Tag: bible

Is this worth losing heaven?

by Gerry Palermo, posted in Catholic, Uncategorized
The weeds in question are about 5 ounces in weight and a sandwich bag in volume.

Greetings on this the Wednesday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time
Readings: Eph 6:1-9; Ps 145:10-11, 12-13ab, 13cd-14; Lk 13:22-30

Summary

Define Strive – make great efforts to achieve or obtain something.

He answered them, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough (LK 13:24).

In all the communities which the LORD, your God, is giving you, you shall appoint judges and officials throughout your tribes to administer true justice for the people. You must not distort justice: you shall not show partiality;l you shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes even of the wise and twists the words even of the just. Justice, justice alone shall you pursue, so that you may live and possess the land the LORD, your God, is giving you (Deut 16:18-20).

The city gate is often where the matters of justice are discussed, revealed and decided. The gate: in the city walls. This open space served as the forum for the administration of justice. Cf. 22:15; 25:7; Ru 4:1, 2, 11; Is 29:21; Am 5:10, 12, 15 (NABRE Commentary, https://bible.usccb.org/bible/deuteronomy/21?19=#05021019).

Reflection

Jesus wants us to strive (make great effort) to achieve justice between peoples.

Our first reading states with justice between family members and it expands to people we work with and are responsible for/to.

  • Children – honor and obey your parents.
  • Fathers – do not provoke your children.
  • Slaves – know your true Master and Consolation.
  • Masters – know your true Master and Judge.

Jesus says strive for justice (right relation) with everyone. Make it your life’s work. Your life’s goal.

Personal Reflection

My neighbor has decided to get petty about nearly everything. I was weeding and left some pulled weeds on the water cutoff. Crisis. Why? Because he didn’t get the roof he wanted approved at the Architectural Board meeting. He is seeking his justice. Or Is he seeking his revenge? Many, I tell you, will attempt to enter (by force) but will not be strong enough. We must recognize that revenge and pettiness will never achieve peace nor is it the gate to heaven.

I ignore the parallel things he does with his trash, etc, consistently for a decade or more.

I’m pretty sure neither of these things are the justice Jesus is referring to in his dialog. After all, he is more worried about our entry into heaven not some petty nonsense.

And that is the point, always ask first before responding:

Is this worth losing heaven? Rather let me strive (resist, in this case) the nonsense.

Sacred Readings

Full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/103024.cfm

First Reading

Stop bullying, knowing that both they and you have a Master in heaven and that with him there is no partiality.

Responsorial

The Lord is faithful in all his words.

Gospel Acclamation (See 2 Thes 2:14)

God has called us through the Gospel to possess the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Gospel

And there will be wailing and grinding of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in the Kingdom of God and you yourselves cast out. And people will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will recline at table in the Kingdom of God.

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry

Gird your loins and light your lamps

by Gerry Palermo, posted in Catholic, Justice
A dwelling place of God in the Spirit

Greetings on this the Tuesday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
Readings: EPH 2:12-22; PS 85:9AB-10, 11-12, 13-14; LK 12:35-38

Note

Back from the Appalachian Trail. Photo Collection (partial): https://deacongerrypalermo.blog?s=SOBO
(SOBO = South Bound)

Reference

Good read on peace and justice: https://millennialjournal.com/2013/11/26/pope-francis-evangelii-gaudium-work-for-justice-at-heart-of-discipleship/

Summary

In our readings today we are given the divine goal in a distinct word: Peace. In the entire liturgical reading for the day, 10 instances. Peace is the imperative of the divine love. Man constantly divides the human family into clans, families, tribes, dominions, and countries. The division among us is deep, real and from time immemorial, that is, as early as the fall from grace.

Jesus came to (1) break down the dividing wall of enmity; and (2) abolish the law with its commandments and legal claims by way of the sacrifice of his Flesh. Uniting us as one flesh, not two, much as the gift of marriage offers but this time for all and at once. That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh” Genesis 2:24.

