by Mary Sellars Malloy
Question of the Week - 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
A few Saturdays ago, our local grocery store delivered a large grocery order to our condo building. On our way to run Saturday errands, my husband and I walked past several grocery bags outside our building. We thought a neighbor unloaded his car and then took a minute to park the car before carrying the food into his home. But sadly, when we returned home about four hours later, the food was still sitting there. No one in our building had ordered it.
Another neighbor and I called the grocer, explained the situation, and asked what we should do. He said, “Keep the food.” My husband and I did not need the food. Our elderly neighbor was able to use a few things. I then set the remaining ten or so bags under our mailboxes with a sign that read, “Please take what you can use.” Within ten minutes, all of the food was gone.
We have several new neighbors in the building, some with young children. The quickness with which the food was taken made me wonder if one or more of our new neighbors is struggling in these pandemic days. It made me mindful that now, more than ever, we need to find practical ways to love our neighbor.
So, I’m beginning new efforts in small ways. For the neighbor who daily wipes down our building’s mailboxes and front door handles, I’m leaving a highly-coveted tub of disinfecting wipes. For the neighbor who quilts, I’m leaving a fun bag stuffed with fall-themed fabric pieces. And as fall holidays near, I’m planning on baking some muffins and loaves of bread to leave out at our mailboxes with a sign that says, “Treat yourself today.”
We may be socially distanced and cautious about interacting with too many people outside of family and close friends while waiting on a vaccine before venturing out. However, the call of today’s Gospel still applies: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (see Matthew 22:40).
Mary Sellars Malloy has over forty years’ experience as a Catholic educator and lay minister. She is a frequent workshop presenter on prayer, liturgy, spirituality, the Sacraments, and the RCIA. Also, Mary leads retreats and parish missions throughout the country. Her goal is to encourage Catholics of all ages to appreciate and to live their Catholic faith.
by Mary Sellars Malloy
Question of the Week - 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
Both today’s Gospel (Matthew 22:15-21) and today’s question seem to imply a dividing line between what is God’s and what is Caesar’s, but my own heart leans in a different direction. A favorite parable (Matthew 15:13-16) reminds me that I am the salt of the earth (see v. 13) and the light of the world (see v. 14).
We live in a nation and a world that follow a definite set of human-made rules and laws, but we walk in the world as chosen daughters and sons of God who live by a higher command—the Commandments, the Beatitudes, and the Law of Love. Each day we go forth, honoring the laws while being true to who we are—the salt and the light—in our business dealings, our interactions with others, our workplaces, and our communities.
The seven principles of Catholic Social Teaching give us strong guidance regarding being the salt and the light in the world today. They challenge us to constantly work to:
- build a just society
- uphold the life and dignity of every human person
- seek the common good and well-being of all
- protect human rights and fulfill our responsibilities to one another, our families, and society
- consistently consider the welfare of the poor and the vulnerable
- uphold the dignity of work and the rights of workers
- see ourselves as part of one human family
- care for God’s creation
In light of today’s Gospel and the upcoming election, it is good to remember our Catholic faith (see usccb.org > Catholic Social Teaching). Our bishops remind us that honoring them will help us live “lives of holiness amidst the challenges of modern society.”
Mary Sellars Malloy has over forty years’ experience as a Catholic educator and lay minister. She is a frequent workshop presenter on prayer, liturgy, spirituality, the Sacraments, and the RCIA. Also, Mary leads retreats and parish missions throughout the country. Her goal is to encourage Catholics of all ages to appreciate and to live their Catholic faith.
by Mary Sellars Malloy
Question of the Week - 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
Isn't it nice to be invited to a celebration—whether dinner with close friends, graduation, a wedding, or an anniversary? In this roller coaster of a year, I daresay that most of us probably have not received many invitations to informal gatherings or more formal events. I know I have missed the opportunities to decorate our home and prepare special holiday meals for family and friends. My party clothes are in the closet, but—in the words of a local newscaster—"There's just no place to go!"
How ironic that in today's Gospel (Matthew 22:1-14), the king offers a place to go, a party to attend, a feast to enjoy, and yet no one takes him up on the invitation. Some refuse to go, some ignore the invitation and go about other tasks, and others mistreat the servants who extend the invitation in the first place. In the end, the king's servants gather anyone they can find "good and bad," the Gospel tells us.
The truth is, from March to today, God has faithfully extended the invitation:
- the invitation to offer our anxieties and worries to him in prayer
- the invitation to feast daily on his Word
- the invitation to reorient the way we spend the gift of time and whom we spend it with
- the invitation to take delight in blessing and serving others
Even amid a pandemic, good works continue, and they are inspired and enlightened by faith.
