19th Sunday B August 11, 2024

19 th Sunday B

August 11, 2024

Today I find myself thinking about Raymond’s mom.  In the series Everyone Loves Raymond , whenever someone comes into his mom’s house, she says, “Are you hungry dear?”  Even if you answer no, she says, “I’ll make you a plate.”

 

When the prophet Elijah was down God sent him an angel to feed him.  Elijah has good reason to be down.  He just defeated the priests of Baal and now Queen Jezebel wants him dead.

The angel of the Lord knew enough to feed Elijah.  He will do better on a full stomach.  Just like Raymond’s mom.  He needed to be given food.  After Elijah ate, he could get up and go climb a mountain where he heard the voice of God speaking to him in a still small voice.

When I get down. I find myself looking for something to eat or someone to offer me a cup of coffee.  In time I feel better, and I go to face what ever challenge God has placed before me.  The one who feeds me or sits with me as I eat and drink, is like the angel who cared for Elijah.  After a time I feel better and I can get up and face what I need to face.

 

The angels in my life bring me “Powder Milk Biscuits” (the long-time sponsor of A Prairie Home Companion ).  “Powder Milk Biscuits give shy people the courage to do what needs to be done.”

How often do I meet people over lunch or coffee, and we seem to accomplish what we need to accomplish.  When I feel at the end of my rope, that is when I am reminded that I am not in charge, God is in charge.  When God asks me to do one more thing, God provides me the help I need.

 

Elijah is in the desert when God sends him an angel to minster to him.  We have all have desert moments in our lives.  We may consider who are the angels who God sends us to help us out.  We may want to look for the angels; they may not be readily apparent to us.  When we are in the desert it may be hard to see who an angel to us.   We may wait and be frozen.

I am reminded of the play Waiting for Godot.  After waiting in vain for Godot, the two hobos decide to go.  One says to the other, “Let us go."  The stage direction says they do not move.  We can be the same, we can give up and become frozen.  It is good that Elijah didn’t get frozen, for if he was, he would have missed God’s voice in the still small whisper.

When we are in a desert place, we are in danger of losing Hope.  Hope can come in the person who brings us food.  A letter from a friend.  A song that lifts our spirits.  Hope comes when we ask God to be in charge and we step aside to listen for the still small voice.

So often the ministering angel is the one who sits down and shares a drink or a meal with us. 

Today’s Psalm number 34 speaks of the goodness of our God, “Taste and see the goodness of God.”

When life seems hard, we look for and seek the goodness of our God.  We taste and see how good our God is.  We find hope as we taste and see the goodness of our God.

We will all hit bumps in the road, we will all have desert days, but that is not the end of the story.  We pause; we eat and drink and go forward to find hope in the words of our God.  We, like Elijah, listen for the still small voice of our God and we go forward to taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

By Rev. Christopher Welch • July 10, 2026
We are well into summer. I keep getting shown photos of the gardens people are tending in their backyards. It takes work and patience for produce to grow. Come in a few weeks and we will have a bountiful harvest of all kinds of produce. Those who are farmers can readily understand the parable of the sower in today’s Gospel. God sends out God’s word, and we are to be good soil for the word to take root. The challenge is to become fertile soil for the word of God. How do we become fertile soil? To be fertile ground, we need to keep an open mind. Too often I find myself not listening to what the other is saying, as I compose in my mind a response to what I think I am hearing. To really listen means to keep my mind open to receive what the other is saying. To listen means putting aside my agenda for a time. Sometimes the word of God struggles to get through all the noise in my brain. This is why quiet time in my day is so important; those who wish to listen to the voice of God go to a quiet place to listen for God. In these summer months we will spend time in quiet places where the word of God may speak to us. God’s voice is found at the seaside, in the woods, and on mountain tops. We need to quiet ourselves and listen for God’s voice. Making ourselves fertile ground for God’s word is not easy. We need to each day work to calm ourselves to hear God’s word. St. Ignatius of Loyola suggests a daily examen. Each day as we pray the Examen we become fertile ground. Here is how it is done: How to Pray the Examen Place yourself in God’s presence. Give thanks for God’s great love for you. Pray for the grace to understand how God is acting in your life. Review your day — recall specific moments and your feelings at the time. Reflect on what you did, said, or thought in those instances. Were you drawing closer to God, or further away? Look toward tomorrow — think of how you might collaborate more effectively with God’s plan. Be specific and conclude with the “Our Father.” Each day we work to make ourselves fertile ground.

