Rev. S. Joseph Krempa - Captured Fire: The New Daily Homilies, Year Two

CAPTURED FIRE

The New Daily Homilies Year Two

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Krempa, Stanley J.

Captured fire: the new daily homilies, year Two / by Stanley J. Krempa.

p. cm.

eBook ISBN: 978-0-81891-513-0

1. Catholic ChurchSermons. 2. Sermons, American. I. Title.

BX1756.K782C36 2008

252.6dc22

2008035227

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Contents

1 Samuel 1:1-8; Mark 1:14-20

We begin today our biannual reading of Israels great national story of Samuel, Saul and David in the historical books of the Bible. We read it not only because it is the account of the history of Gods chosen people, but also because it is the story of salvation and the story of every soul writ large.

Todays first reading is about Samuels parents, Elkanah and Hannah. Hannah had been unable to conceive children and in the Old Testament, a childless woman was considered a failure.

Elkanah could have left her (a husband could divorce a barren wife) but he remained loyally devoted to her as is tenderly recounted in todays reading. Part of Gods plan for Hannah involved postponing her time of childbearing.

For many years, Israel was spiritually barren like Hannah, yet God remained loyal to Israel. When we go through times when we are spiritually barren, the Lord remains faithful to us. We read this story of Israel so that we would never doubt Gods fidelity to us even though we may be unfaithful to Him.

We all might face a time of barrenness, when nothing seems to come to birth in our work, our prayer or our relationships.

Sometimes we struggle with Gods timing. As with Hannah, things dont happen when and how we expect. That is precisely the time to remain constant in prayer as she did and to trust the wisdom of God.

God is faithful. The God who gave us life has a purpose for that life. Prayer helps us stay open to Gods plan for us because prayer is where we learn to see as God sees. That can bring enormous peace, whatever our circumstances.

Come to Him. Let Christ use you as He will.

1 Samuel 1:9-20; Mark 1:21b-28

The story of Hannah continues in todays first reading. She went to the local shrine to pray for God to relieve her barrenness and give her a child. The priest Eli saw her praying silently and concluded that her mumbling was a symptom of her having had too much to drink. She told him that she was sober but in desperate straits. He gave her a blessing and later God answered her prayer.

One message for us in this incident is to be careful to not judge people by first appearances or the threshold effect as it is called today.

Eli imagined her to be another drinker and wanted to clear her out of the shrine. Instead, here was a woman who would bear a son that would make and anoint king Saul and then David.

We all need to be careful about making snap judgments.

The young woman who is not attractive may have a beautiful soul.

The man who talks too loudly may be hiding a sense of insecurity.

The person who seems aloof may simply be shy.

The person we consider incidental or marginal may be a saint.

We need to be careful about relying on instant judgments and realize that beneath the appearances we see is a person who has needs and worries, is given a purpose by God and is loved by the Lord just as we are.

Rather than criticizing the negatives we see in others, it is a healthy practice to make contact with the good that is in them. We may find that there is much more there than we initially realized.

The truth about any person lies not in appearances but within.

1 Samuel 3:1-10; Mark 1:29-39

Todays first reading from the First Book of Samuel recounts Gods calling young Samuel in the night. In the refrain of a contemporary hymn, Samuel heard Him calling in the night.

God can call us in the night in two senses.

When it is night in our world, the Lord calls us to be people of light.

We are called to stand for life, for honesty, for fairness in government policy, to defend those not present during an onslaught of gossip, to be people of faith in an age of indifference and to speak for the poor and disadvantaged.

Night is not only a time of day. It can be a condition of society or, more deeply, a culture.

God can also call us in the night at a time when it is least expected.

So often, important turning points in our life, moments of witness, junctures when our life starts to take a different direction, when we encounter a spiritual synapse come at night, that is, when least expected.

God can call us in the night. Our prayer should be that, like Samuel, we will be listening when that moment comes and be able to discern the voice of the Lord. After all, some people love to talk but seldom listen. Listening to others and to God is a skill. After listening, we must respond in action. Listening to God and responding to God through action comprise the core activity of the spiritual life.

When we spend time in our desert place, we can learn to listen to the voice of God. There are many voices in our life. Through prayer we learn to discern the voice of God.

1 Samuel 4:1-11; Mark 1:40-45

Things are not supposed to turn out the way they did in todays first reading. The Ark of the Covenant was supposed to bring victory, but it didnt.

The people at this time had strayed from the Lord. In their century-long battles with the Philistines, their version of a hundred years war, they evidently became a lot like the Philistines.

Here, they thought the ark (containing the tablets of the Law and the manna) would insure victory like a magic charm. But it didnt.

The ark was a sign of Gods covenant. Its strength came not from the stone tablets themselves but from the covenant which entailed the peoples fidelity to the Law which was diminished.

In the same way, our spiritual strength comes from reading and obeying Gods Word not from possessing a Bible as a coffee table book.

Our spiritual strength comes from lives lived according to the Gospel not by surrounding ourselves with religious objects when the commitment to following Jesus, which those objects represent, is no longer part of our life. We cannot deceive God, but we can deceive ourselves.

Strength comes from fidelity, blessing comes from union with God, and grace comes to a heart and life open to God. When we are faithful, united with God and open to His truth, we can experience healing in our life.

It is not the holy object but the commitment to Christ which it expresses that heals and energizes the soul.