Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Reflection . . .

 

https://www.catholicwomenpreach.org/preaching/07122026July 12, 2026

Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Olivia Catherine

Hastie

You would think—growing up in New England—I would be better at enduring the cold, gray winters. And every year, somewhere around February, I convince myself that I am. But then late May arrives with its return of sunlight, and I realize just how much of myself had gone dormant. I return to myself. Suddenly I remember what I love. I remember that I am nourished by warmth, by breathing in the clarity of ocean air, by evenings stretched long around tables with friends, and by the exhilarating chill of plunging into the Atlantic, by lilacs, hydrangeas, and beach roses bursting into color. Creation itself seems nourished back into fullness.

In summer’s light, the seeds buried deep in the earth seem to awaken too. They stretch toward life, toward growth. And perhaps that is why Jesus so often speaks to us in the language of gardens, soil, seeds, and harvest. We, like the earth, need certain conditions to come alive. We long to discover the fullness of who we are and to live into the truth of who we are meant to be. In today’s Gospel, we are the seeds, and yet we are also each other’s co-sowers.

Throughout my life, I have always felt a pull toward my vocation as a theologian, but I scattered myself across so many different places because I wanted to try things out. Sometimes, the birds came and ate the seeds up quickly. Other times, I felt the slow pain of the earth scorching around me until those seeds seemed too far gone to salvage. And still, there were moments where the soil where I planted myself was rich enough to bear fruit.

Anyone who knows me knows that my ministry with adults with intellectual disabilities at L’Arche is a cornerstone of who I am. And yet, strangely enough, it is not where I spend the bulk of my time anymore. But it remains the place I return to over and over again to remember something essential about myself and about the world.

Core members—folks with disabilities—ask me questions about myself in both a literal and cosmic sense. They hold up mirrors to the parts of myself I want to hide—the impatient parts, the insecure parts, the exhausted parts, the parts of me obsessed with achievement and productivity and appearing put together. And at the same time, they continually invite me into a more honest and tender way of living. They prompt me, again and again, to ask: what is the best way to live? What actually makes a life fruitful?

My fellow assistants—many of whom have become some of my closest friends—do this too. They call me into becoming my best self without awakening shame. They offer a kind of presence so rare in the world: a non-judgmental place of rest.

And I think that is what Jesus is getting at in today’s Gospel. Soil does not become fruitful through force or perfection. Good soil is soil that has been tended to. Softened. Nourished. Given water and sunlight and time. L’Arche has been that kind of soil for me, and let me tell you, it took many test runs.

For a long time, I thought that vocation was mostly about finding the right thing to do—finding the useful, marketable skill to make money and live: The right career. The right ministry. The right path. But in these last several years, as I have nurtured the beginning of my adult life, I have come to believe that vocation is just as much about finding the communities and relationships that make it possible for us to become who God is calling us to be.

In the parable, the seed is good from the very beginning. It was made good. And in the parable we come to see that the problem is never the seed itself. The question is whether it has the conditions necessary to grow and bloom.

I think many of us are tempted to spend our lives wondering whether we are enough. Whether we are talented enough, faithful enough, disciplined enough, holy enough. We look at the places where we have struggled, where things have not worked out, where our efforts have failed, and we begin to wonder whether the problem is us. To quote Taylor Swift, we might be tempted to say “It's me, hi, I’m the problem, it's me.”

But Jesus offers a different perspective. Sometimes the issue is not the seed. Sometimes the issue is that the seed landed among rocks, or thorns, or ground that had not yet been prepared. Growth requires relationships. It requires care. It requires belonging.  

That has certainly been true in my own life. Every meaningful transformation I can point to came not because I worked harder or became more impressive, but because someone made room for me to grow. Good teachers played to my strengths and watched me soar. My parents nurtured the earth around me so that I could thrive. Someone believed there was something worth cultivating. Sometimes we drop our seeds in the wrong places and we have to start all over again. But what a gift to be on a journey to find that perfect, just right soil.

We are also invited to be co-sowers in one another's lives. We help create the conditions where growth becomes possible. We encourage one another when the harvest seems distant.

The truth is that none of us grows alone. We rely on people who soften the hard ground around us. We ask our friends and family to help us navigate the things that get in the way of joy. We gather near the people whose presence reminds us that growth happens quietly, beneath the surface, long before anyone can see it.

Seeds do not stop being alive simply because growth is not yet visible. Beneath the surface, God is still at work.