We have become fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God.

Reflection

Peace is work. A particular work of vulnerability and acceptance. We struggle so mightily with these quotes: Kindness and truth shall meet; justice and peace shall kiss.

Jesus, Prince of Peace.

Why? Because kindness and truth are very difficult for us to co-express in our behavior side-by-side. We often consider them to be opposites. Yet, in the divine logic, Truth without kindness is cruelty. Kindness without truth is patronizing.

Peace for those who know nothing but pain.

Why? Justice and peace are very difficult for us to co-exist in our behavior side-by-side. We often consider them to be opposites. Yet, in the divine logic, Justice without peace is revenge. Peace without justice is slavery.

Divine Justice is subordinate to Mercy

To which Jesus says: hey, “Gird your loins and light your lamps”. To gird means to encircle yourself with a belt and to prepare is to do something difficult.

The belt is to surround yourself with the foundation of the Apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone. Through him the whole structure is held together. The preparation is to grow into a temple sacred in the Lord; in him you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Jesus promises that those who work together for peace: Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival. Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them. You become the peace you work for. OR. You can continue to be a source of division.

Personal Reflection

The work I do for the kingdom can only be truly fruitful if it is built on/in/with the belt of the Church and impelled in the gift of the person of the Holy Spirit. Only then, with divine inspiration, can I imagine kindness and truth coexisting in me and justice and peace living in harmony in my proximity. It’s work. In the heart. It’s work. In the body. But it’s the work of the Father. But Jesus answered them, “My Father is at work until now, so I am at work (Jn 5:17).

Call to Action

Light your lamp! Let’s go! Consider ways to bring truth in kindness. Imagine ways you can be peace with justice.

Sacred Readings

Full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/102224.cfm

First Reading

For he is our peace, he made both one and broke down the dividing wall of enmity, through his Flesh, abolishing the law with its commandments and legal claims, that he might create in himself one new person in place of the two, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile both with God, in one Body, through the cross, putting that enmity to death by it.

So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone.

Responsorial

The Lord speaks of peace to his people.

Gospel Acclamation

Be vigilant at all times and pray that you may have the strength to stand before the Son of Man.

Gospel

Jesus said to his disciples: “Gird your loins and light your lamps and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival. Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them.

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry

Sowing and Plowing: Exploring the Meaning and Symbolism

by Gerry Palermo, posted in Catholic, creation
Picture is not broadcast sowing but AI is not smart enough to give me a good image

Greetings on this the Wednesday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Readings: Jer 1:1, 4-10; Ps 71:1-2, 3-4a, 5-6ab, 15 and 17; Mt 13:1-9

Sow what

A little word play there. Here is the NABRE commentary on the Parable of the Sower.

Since in Palestine sowing often preceded plowing, much of the seed is scattered on ground that is unsuitable. Yet while much is wasted, the seed that falls on good ground bears fruit in extraordinarily large measure. The point of the parable is that, in spite of some failure because of opposition and indifference, the message of Jesus about the coming of the kingdom will have enormous success.

Reference: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mt/13?3#48013003

Sow and Plow (Plough)

Sowing is to broadcast seed in a sweeping motion across the field to be later harvested. The sowing action is the first step. After sowing the farmer will then plow the earth to break up the soil and provide two benefits: (1) cover the seeds to protect them from birds; and (2) to make the soil ready to receive and hold the rain water.

Astro Science

If you want to take a cosmic view then this video on the James Webb Telescope Summary of Amazing Discoveries is a great place to start.

Astroscience reveals the scattering of all the elements of Earthly life, from the very beginning

Summary

The seeds of God’s love is sown in a broadcast form. Meaning that the Lord does not scatter seed in little increments or for a select few but generously and completely across the entirety of living things, past, present and future. In particular for men a broadcast of the needed forgiveness and mercy we so desperately need.

