From: your-daily-tripod+noreply@googlegroups.com
Date: Sat, 03 Jul 2010 04:41:04 +0000
Subject: [Your Daily Tripod] Digest for
your-daily-tripod@googlegroups.com - 3 Messages in 3 Topics
To: Digest Recipients <your-daily-tripod+digest@googlegroups.com>
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Today's Topic Summary
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Group: your-daily-tripod@googlegroups.com
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/your-daily-tripod/topics
- Being Built Together (July 3) [1 Update]
http://groups.google.com/group/your-daily-tripod/t/56c529797dc046f5
- I Did Not Come to Call the Righteous but Sinners (July 2) [1 Update]
http://groups.google.com/group/your-daily-tripod/t/c46f8e1fe13803c7
- That You May Know (July 1) [1 Update]
http://groups.google.com/group/your-daily-tripod/t/c17116013d375ec3
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Topic: Being Built Together (July 3)
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/your-daily-tripod/t/56c529797dc046f5
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From: "dxfaro@cox.net" <dxfaro@cox.net>
Date: Jul 02 04:20PM -0700
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/your-daily-tripod/msg/12a54e6501092961
Feast of Saint Thomas, Apostle
Through him the whole structure is held together and grows into a
temple sacred in the Lord; in him you also are being built together
into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. Ephesians 2:21-22
Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with
them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their
midst and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your
finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my
side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe." Thomas answered and
said to him, "My Lord and my God!" John 20:26-28
Piety
Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.
Study
John's Gospel is widely agreed to be about the most beautifully and
carefully composed among the four evangelists. As we study today's
Good News, this chapter is almost composed as if it was the last
chapter set down by John. It is almost a "capstone" used by John in
building up his story.
From the outset, we learn that Thomas "was not with them when Jesus
came." So this encounter experience is building Thomas into a more
committed Apostle. Take some time to reflect on this encounter by
Thomas because what he went through is very much a mirror of what we
live daily.
We were not there either. So this story reveals much of what our
experience must be like with Jesus. Combined with the first reading,
we learn how we, like Thomas and his experience, are being built into
"into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit." This can only happen by
encountering the Lord through the sacraments directly and through each
other indirectly.
Thomas was being built together with the other apostles into a
dwelling place of God in the Spirit. He needed to be absent from the
first encounter in the upper room. That way, the second appearance
could have maximum effect. However, even with this experience, the
disciples still did not know what to do in the post-Resurrection world
until the third and final encounter with Jesus on the shores of Lake
Tiberius.
Through this encounter, Thomas comes to firmly believe that Jesus is
both his teacher and his God. As such, the story comes to fulfill by
living example the poetic opening of John's Good News.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be
through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be
through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race;
the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome
it. John 1:1-5
The Word (Jesus) we are taught by John early on was God. However,
throughout the Gospel, John portrays the journey that many people made
in order to come to that conclusion on their own. Today, it is Thomas'
turn. Peter has had his turn. Judas found out the hard way.
However, even with this experience, the Thomas and the rest of the
apostles still did not know what to do in the post-Resurrection world
until the third and final encounter with Jesus on the shores of Lake
Tiberius. There was always hope for them around the corner because
they might come to recognize Jesus, know Him and act on his commands.
There is hope for us as well. Blessed are those who have not seen and
have believed. The hope for us in this story is contained in the
additional beatitude recited by Jesus after Thomas' exclamation.
Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed. Even though the
story comes to a close, the experience is never-ending. Blessed are
those who have not seen and have believed.
Action
Groups of teens and young adults who have spent this week at work camp
are on their journey home. We were not with them as they engaged with
people in Ohio this week. However, we know because of our shared faith
that this love-in-action experience helped build them individually as
well as build them as a community.
Please offer your prayers for their safe return so that they can
experience this holiday weekend in dependence with their families and
other members of their parish community. Then turn your prayers inward
and consider what is happening in your life right now that is building
you into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit?
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Topic: I Did Not Come to Call the Righteous but Sinners (July 2)
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/your-daily-tripod/t/c46f8e1fe13803c7
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From: "dxfaro@cox.net" <dxfaro@cox.net>
Date: Jul 02 03:44AM -0700
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/your-daily-tripod/msg/9b6530d2c34b71b8
Friday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
By Melanie Rigney
One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from
the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:4)
As Jesus passed by, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs
post. He said to him, "Follow me." And he got up and followed him.