And as we all bask in the joy of summer’s warmth, vibrancy, and sunshine, may we be reminded of this feeling when the trees are bare in the dead of winter. When the sun is setting before 4 pm (at least for me in Boston), when the mornings are sub zero. That the promise of a summer bloom for creation, is also the promise of growth and blooming in our own lives. I leave us with the words of Pope Francis from On Hope.

"Let us be confident as we await the coming of [our God], and what the desert may represent in our life — each one knows what desert [we are] walking in — it will become a garden in bloom. Hope does not disappoint!"

So scatter your seeds and continue the journey of finding that just-right soil. It is promised.

https://www.catholicwomenpreach.org/preacher/olivia-catherine-hastie

A Blessing for Suffering . . .

 

Prayer: A Blessing for the Suffering by John O’Donohue – from Eternal Echoes

May you be blessed in the holy names of those who carry our pain up the mountain of transfiguration. May you know tender shelter and healing blessing when you are called to stand in the place of pain. 

May the places of darkness within you be surprised by light. 

May you be granted the wisdom to avoid false resistance and when suffering knocks on the door of your life, may you be able to glimpse its hidden gift. 

May you be able to see the fruits of suffering. 

May memory bless and shelter you with the hard-earned light of past turmoil, may this give you confidence and trust. 

May a window of light always surprise you. 

May the grace of transfiguration heal your wounds. 

May you know that even though the storm might rage, not a hair on your head will be harmed.

This Day . . .A Blessing!

 

Blessing This Day

I only want to see the day ahead,
My attention will not go     
 backward into my history,
And my attention will not go forward
 into my future.

I am committed to staying only in
 the present time,
To remaining grounded in my world,
To feeling a bond with each person
 I meet,
To respecting my own integrity
 and my own honor,
To living within the energy of love
 and compassion this day,
And returning to that energy when
 I don’t feel it,
To making wise and blessed choices
 with my will, 
To maintaining perceptions of                  
wisdom and non-judgment,
To release the need to know why things happen the way they do,
And to not project expectations over how
I want this day to be ___
And how I want others to be.

And finally, my last prayer to trust the Divine.
With that I bless my day with gratitude and love.

    Caroline Myss

Hiding and Seeking . . .

 

 

 

A Prayer by St. Anselm of Canterbury

O my God, teach my heart where and how to seek You,
where and how to find You.
You are my God and You are my all and I have never seen You.
You have made me and remade me,
You have bestowed on me all the good things I possess,
Still I do not know You.
I have not yet done that for which I was made.

Teach me to seek You.
I cannot seek You unless You teach me
or find You unless You show Yourself to me.
Let me seek You in my desire,
let me desire You in my seeking.
Let me find You by loving You,
let me love You when I find You.
Amen
_________________________________

Too Muching!

 

Sometimes It Just Seems to be Too Much

Sometimes, God, it just seems to be too much:
too much violence, too much fear; too much of demands and problems;
too much of broken dreams and broken lives; too much of war and slums and dying;
too much of greed and squishy fatness and the sounds of people
devouring each other and the earth; too much of stale routines and quarrels,
unpaid bills and dead ends; too much of words lobbed in to explode
and leaving shredded hearts and lacerated souls; too much of turned-away backs
and yellow silence, red rage and bitter taste of ashes in my mouth.

Sometimes the very air seems scorched by threats and rejection and decay
until there is nothing but to inhale pain and exhale confusion.
Too much of darkness, God,
Too much of cruelty and selfishness and indifference. . .

Too much, God,
Too much, too bloody, bruising, brain-washing much.
Or is it too little,
too little of compassion,
too little of courage, of daring, of persistence, of sacrifice;
too little of music and laughter and celebration?

O God,
Make of me some nourishment
For these starved times,
Some food for my sisters and brothers, who are hungry for gladness and hope,
That, being bread for them, I may also be fed and be full.

(From Guerrillas of Grace by Ted Loder)

God of Care and Comfort . . .

 May the God of Comfort bless you. May God's care for you ease all that is troubling to you and reassure you in times of adversity. May you be encouraged by the whisper of God's love for you in the center of your being and may you rest securely in the arms of the One who will never let go of you. May you extend the hand of comfort to those around you who are in need of that same reassurance. May the God of Comfort be with you. --Maxine Shonk, OP

With liberty and justice for ALL!

 

Loving God,

We greet this Fourth of July with grateful hearts as we call to mind the vision of freedom and justice for all upon which our country was built.

We give thanks for those who imagined this vision.

We are grateful to those who continue advocating for and pursuing a land of peace, liberty and equity for all. We realize it is still being created, however, as we witness the divisions, prejudices and injustices that plague us.

May we hold fast to the dream and vision of unity within our country.

May we dedicate ourselves to living as brothers and sisters respectful of one another’s dignity and need for equity.

May we also realize the importance of reverencing our earth which provides for and sustains much of our lives.

We give glory and praise to our God and pray that we may always live in harmony as one family.

Amen.

~Sr. Rita Ostry, ND

A National Examen

 

                                  

The Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time 2026 

July 5, 2026

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Zechariah 9:9-10; Psalm 145; Romans 8:9-13; Matthew 11:25-30

As Christians, we straddle two worlds – the city of God and the city of humanity, and we are missioned to build the city of God on earth. Christians are asked to perform an examination of conscience and consciousness each day, and as the Body of Christ, we need to also do it nationally. The first reading from Zechariah writes about a humble king who proclaims peace to the nations, while the Gospel praises gentleness and humility in a spirit of gratitude to God. It is within this context that we can reflect upon the USA’s commemoration of its Declaration of Independence.

    The Gospel proclaims, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest,” which sets the framework for Emma Lazarus’s poem at the base of the Statue of Liberty, “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” How are we doing with our hospitality and sense of belonging? What is our response to those who suffer? The way we care for one another reveals how well we know God. It is something upon which we can reflect.

 

Our Declaration of Independence lists out our core values. What are they? 1. We have natural rights that cannot be taken away. Each person should have the opportunity for unalienable rights, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We may have to come back to this in a discussion of equality and equity. 2. We need government by consent. Our governments derive their power from the consent of the governed, meaning that authority is granted by us, the people, and we have the right to alter or abolish a government that fails to protect our rights. 3. We need equality, meaning that each of us is created equal and is entitled to equal treatment and opportunities. We need to examine our practices and policies more closely. 4. We have a right to revolt. We have the right to revolt against oppressive governments, asserting that it is our right and duty to do so when faced with tyranny. 

 

Layered upon these principles are the Four Freedoms outlined by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and symbolized by Norman Rockwell in paintings. As part of Christian dignity, we have the Freedom of Speech without censorship, the Freedom of worship and the practice of religion, the Freedom from Want to assure that every person has the basic access to necessities and economic security, and the Freedom from Fear and protection from violence and oppression. This applies to citizens and our guests. How are we doing to make sure that each person is guaranteed these inalienable rights? Are there people or groups who are excluded from these Four Freedoms?

 

We also make distinctions between equality and equity. Equality means providing the same resources and opportunities to everyone, regardless of individual circumstances or needs. It assumes we all start from the same place and have the same level of support. Equity is quite distinct and is based on dignity of the individual. It involves distributing resources based on individual needs and circumstances. It recognizes that people face different barriers and seeks to provide the needed support to achieve fair outcomes. Equality means sameness; Equity focuses on fairness. Equality may not lead to fair outcomes due to the varying starting points, whereas equity aims to provide for each according to one’s needs.

 

            A crucial part of the Gospel message is gratitude. It is in thanking God for the blessings and wisdom given to the people of belief and hiding it from the strong and powerful. This gratitude allows us to grow in wisdom, gentleness, and humility, and to take the heart of God and bring it to our place on earth. As Christians, we constantly renew our personal and national self-examination and ask where we need to grow in God’s wisdom and our care for one another. Let us do our very best in reflecting upon who we are and where we are going so that we practice our faith in integrity. Then, we will have rest for our souls, and yet, we remain restless until each person has fundamental dignity, equity, and freedom. 

 

 

A Blessing When Feeling "Blurry Clear". . .

 May you be blessed when you are forced into the darkness of the unknown, when answers elude you and you are paralyzed by anticipation or fear. At those times may you hear yourself being called into the mystery of God. May you entrust yourself into the hands of mystery and know that you are not alone or unprotected but loved and cared for. May the God of Mystery bless you.

--Maxine Shonk, OP

Empowered by a blessing . . .

 

May the God of Mission be with you. May you know God's purpose for your life, God's overwhelming desire for your happiness. May you be "infected" with a deep passion for the Word of God and for what is right and holy in God's sight. And with that passion may you "contaminate" the world around you. May the God of Mission bless you. --Maxine Shonk, OP

A Holy Waiting . . .

 

 

 

Keeping Watch

 

In the morning

When I began to wake,

It happened again –

 

That feeling

That You, Beloved,

Had stood over me all night

Keeping watch,

 

That feeling

That as soon as I began to stir

 

You put Your lips on my forehead

And lit a Holy Lamp

Inside my heart.

 Hafiz

God speaks in unexpected places. . .

 

The Auction
A wealthy man and his son loved to collect rare works of art.  They had everything in their collection from Picasso to Raphael. When the Vietnam conflict broke out, the son went to war. He was very courageous and died in battle while rescuing another soldier. The father was notified and grieved deeply for his only son.

About a month later, just before Christmas, there was a knock at the door.  A young man stood at the door with a large package in his hands. He said, “Sir, you don’t know me, but I am the soldier for whom your son gave his life. He saved many lives that day, and he was carrying me to safety when a bullet struck him in the heart, and he died instantly.  He often talked about you, and your love for art.” The young man held out his package. “I know this isn’t much. I’m not really a great artist, but I think your son would have wanted you to have this.”

The father opened the package. It was a portrait of his son, painted by the young man. The father was so drawn to the eyes that his own eyes welled up with tears. He thanked the young man and offered to pay him for the picture. “Oh, no sir, I could never repay what your son did for me. It’s a gift.”

The father died a few months later. There was to be a great auction of his paintings. On the platform sat the painting of the son. The auctioneer pounded his gavel. “We will start the bidding with this picture of the son. Who will bid for this picture?” There was silence. Then a voice in the back of the room shouted, “We want to see the famous paintings.  Skip this one.”

But the auctioneer persisted. “Will someone bid for this painting? Who will start the bidding? $100, $200?” Another voice shouted angrily, “We didn’t come to see this painting. We came to see the Van Goghs, the Rembrandts. Get on with the real bids!” But still the auctioneer continued, “The son! The son! Who’ll take the son?”

Finally, a voice came from the very back of the room. It was the longtime gardener of the man and his son. “I’ll give $10 for the painting.” Being a poor man, it was all he could afford. “We have $10, who will bid $20?” “Give it to him for $10.  Let’s see the masters.” “$10 is the bid, won’t someone bid $20?” The crowd was becoming angry. They wanted the more worthy investments for their collections. The auctioneer pounded the gavel. “Going once, twice, SOLD FOR $10!”

A man sitting on the second row shouted, “Now, let’s get on with the collection!”  The auctioneer laid down his gavel. “I’m sorry, the auction is over.” “What about the paintings?” “I am sorry. When I was called to conduct this auction, I was told of a secret stipulation in the will. I was not allowed to reveal that stipulation until this time. Only the painting of the son would be auctioned. Whoever bought that painting would inherit the entire estate, including the paintings. The man who took the son gets everything!”

(Author Unknown)

Be ready for the God of surprises . . .

Making Space for Grace:

 

The Thirteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time 2026 

June 28, 2026

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2 Kings 4:8-16; Psalm 89; Romans 6:3-11; Matthew 10:37-42

 

 

Matthew’s Gospel presents hard sayings of Jesus. We are told that we must take up our crosses and put the welfare of our families subservient to God’s commands. They are difficult thoughts to understand. We have domesticated these sayings and have taken the shocking energy out of them. He ties love of God to hospitality. We are to go out of our way to make people feel welcome and to make space for God. The story of Elisha the prophet shows the life-sustaining value of hospitality.

 

The City of Boston experienced fun hospitality when people from Scotland, Iraq, and Norway converged on the city and brought vitality and joy. It raised our spirits and the ushered in an atmosphere of discovery and curiosity so much so that we want to build stronger relationships with them. Their visits changed us and made us light-hearted.

 

In the Book of Kings, the prophet Elisha visits a nameless woman of influence who extends hospitality to him. Elisha never asks for anything and the woman does not expect anything in return. Her generosity opens the door of an unexpected blessing – the birth of a son she never imagined she would have. The blessing may not come in the way we expect, but hospitality always changes the host as much as the guest. The moral of the story is: Whenever we make room for others, God quietly enlarges our life. 

 

          This previews the life of Jesus. Whenever he taught, he was dependent upon the hospitality of others. We know he stayed at the houses of Peter, Mary and Martha, and Zaccheus, and he gave instructions of proper visitor etiquette to his disciples. The hosts who welcomed Jesus and his friends discovered that they received far more than they gave. Is this not like the Eucharist? When we are host to Jesus in our lives, we carry our weariness, failure, hope, and gratitude, and Christ prepares a table for us to be nourished. He makes room for us with divine hospitality. 

 

In our Old Testament story, we see the progression of hospitality. It is not about entertaining guests or putting on a good meal. It is about seeing the dignity of a person of God and making room in our lives for them. It is about knowing that every person bears the presence of God. With Elisha and the woman of influence, hospitality progressed from a simple meal, to greeting him in passing, to building a room just for him. It grows from a single meal to a permanent place of welcome. 

 

The challenge for us today is to figure out what hospitality, what making room for God, means. We rush from one activity to another, and we care of those closest to us well. Still there is more. Hospitality means to offer rest to someone, to invite someone in for a conversation and social nourishment, to provide a place for someone to sit, to think, and to prayer, and to offer hope. We have to make room in our hearts before we make room in our homes. Our challenge today may be: For whom am I making room? We may discover that as we prepare our hearts to receive another person, God has already made room for us. God provides unexpected, unsolicited blessings. By making space for others, God quietly enlarges our own lives.

 

Breath of Summer . . .

 

Image by: DE

Breath of Summer

Creator God
who breathed this world into being,
who is discernible within
the harmony of nature,
the perfection of a butterfly's wing,
the grandeur of a mountain range,
the soaring eagle and humming bird,
thank you for this world
which you have created.
Thank you for summer sun,
which reminds us
that your creative breath
is still alive and active.
Thank you for the warmth of your love,
sustaining this world.

Author Unknown

You are Safe in Love:

 

The Twelfth Sunday of Ordinary Time2026 

June 21, 2026

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Jeremiah 20:10-13; Psalm 69; Romans 5:12-15; Matthew 10:26-33

 

The prophet Jeremiah writes about a hostile environment that makes it challenging to practice one’s faith and to speak rightly. We hear this reading during Holy Week to emphasize the difficulty of the Suffering Servant. We know from experience that the human heart can be terrorizing, and we suffer at the expense of verbal bullies who impose their thoughts upon others. It takes courage, fortitude, and safety to speak from one’s faith. Most times, we keep our thoughts inside until we feel safe. 

 

In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus tells his Disciples that they do not have to be silenced by the fear that others impose upon them. Those who are bullies do not see that they take away the freedom of others. They do not even perceive that they are bullies. Those who speak authoritatively and excessively do not realize that they silence others. Those who are aggressive think they are acting rightly for others. Someone recently told me in absolute terms that he disagreed with someone who spoke in absolute terms. Why can we not see that what we find critical in others represents what we do ourselves. The fault we see if others is the fault we need to own.

 

Jesus continues to offer hope though. He says, ‘be patient.’ The bully will find herself isolated and lonely, perhaps misunderstood. She will continue to blame others because life did not go as she planned. The know-it-all will have an epiphany. The aggressive person will have a day of reckoning when he recognizes his vulnerability. Jesus reminds us that whatever harm a person intends or is unaware of doing will cause us harm, but it will not erode our soul or our conscience. No one can touch that. It is off limits to the bully, and we are reminded that control is an illusion. When someone thinks they can control the behavior or thoughts of another person, they are living an illusion that will crumble. Those are focused on their own ego needs says, “My will be done,” and so they focus on getting attention, admiration, comfort, security, pleasure, and one’s very self. For an evolving Christian, we pray, “Not my will be done, but God’s will be done.” 

 

Jesus tells us that as we are his friends, we enter into the Cosmic Christ, a human-divine being that is higher and greater that ourselves. We are elevated. Consciousness of God is the deepest part of us, and that cannot be harmed. There is a fire within our souls that keeps us moving towards God, and it moves us to increased transcendence. The very center of God is love and the center of our soul is love. This is foundational and the heart can only move towards a more understanding, magnanimous love. Jesus rightly reminds us that we have no worries. Though we may be near people who are trying to fill their ego needs, your Christian heart is evolving towards the freedom of a larger life in Christ.

 

Our faith is an energy that allows us to create and bring love to loveless places. Our faith is a fire that transforms the souls of others who seek the divine. Faith allows us to look at suffering and endure it. We can look at a world that may be unresponsive to human suffering, and we have the courage and fire to amorize the world, that is, to fill the world with love, to transform the world with love. This is a love that has no fear. This is a love that holds you preciously in admiration. Please accept this love. We need this love to permeate the world.