This week, begin each day by asking God, "What are you inviting me to say and do today? Who are you inviting me to serve?" Then, dare to answer the invitation, and be a blessing to the world!
Mary Sellars Malloy has over forty years' experience as a Catholic educator and lay minister. She is a frequent workshop presenter on prayer, liturgy, spirituality, the Sacraments, and the RCIA. Also, Mary leads retreats and parish missions throughout the country. Her goal is to encourage Catholics of all ages to appreciate and to live their Catholic faith.
by Mary Clifford Morrell
In today’s stressful climate, it is not unexpected for those in service to the public to sometimes be short-tempered. Having been a waitress for many years, a job I thoroughly enjoyed, I am very familiar with the rude and challenging customers who are inevitably a part of most days, and whose behavior often affected my own.
My daughter-in-law, who worked as a chain pharmacy manager, told me dozens of stories of being abused by customers, yelled out, spit at, and even threatened. She was having trouble staying polite and in good spirits. I was happy when she finally resigned. No one should have to take that kind of abuse.
Then I remember the time, years ago, when a customer behind me in line as I was checking out, asked the cashier how she was doing. “I am great,” she said with a broad grin. “It does not serve any purpose being miserable, does it?”
I have remembered that moment because my father had little patience for miserable people. He was not referring to those who had good reason to be unhappy, or sad, or frustrated, but those people who were simply nasty, irritable, and just plain unpleasant, and who sucked the joy out of other people’s lives.
I think his feelings stemmed from living through the depression when he had to give up school in eighth grade to support his mom. His father was killed when he was eight. If anyone had a reason to be miserable, it was him, but I never heard him complain. However, I did hear him whistle a lot.
I know my father would have liked the cashier. He appreciated people who could still find a reason to smile in the middle of life’s difficulties. A smile is a contagious joy; he used to tell me, which is why he was drawn to my mom.
In these challenging times, joy may often seem to be out of reach. We are overwhelmed with doubt and fear for our future; many are struggling financially; many are lonely and unable to connect with friends and loved ones. Many are ill or hungry.
We expect that those who are hurting will not be smiling or feeling joy in times like these. However, we can be the smile they are missing, the joy, even if momentary, absent from their hearts.
Smile at someone, be present to someone, and remember the words of St. Teresa of Avila: “Christ has no body on earth now, but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours; yours are the eyes through which he looks with compassion on the world; yours are the feet with which he walks to do good; yours are the hands with which he blesses all the world.”
Mary Regina Morrell is a Catholic journalist, author, and syndicated columnist who has served the dioceses of Metuchen and Trenton, New Jersey, and RENEW International in the areas of catechesis and communication.
by Mary Sellars Malloy
Question of the Week - 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
Throughout the pandemic weeks and months, a close friend and I committed to read together a spiritual book and to send each other our daily reflections on the readings. We chose Macrina Wiederkehr’s The Flowing Grace of Now (Sorin Books, © 2019). Each week we are given a Scripture to ponder and suggestions for focusing our prayer and reflection.
As I considered this week’s question, I returned to Week Nine of the book, in which my friend and I reflected on Luke 13:10-17 (Cure of a Crippled Woman on the Sabbath). Invited to think about the things that bend and break us, Wiederkehr suggests; resentments that crowd out forgiveness, fear that stifles love, indifference that stifles passion, suspicion that dampens trust, selfishness that inhibits generosity, jealousy that dims hospitality, greed that stifles gratitude, and anxiety that shrouds joy. It strikes me that each phrase highlights something that impedes and something that is a sign of cooperation in bringing about the kingdom.
Today’s Gospel (Matthew 21:33-43) is full of behaviors that impede the coming of the kingdom. The lack of loyalty, theft, greed, hatred, and even murder impede the bountiful harvest the landowner desired. He had chosen tenants he should not have trusted. There are simply no signs of cooperation! However, today’s Second Reading (Philippians 4:6-9), one of my favorite New Testament passages, provides some foundations of cooperation as it invites us to pray, give thanks, and to seek what is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, gracious, excellent, and worthy of praise.
Where do we find ourselves on the spectrum of impeding and cooperating with God, and with the building of God’s kingdom? This week, draw upon the wisdom of Macrina Wiederkehr and Saint Paul. Pray for the strength and grace to cooperate with God, who is always seeking trustworthy tenants for the vineyard he has planted.
Mary Sellars Malloy has over forty years’ experience as a Catholic educator and lay minister. She is a frequent workshop presenter on prayer, liturgy, spirituality, the Sacraments, and the RCIA. Also, Mary leads retreats and parish missions throughout the country. Her goal is to encourage Catholics of all ages to appreciate and to live their Catholic faith.