While he was at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners
came and sat with Jesus and his disciples. The Pharisees saw this and
said to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors
and sinners?" He heard this and said, "Those who are well do not need
a physician, but the sick do. Go and learn the meaning of the words, I
desire mercy, not sacrifice. I did not come to call the righteous but
sinners." (Matthew 9:9-13)
Piety
Lord, help me to say yes as Matthew and the others did when You say,
"Follow me," even when where You are going frightens me.
Study
I've done a lot of "things" at Mass in the past four and a half years:
Greeted folks and ushered. Read the announcements. Lectored. Written
and read the prayers of the faithful. Filled in as sacristan. Read the
pitch for Commitment Sunday and the Bishop's Lenten Appeal. When you
get right down to it, there's only one thing I've never done at Mass:
served as an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion.
One part of me thought it was good to have something I couldn't do at
Mass. Another part of me, the klutzy part, figured it was just as well
I wasn't involved in something that could cause so many problems if I
tripped. But the biggest part didn't feel worthy. Speak Christ's
words, no problem. Try to reflect His goodness in welcoming others, no
problem. But present His body and blood to someone else? Too much
responsibility.
Earlier this year, I ended up taking the Eucharist to a friend who was
undergoing chemotherapy. The intense gravity and belief on her face
that day kept coming back to me. And I began to wonder if maybe I am
worthy to be an EM after all.
Last weekend, I was talking with a friend. She and her husband are
stepping up their service due to a death in the parish, and will be
handling EM scheduling for the time being. She asked the same question
I've been asked by so many other people: "You're an EM, right?" But
instead of laughing it off, this time I told the truth: "I don't think
I'm holy enough to be an EM." She smiled. "It doesn't matter how good
you are," she said. "It matters how good Christ is, and letting Him
minister through you."
I thought of the passage from Matthew that is today's Gospel reading.
The conversation was a good reminder that if Christ used only the
perfectly righteous among us, it'd take forever to do anything. And
so, next time our diocese offers EM training, I'll put my hand up for
consideration, not as a personal sacrifice but for the opportunity to
serve as physical reminder of the mercy of the Living Word.
Action
What are you not doing for Christ because you don't think you're holy
enough? Consider following Him no matter what your opinion of yourself
is.
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Topic: That You May Know (July 1)
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/your-daily-tripod/t/c17116013d375ec3
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From: "dxfaro@cox.net" <dxfaro@cox.net>
Date: Jul 01 12:50AM -0700
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/your-daily-tripod/msg/bd3faa42c3b54475
Thursday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
"Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Rise
and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on
earth to forgive sins" -- he then said to the paralytic, "Rise, pick
up your stretcher, and go home." He rose and went home. Matthew 9:5-7
Piety
Jesus, we pray that you will provide to us the confidence of the
caregivers, the faith of the paralytic man, and the awe of the crowd
to place all of our trust in you. Protect us from the skepticism of
the scribes who question your love when it threatens their status in
the community. Amen.
Study
Once again, Matthew presents to us different perspectives on an
encounter with Jesus. Which one describes us?
First, do we have the confidence of the crowd who presents to Jesus
the case of the paralytic man? These people were most likely friends
and family members who were his caregivers – feeding, clothing,
bathing and exercising him regularly. Yet, they sought for him a
better life. Traditional medicine and exorcism did not help. So, when
they heard the stories about this man healing others now walking
amidst their town, they had faith that he could heal their friend and
family member.
Second, will we react like the paralytic man? He was crippled and
ended up lying on his mat maybe for months or years. When he
encounters this itinerant preacher from Nazareth, he hears the words
and must react. Will he trust in the words of the Lord and obediently
rise, pick up his mat and go home?
Third, will we react with the skepticism of the scribes and Pharisees
whose power and influence over the people is threatened by Jesus?
Finally, will we be like the others in the crowd who witnessed this
act and were awed?
Action
Matthew packs much action and reaction into this one little story.
Every day, our lives play out dozens of little stories of our
encounters with others and with Christ. Co-workers. Family members.
Workers serving us in shops and other commercial transactions. People
on the phone. People we meet in person. People at parties and
restaurants. How do we react to what is happening in the present
moment all around us? What is Christ looking for in our actions and
reactions?
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