In this natural state people respond, well, naturally. Sometimes responsive and sometimes not so well. Yet the Lord is not done. There is the plowing to come. In this second phase the Lord helps us to integrate these blessings into a fruitful life and a happy life.

The gift of the Son and the Holy Spirit is the covering over and aiding in the protection and growth of the seed within our hearts. Ya gotta dig a little dirt to get the best out of the blessings.

Reflection

Scattering blessings is a starting point. It is the evidence of the generosity of the Lord. He does not stop there. He sends gifts of himself (the Son and the Holy Spirit) to make the scattered seed grow.

Personal Reflection

It is always a cooperative effort between the divine and the human to bring about fruitfulness. You are not alone. You’re covered.

Sacred Readings

Full link: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/072424.cfm

First Reading

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you.

Responsorial

I will sing of your salvation.

Gospel Acclamation

The seed is the word of God, Christ is the sower; all who come to him will live for ever.

Gospel

The Parable of the Sower.

On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd stood along the shore. And he spoke to them at length in parables.

“A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. Whoever has ears ought to hear.”

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry

‘Rise and Walk’: Reflecting on Authority, Forgiveness, and Justice

by Gerry Palermo, posted in Catholic
Judge Rightly

Greetings on this the Thursday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Readings: Am 7:10-17; Ps 19:8, 9, 10, 11; Mt 9:1-8

Amos the Shepherd and Dresser of Sycamores

Amos was a regular guy and he had a tough job. He was given the task to warn Israel of its errors and be a voice of reason to get back to right relations.

His climactic denunciation for Israel, whose injustice and idolatry are sins against the light granted to her. Israel could indeed expect the day of the Lord, but it would be a day of darkness and not light (5:18) … Amos’s message stands as one of the most powerful voices ever to challenge hypocrisy and injustice. He boldly indicts kings, priests, and leaders (USCCB commentary).

Summary

It is a popular thing to discuss free-will and the divine patience – derided by some as constraining! and by others too patient!

  • Justice now – if it is for me.
  • Free Will – only for me, not him.

Amos shatters that by reminding everyone that hypocrisy and injustice are the true sins. In our gospel portion today, we are given an even more marvelous truth! If Amos is given the task of reminding us to keep right relations, then Jesus is reminding us that the LORD has given every power under heaven to build the righteous kingdom (absence of hypocrisy and injustice). Read these words again when Jesus heals the man with a withered hand. He forgave his sin and he cured his body.

When the crowds saw this they were struck with awe and glorified God who had given such authority to men.

Reflection

For those who rail at Gos fail to recognize He has turned over every power and duty to us. Amos is one example. Jesus another. Here these words as well: Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, “You are gods”’? (Jn 10:34).

Personal Reflection

We just need to own our responsibility, power and duty this Fourth of July. I am in awe that we have been given the power to forgive, to heal and to be just and avoid hypocrisy. Seems to me that is the right relation.

Sacred Readings

Full link: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/070424.cfm

First Reading

Amos answered Amaziah, “I was no prophet, nor have I belonged to a company of prophets; I was a shepherd and a dresser of sycamores. The LORD took me from following the flock, and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ Now hear the word of the LORD!”

Responsorial

The judgments of the Lord are true, and all of them are just.

Gospel Acclamation

God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

Gospel

Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”– he then said to the paralytic, “Rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home.” He rose and went home. When the crowds saw this they were struck with awe and glorified God who had given such authority to men.

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry

Heart, Soul and Strength (love with)

by Gerry Palermo, posted in Catholic
2022 Feast Guatemala Maya

Greetings on this the Thursday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time
Readings: 2 Tm 2:8-15; Ps 25:4-5ab, 8-9, 10 and 14; Mk 12:28-34

Notes

Yesterday I did not post as I was attending the PBC Food Bank grand opening of a new kitchen and dining room for the food insecure. I made a Wordless Wednesday out of it which will publish in two weeks time. Here is the news report. At 1:17 Guillermo and I are walking out of the kitchen toward the dining room for the homeless. We are two old men! I’m the hunched over one.

