September 2015

6 September                                Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time 

“He has done all things well. He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak”(Mk 7:37).

Communion Connection – 
There are times we wish we had spoken helpful words to someone, or that we had ‘heard better’ when someone told us about something. These are instances of retrospect and we may be hard on ourselves, wishing we had done things differently – and done them ‘better’. Rather than dwell on these experiences as times of loss, we have the opportunity to make them work for us as times of conversion. Jesus is not only our Teacher, but He is also Messiah, Light, and Truth. We need only turn to Him for healing and direction; for as we work with Him, He will make us whole and all things new.
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 13 September                                Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time 

“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it” (Mk 8:34-35).

Communion Connection –
Jesus invites us to ‘take up the cross’, not resigning ourselves to endure it, not letting it come down and crush us, not even putting up with it by acting with stoicism and detachment. Instead welcome it as a sharing in his cross, as a possibility of living in communion with him even in that suffering, because he first took our cross on his shoulders. In every suffering we can thus find Jesus who has already made it his own. This is relating, it is belonging to Jesus, even to the point of full communion with him, to the point of becoming another Him. And this is the way that we follow Jesus and become true disciples. The cross will then become for us, as for Christ, the way of resurrection. In every weakness we will find strength, in every darkness light, in every death life, because we will find Jesus.
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20 September                                Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

“Taking a child he placed it in their midst, and putting his arms around it he said to them, ‘Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me’” (Mk 9:36-37).

Communion Connection –
Vulnerable, needy, dependent – a little one can be a person of any size or age. What matters is not the number of years lived by a child of God, but that we recognize and receive the need that exists in every person. It’s easy to love the ‘best’ in people, but we are called to “put our arms around” the brokenness that exists in each brother and sister. When we do, we help to love them into wholeness and in doing so we receive into our hearts the very One who created and loves us all.
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27 September                                Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

“’Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward’” (Mk 9:41).
Communion Connection –
It does not matter if we can give a lot or a little. What counts is ‘how’ we give, how much love we put into even a small gesture of attention for someone. Giving a cup of water is a simple act, and yet it is great in the eyes of God if it is done in His name, that is, if it is done out of love. Love is essential because it knows how to draw close to another person simply by being ready to listen and to serve, by being available. Love can help us to discover anew the value of everything we do: from doing housework to working in the garage, to doing paperwork at the office, to doing our homework for school, as well as carrying out our civic, political, and religious duties. Everything can be transformed into attentive and thoughtful service for others, when done as belonging to Christ.

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