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

By Rev. Christopher Welch • July 5, 2026
On this July 4th weekend, we recall our land’s independence from a foreign king and a foreign government. We have thrown off the yoke of King George III; we are a free and independent nation. For 250 years we have been learning what it means to live as an independent and free society. Today Jesus invites us to consider taking upon a yoke as we go forward as disciples of him. The yoke of King George was too heavy for this nation, but the yoke of our God, we are told by Jesus, “is easy and light.” What is the yoke of Jesus? The yoke of Jesus is about the kingdom of God, learning to love others as we love ourselves. As disciples of Jesus we take on the yoke of the Gospel. When life feels heavy, we turn to our God, and our God helps to make our burdens light. There are many things in life that may seem like a yoke, a burden, but if we look at them in a new way, we see our God helping us to carry our burden. As Jesus invites us to consider the childlike, let me share with you a story: The Fable of The Birds At the beginning of time, all the animals were walking around discovering what it was like to be alive. All except the birds! They were doing nothing but complaining because God had given them a heavy burden that he’d given to no other animals: those awkward appendages on their shoulders. God must be punishing them somehow. Why did they have to carry these things around, making it hard to walk? “Why?" they asked. “Why us?” Finally, two or three of the more adventurous birds began to move their appendages. They began to flutter them, and soon they discovered that the very things they regarded as a burden actually made it possible for them to fly. And no other animals could fly. The “heavy burden” turned out to be a wonderful gift. Is there something in your life that at first glance seemed a burden, but later was seen as a gift? One reason why we value the innocent and simple among us is that they can help us to see life and who we are with new eyes. The simple or innocent can sometimes help us see what we thought was a burden as a gift. In the lives of the saints, we read about many who took what seemed to be a burden and made it an asset: The first disciples were simple fishermen. They were not scholarly, they couldn’t read, but they took their experience of Jesus and let it form them as disciples. What was a burden became an asset. Peter denied the Lord on the eve of his death. This made him more compassionate to sinners and those who struggled to have courage. Paul was blinded for 3 days; a former killer of Christians saw with new eyes and preached the good news to the Gentiles. Thomas doubted the Resurrection but came to faith in his doubt. Theresa the Little Flower loved Jesus and others with the simple love of a child of God. St. Kateri looked for and saw God present in the trees and the nature of the forests where she made her home. Mother Teresa of Calcutta saw our Lord present in the sick and dying in India. Blessed Stan Rother, a farmer’s son from Oklahoma who couldn’t read Latin, learned to speak in the native tongue of the men and women who he ministered with in Guatemala. With the eyes of a child, with childlike faith, we learn to see the burdens we carry as paths to faith in the help and care of our God. Let us give thanks today for the gift of freedom and let us give thanks for the gift of our God who makes our burdens light.

Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

By Rev. Christopher Welch • June 28, 2026
Our readings today speak of hospitality: In the first reading from 2 Kings, we hear how the woman made a room for the prophet Elisha. In the letter to the Hebrews, we read, “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” In the Gospel, Jesus speaks, “and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.” Hospitality is the essence of the life as a Christian. Many religious communities include this action as part of their rule. Hospitality is not easy. It seems that people are not in need on my schedule. Hospitality means stopping my actions and attending to others for a time. People are not in need on my schedule. Yet if I neglect them, I may miss out on entertaining angels. This summer there will be many who are in need. To them we offer our time and our hospitality. We are fortunate in our community that a hot meal is available seven days a week. I meet many in need when I stop to help out at Saturday’s Bread. Catholic Charities provides lunches to our students in July and August. You may want to consider helping to provide meals to our homeless and our students in the summer. It is so easy to get caught up in my schedule and I miss the chance to meet Christ in my neighbors and to miss out on entertaining angels. One thing I admired about Bishop Hubbard is that when he spoke to you, you were made to feel you were the most important person. As he spoke to you, he was moving on down the line, but for that moment you felt important, you were the most important person at that moment. How often do we make others feel that they are taking up our time or are a burden? On Thursday we celebrated LEON Day (Noel spelled backwards), which reminds us that we are six months away from Christmas. Maybe this is a good time to revisit a Christmas story. La Befana: The Witch of Christmas By Il Postino Staff and Tessa Derksen The legend of Befana began thousands of years ago and remains to this day a tradition practiced by Italian children and their families. As the story goes, one day, the three Magi left their country bearing special gifts of gold, incense and myrrh for the new-born Jesus Christ. They were guided by a star across many countries. At every village that they passed, people ran to meet them and accompany them in their journey. But there was one old woman who did not join the Magi. She claimed to be too busy with her housework and promised to join them later when she had time. The next day, she realized her mistake and frantically ran after the Magi with gifts for the child, still clutching her broom. But it was too late – the Magi were long gone. Let us not be too busy to meet Christ in our neighbors. Let us not be a Befana.