Guillermo Carrasco
Deacon Gerry

Summary

In our sacred readings today we learn the great lessons of faith.

Early Saying (x-ref Creedal values)

  1. Die to live.
  2. Persevere to reign.
  3. Remain faithful and do not deny Christ.

Argumentative and Unproductive Talk

  1. Wordiness and minor theological disputes are worthless.
  2. Topics that are not concerned with salvation useless and unworthy of our time.

Present Yourselves

  1. To God without disgrace.
  2. As a workman for righteousness.
  3. With truthful speech and no add-ons, deviations, conjecture, idle secular inserts.

The Psalmist helps us further

  1. All the paths of the LORD are kindness and constancy.
  2. Keep his covenant and his decrees.
  3. Act with friendship of the LORD in awe.
  4. Allow the New Covenant in Jesus to give its instruction.

Gospel says it succinctly

  1. God is One.
  2. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.
  3. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Reflection

The sacred Scripture portions today remind us to act rightly toward God and our fellow man. These two commandments are inseparable and the greatest.

  • Love with your heart – do right things with love. Love as noun and verb (affection and interest).
  • Love with your soul – with the most interior nature of yourself. Go deep!
  • Love with your strength – employing all you have of time, talents and treasures.

Personal Reflection

I rely upon the psalmist promise: Good and upright is the LORD; thus he shows sinners the way. He guides the humble to justice, he teaches the humble his way. I stumble through as often as I am deliberate in action and thought. Often the stumbling and bumbling have the best outcomes.

Scripture Readings

Full readings here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/060624.cfm

First Reading

Stop disputing about words. Be eager to present yourself as acceptable to God, a workman who causes no disgrace, imparting the word of truth without deviation.

Responsorial

Teach me your ways, O Lord.

All the paths of the LORD are kindness and constancy toward those who keep his covenant and his decrees. The friendship of the LORD is with those who fear him, and his covenant, for their instruction.

Gospel Acclamation

Our Savior Jesus Christ has destroyed death and brought life to light through the Gospel.

Gospel

Which is the first of all the commandments?

Jesus replied, “The first is this:

  • The first is this: Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.
  • The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
  • There is no other commandment greater than these.

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry

Embracing Intelligibility in Chaos: Biblical and Chaos Theory Perspectives

by Gerry Palermo, posted in Catholic, Easter
Perception can be interior. It can also be universal. This image is t first chaotic but it reveals things it has no actual association with, directly, but related by inferrance.

Greetings on this the Saturday of the Sixth Week of Easter
Readings: Acts 18:23-28; PS 47:2-3, 8-9, 10; Jn 16:23b-28

Notes

Chaos theory is a method of qualitative and quantitative analysis to investigate the behavior of dynamic systems that cannot be explained and predicted by single data relationships, but must be explained and predicted by whole, continuous data relationships. Chaos theory concerns deterministic systems whose behavior can, in principle, be predicted. Chaotic systems are predictable for a while and then ‘appear’ to become random. (Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_theory).

Summary

In our first reading today, we learn that Paul has stabilized in his understanding of his mission and purpose. Highest order was to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ and his personal encounter with Jesus (Theophany by action and words). Then he allowed himself to enter into an orderly sequence of visitations, instructions, correspondence and leadership. All the while being nudged by the Lord to return to Jerusalem as the 3rd and final missionary journey waypoint to Rome. He knew he was headed to Rome well in advance of his actual travel.

An orderly sequence.

Reflection

Jesus used an orderly sequence: parables, figures of speech, then direct and clearly about the Father. As chaotic as the world seems to be:

  1. We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose (Rom 8:28).
  2. I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world (Jn 16:33).

Personal Reflection

As I go about living in a chaotic world, I do try and remember that there is intelligibility that I cannot sense. An orderly sequence that at times seems impossible and other times, like when the fog lifts for a moment, a clearly articulated path. So I take heart in the words of Jesus:

For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have come to believe that I came from God (Jn 16:27).

