Thirty Third Sunday of the Year

In a talk in 2013, Pope Francis urged students to develop the virtue of magnanimity ‘It means having a great heart, having greatness of mind, having great ideals, the desire to do great things in response to what God asks of us. It means also to do well the routine…daily actions, tasks meetings with people—doing the little everyday things with a great heart open to God and to others.’ The woman in Proverbs exhibiting compassion, generosity, hospitality, devotion, and commitment shares her gifts generously with family and the wider community. Her actions were done ‘with a great heart open to God and to others.’ Though some misogynistic interpretations downplay it, she is presented as a ‘woman of power’ where her work is affirmed as examples of strength, not subordination. All people are called to be like the woman of power.

Thirty Second Sunday of the Year

Today’s Gospel reminds us that God’s surprising or unpredictable presence can come upon us. This is the way that God chooses to call, send, or encounter people. In fact, God is always present but the surprise is on us. Life presents us with lots of unknowns and we need to be ready for them. Maya Angelou says: ‘Hoping for the best, prepared for the worst, and unsurprised by anything in between.’ We are call to be concerned in every moment to build God’s reign by sharing the oil of justice, mercy, and all the blessings so critically needed in our world today. The gospel focuses on doing things differently. The ‘oil’ in the gospel is not the commodity people fight over but about thinking and acting differently. It may involve looking ‘foolish’ according to the world whether business, politics, or religion because it is God who is working whether we recognise it or not.

Thirty First Sunday of the Year

Matthew’s gospel begins and ends with the revelation that Jesus is ‘God with us’ (1:23-24) and will be with us until the end of time (28:20). This presence is also a call to be a life-giving presence to others in our little corner of the world. Religious leaders are being addressed by Malachi and Matthew for their shortcomings, for failing to facilitate the right understanding of divine teaching in the context of their times. This still occurs as so many people today seem to be excluded from a formation to think critically and have not been supported and accompanied in the challenges they face.

Thirtieth Sunday of the Year

In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus boldly faces the lawyers out to trip him up. He reduces all 613 commandments in Israelite law to one word: love. We know not what these interrogators hoped Jesus’ answer when asked about the most important law. Jesus responded by quoting the Shema, which Moses taught Israel to hold central, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind’ (Dt. 6:4-5). He said it is ‘the greatest and first commandment’ (Mt. 22:38). But what does this love of God look like? How do we know we are living it? 

Twenty Ninth Sunday of the Year

A Prayer for Peace in Israel and Palestine
Rose Marie Berger Sojourners October 9, 2023

“They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain...” —Isaiah 11:9

God of Comfort,
send your Spirit to encompass all those whose lives
are torn apart by violence and death in Israel and Palestine.
You are the Advocate of the oppressed
and the One whose eye is on the sparrow.
Let arms reach out in healing, rather than aggression.
Let hearts mourn rather than militarize.