is not forced upon us. God loves us too much not to honor our free will and so he invites us to offer ourselves with him on the altar as an ongoing gift of love.
Each time we offer ourselves, we mirror the sacrifice of Calvary and that’s what being Eucharist is about. It’s about allowing God to take us and bless us, to break us and then pass us around to feed his people.
It’s the folly of the cross and a stumbling block for nonbelievers. But those who embrace the Mystery are filled with a deep appreciation for a God who so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son so that we might experience the joy of life now and forever.
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Copyright © 2006 The Catholic Virginian Press. Articles from Catholic News Services, including Fr. Dietzen’s column, may not be reproduced here due to copyright considerations.
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