Fr. Bob’s Weekly Reflections

Your friend has not returned your call for three days. You know they are going through a difficult time, but now you are worried.

Let’s begin by asking a question: were you ever hungry for something but you didn’t know what? You know, you see the ads on TV and you go to the refrigerator, and open the door, and look at everything on the shelves, and say, I’m hungry for something, but not that melon, or that chicken. Or were you ever thirsty for something and did not know what for?

Scripture tells us that there is nothing new under the sun. That goes for people as well as events. It has been two thousand years since Philip and Andrew from our Gospel story walked this earth, but we all know people just like them.

Samuel Coleridge was an English poet. One day as he woke up he remembered he had dreamed the lines of a poem, even the title, Kubla Kahn. He did not have to compose the lines, they were all in his head.

Amos in our first reading is having a hard time. He has been sent by God to tell the king and government that they should start mending their ways, but no one will listen. The land is at peace, the harvests have been good, and the land is flowing with milk and honey.

Today’s situation in the Gospel must have been very painful for Jesus. He had gone home for a short visit, but instead of receiving a warm welcome He was greeted with a cold shoulder.

Imagine yourself in a large, crowded sports event trying to get toward the exit. People are moving in the same direction, jostling along and bumping into one another. A tap on the arm or tug on the sleeve goes entirely unnoticed.

Today is the Feast of John the Baptist. When we hear his name, a grim picture comes to mind. He was not the Messiah. This he made clear to the crowds who thought he might be.

There is an old truth that we will reap what we sow. That is the metaphor in today’s Gospel, the seeds we sow. As we go through life, we all sow seeds. Do we ever stop and think, what are we planting in our children, our friends, or our co-workers?

It is perhaps the best-known story in human history, the story of Adam and Eve. They ate fruit from the wrong tree. Right in the middle of the garden was one tree that was off limits, they were not to eat its fruit, they were not even to touch it.

How much would you pay a person to die for you? It sounds like a strange question, but people have died for others. Many times in history people have literally given their lives for the sake of others.

Today is Trinity Sunday. Our faith tells us there is but one God, and in thy one God, there are three persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The three persons are really distinct: the Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Father, and the Holy Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son.

Today in the Gospel we read that the disciples of Jesus were hiding. They were hiding in fear behind closed and locked doors. They were shutting out the rest of the world which was hostile, persecuting and terrifying. They felt better huddled together, in isolation and planning what to do next, and where to go.

In our Gospel today we read the prayer of Jesus the night before he died. It is the longest prayer in the Bible. He says, “Father, most Holy, protect them which You have given Me. I gave them Your word and the world has hated them for it.

In Graham Greene’s novels, “The Power and the Glory” the unlikely hero is a priest. He is caught by the revolutionary Mexican government and condemned to be shot. On the night before his execution, he sits in his cell and thinks back over his life.