First Reading

After staying in Antioch some time, Paul left and traveled in orderly sequence through the Galatian country and Phrygia, bringing strength to all the disciples.

Responsorial

God is king of all the earth.

All you peoples, clap your hands;
shout to God with cries of gladness.
For the LORD, the Most High, the awesome,
is the great king over all the earth.

Gospel Acclamation

I came from the Father and have come into the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.

Gospel

Jesus said to his disciples: For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have come to believe that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world. Now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry

P.S.

Added an AI generated image. Not sure I like it but it is what it is. The image relates the cosmos to the natural Earthly elements and living things and perhaps one part of the image invokes an identity for extra-Earthly beings.

What do you exhale?

by Gerry Palermo, posted in Catholic
Exhale – what do we exhale?

Greetings on this the Wednesday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Readings: 1 Kgs 10:1-10; PS 37:5-6, 30-31, 39-40; Mk 7:14-23

Notes

Defile means to:

  1. damage the purity or integrity of.
  2. impair the appearance of; disfigure.
  3. diminish or destroy the value or quality of.

Jesus summoned the crowd again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.”

Summary

It is such a key difference than some would understand things to be, that is, to understand the word defile as an interior condition brought about by an expression of an interior problem. But what comes out of the man, that is what defiles him.

“But what comes out of the man, that is what defiles him. From within the man, from his heart, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.

People can experience all sort of terrible events and circumstances. These events and actions of others cannot and never will defile you. You dignity given from the divine at the moment of your creation is yours forever. You have the dignity of the divine breath, rauh of the Lord. Thus says God, the LORD,…Who gives breath to its people and spirit to those who walk on it (ISA 42:5ac).

What is defiling is different. It is the impure thoughts turned to actions. Our imperfect state as it is of itself does not defile. It is the failure to master one’s self and allow the negative impulses to take action. These defile-able thoughts can be purified by us with the help of God into their actual expression intended from the beginning.

Reflection

We can convert what we exhale by what we inhale. The process of sanctification and holiness makes for a purifying conversion from the heart:

  • An evil thought can be upgraded to a holy thought.
  • An unchaste impulse into innocense.
  • A desire to theft into a charitable heart.
  • A desire to murder into a self-giving heart.
  • A desire to adultery into discovery of your Other.
  • A desire to greed into generosity.
  • A desire to malice into kindness.
  • A desire to deceit into a truth seeker.
  • A desire to licentiousness into self-control.
  • A desire to envy into appreciation.
  • A desire to blasphemy into praising God these transformations.
  • A desire to arrogance into humility.
  • A desire to folly into joyfulness and mirth.

Then let all these things come out of you!

Personal Reflection

We live in an age of deflection and projection. Everyone, myself included, suffer from this to one degree or another. The Queen of Sheba doubted Solomon but came and asked all her questions to her satisfaction. As a result: She was breathless. Remember this: you must exhale in order to inhale. You cannot have one without the other. We must learn to exhale that which is holy.

From the list above we can chose what we exhale. I’d rather the conversion.

Having exhausted, exhaled, all she doubted she came to understand. Blessed be the LORD, your God.

First Reading

Solomon’s Listening Heart: The Queen of Sheba.

The queen of Sheba, having heard of Solomon’s fame, came to test him with subtle questions. She came to Solomon and questioned him on every subject in which she was interested. King Solomon explained everything she asked about, and there remained nothing hidden from him that he could not explain to her.

She was breathless.

Blessed be the LORD, your God, whom it has pleased to place you on the throne of Israel. In his enduring love for Israel, the LORD has made you king to carry out judgment and justice.”

Responsorial

The mouth of the just murmurs wisdom.

Gospel Acclamation

Your word, O Lord, is truth: consecrate us in the truth.

Gospel

“But what comes out of the man, that is what defiles him. From within the man, from his heart, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within and they defile.”

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry