<TW>Weekend of 13 and 14 October 2007
- From: "Fr. Pat Umberger" <frpat@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Fr. Pat Umberger" <frpat@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 7 Oct 2007 09:08:59 -0500
.=: T H I S W E E K E N D :=.
from Father Pat Umberger
___________________________________________________
J O I N S I S T E R J O S E L D A A N D M E
A great Pilgrimage to the Holy Land - 04-15 November 2007!
If you're interested, call Pentecost Tours right away to see if any seats
are available:
800 713-9800
For the brochure and complete information, follow the link from:
www.frpat.com
F A M I L Y A N D F R I E N D S
Encourage them to Subscribe to Morning Prayer!
If you enjoy the NEW Morning Prayer, why not forward a copy to family
members and friends. Many seem to enjoy the new format. Some say that they
like to attend Daily Mass, but cannot always do so. Morning Prayer keeps
them in touch with the daily Scriptures and Saint of the day. Not all
priests preach on all weekdays. Morning Prayer provides a short reflection
and a concrete way to apply Scriptures to our lives. Clergy too, appreciate
the simple ideas found in both Morning Prayer and This Weekend. Family
members and friends can learn more by following the banner link from:
www.frpat.com
F A M I L Y F U N F E S T
St. Pat's annual Fall Fun Fest is October 13th. There will be food,
entertainment and fun for people of all ages. There are also Raffle Tickets
available. If you live close to us, why not join us. Or, perhaps you'd
like to help us by purchasing some raffle tickets. You can learn more at:
www.stpatz.com
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.=: V O L U M E 2 0 0 7 , Number 10-14 :=.
.=: T H I S W E E K E N D ' S S C R I P T U R E S :=.
Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C.
Weekend of 13 and 14 October 2007
Follow this link for this weekend's Scriptures:
www.nccbuscc.org/nab/
.=: R E F L E C T I O N Q U E S T I O N S :=.
"His flesh became again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean
of his leprosy." Imagine the power that would heal a disease like leprosy.
Imagine the joy of the man who was healed? In what ways are we in serious
need of healing today? Is this healing possible? If so, where would it
come from?
"Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel."
Through his healing, Elisha came to believe in the Lord. What could it take
to help people these days to believe in the Lord? How can we help that
happen?
"The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power." What is "saving
power?" What is the "saving power" the nations need these days?
"But the word of God is not chained." People through the ages have found
that it is impossible to "chain" the word of God. How could the word of God
be a powerful force in our world today? How can those who are in most need
of hearing God's word have that opportunity.
"If we are unfaithful he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself." In
what ways are we "unfaithful?" Is God "faithful" to us no matter what? Are
we that faithful to those around us?
"And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in
a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a
Samaritan." Why did the others who were healed not come back and thank
Jesus? The Jews saw Samaritans as unworthy, unclean and hopeless. Who do we
see in this way? In what ways do we discriminate against whole groups of
people without ever getting to know them?
How are these readings challenging? Comforting?
(c)MMVII Fr. Pat Umberger. These Reflection Questions are found each week
at the Web Site www.frpat.com. Feel free to link to this page or reproduce
them for parish use as long as this credit remains.
.=: S P I R I T U A L R E F L E C T I O N :=.
He came back to say "thank you." Although Jesus healed ten lepers, only one
returned to thank him. That one was a Samaritan. The Jews couldn't stand
Samaritans. They were seen as complete foreigners. They were certainly not
God's chosen ones. They were avoided.
It's interesting that this Samaritan leper was with nine who were not. Could
it be that their common disease helped them to see what they had in common?
In our world today, we see the same thing happening. As we join together to
fight terrorism, our common enemy, we come to see what we had been missing.
Our pre-judgments, our prejudices, are challenged. What we have in common
becomes more important than our differences.
God had the power to cure their leprosy. Imagine the strength of God! In
our world today we're in need of all kinds of healing. Besides physical
maladies, our attitudes, selfishness and prejudices are in need of healing.
God has the strength to heal all those things. As we hear in our second
reading, "even when we are unfaithful, God remains faithful." Can we summon
the courage to confront our human weakness and need for healing. Can we be
strong enough to offer those weaknesses to God and seek healing?
God has power. We have power, too. We can keep God out. As we present a
"tough" exterior, we can try to fool ourselves into believing that we're
more powerful than anything. When we learn that this isn't the case, we can
begin to search for something more powerful than ourselves. Some people can
turn to gangs and even terrorism. They find a place to belong. They feel
that they're more powerful when they join together. But they do wrong.
As Christians we're more powerful too, when we join together. Being cured
form leprosy made it possible for those lepers to join their communities
again. We can hope that they came back with joy and contributed to
community life. How powerful it must have been, to move from outcast to
insider. Jesus died and rose that we might have that same experience.
We rely on God to help us through whatever challenges life puts before us.
God doesn't cause those things, but is certainly with us to help us deal
with them. God's word too, guides us and helps us make good decisions.
There is no way to "chain" the word of the Lord. We can rely on God's word
to keep us on a sure and steady path. We can know that God's power is
available to us and that, when we join with fellow believers, we can have a
great positive impact in this world.
This week we can spend some time considering God's faithfulness even during
times of our unfaithfulness. We can examine our prejudices and summon the
courage to look again, to seek God's wisdom in making a truer judgment. We
can become even more involved in building our own community of faith and
transforming the world we live in. God's word can take root in us. Nothing
can imprison or chain that word. Have a good week!
(c)MMVII Fr. Pat Umberger. This Spiritual Reflection is found each week at
the Web Site www.frpat.com. Feel free to link to this page or reproduce them
for parish use as long as this credit remains.
__________________________________________________
<TW>This Weekend is free, and comes from:
Father Pat Umberger, a priest of the Diocese of La Crosse
in Wisconsin U.S.A.
Web Site: www.frpat.com
Evangelization (reaching out): www.cmonback.com
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