Accountability:

Gospel of Matthew, 23:23-26

One of the things I did a few years ago was sign up for daily Gospel reflection on Faith ND, a service of the University of Notre Dame.  Generally, they come to my email early in the morning while I’m either at the gym (or in some cases still in bed) and I tend to get to them when I eat breakfast or something of that nature.  The mindset was that if I begin my day with the Gospel readings, it will help me focus my day on Christ’s mission in my life.  Some days this works to plan and others, well, we all have those days right?  

Days such as those days are what today’s Gospel has reminded me of.  Our actions toward what REALLY matters in this life versus what matters to us as individuals.  Many of us are faced daily with situations that seem to take precedence over the truly important things in our lives.  We become overly focused on success or the amount of our paycheck, we get sucked into the negativity and gossip of our places of work, we become aggravated and frustrated with things we cannot change to the point it ruins our day… Does this sound familiar at all?  If so, let me be so brave as to offer another scenario: 

Jesus offers this in today’s Gospel; “You pay your tithe of mint and dill and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the Law-justice, mercy, good faith! These you have practiced, those not neglected.”

As we are caught up in this daily, let’s call it distraction, and lose sight of God’s mission in our lives, do we also still hold ourselves as “good Christians”?  Here is an example, all these things are going on and we are catching ourselves getting caught up in it, after our acknowledgement, are we asking for forgiveness….are we going to the sacrament of confession….are we asking others to pray for us?  Or, are we simply paying our tithe of mint and dill and cumin and going on about our lives acting as if nothing is wrong? The Lord is reminding us that the life we are supposed to be living isn’t lived only on the outside.  

Human nature is a very interesting development in many cases.  For example, people often expect out of others what they themselves refuse to do.  My grandfather used to say to never attempt to hold someone else accountable without beginning with one’s self.  Jesus goes on to talk about the inside of the cup and concept that it doesn’t matter what the outside looks like, the clothes we wear or the car we drive, the house we live in or how much we contribute to the church and school.  If the inside is “dirty” no amount of cleanliness or sparkle on the outside will truly make a difference.  Thankfully the Lord leaves us in this Gospel with a very direct instruction:

“Blind Pharisee! Clean the inside of cup and dish first so that it and the outside are both clean.” 

We must hold ourselves accountable before expecting accountability from others. 

Mr. Swann/Principal

OLMC

Love Thy Neighbor: 

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  There is no commandment greater than these.”  Matthew: 22: 34-40

            Saint Matthew speaks to us today with one of the most important scriptures we can read as Christians.  What we must remember is that there are two parts to this Gospel.  The first part seems obvious and acceptable right?  “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.”  We wake up with the understanding that we are to love the Lord.  We go to church with the intention of loving the Lord.  We stress the importance of loving the Lord to our children daily and seemingly in every lesson we attempt to teach them.  “What would Jesus do?”, “Would Jesus be happy if we did this or that?”, etc.  I can see it in the way our students behave during mass that they understand the importance of showing love to Christ Jesus. 

            The second part of the Gospel is where many of us fail.  In some cases, that failure is extreme.  “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  Many still ask what this statement means exactly and, to be blunt, it is quite simply that whatever love you have for yourself needs to be equal to the love you have for others.  The better question may be “who is my neighbor”?  Fortunately, St. Luke answers this question in the story of the Good Samaritan when the lawyer challenges Jesus with the same question “who is my neighbor?”.  Jesus instructs us that, as Christians, EVERYONE is our neighbor thus, if we are to love our neighbor as ourselves, we are to love EVERYONE as ourselves.  Yes, everyone.  What we need to stop doing however, is asking who our neighbor is and begin asking “who am I?”  Am I someone who, like the Samaritan, gives help when help is needed?  Am I kind?  Do I judge others because they do not look like me, talk like me, dress like me, have nice things, don’t have nice things, live here or there, etc.?  Am I someone who loves, without question, my neighbor as I love myself? 

            In the constant distractions of this world, we must listen to God’s message to us by choosing love for God over the things of this world.  We must listen to God’s message by choosing to love others just as, if not more, than we love ourselves.  We must understand that it is our responsibility as Christians to build up His Church with ALL those who are in need of Christ’s love.  We have the opportunity, through Jesus, to walk in the Kingdom of Heaven because someone besides Jesus loved us as they loved themselves.  Won’t you be willing to give that opportunity to another through that same love which has been shown to you? 

Mr. Swann/Principal

Our Lady of Mount Carmel

Remembering A Part vs. Apart:

I would like to take a moment to thank you all for welcoming me to the Our Lady of Mount Carmel family!  Over the past several weeks, I have taken time to try my best to acclimate myself to a new school, staff, faculty, and community.  As I continue adjust and become a part of this amazing family, I was reminded of God's mission in my life.  Each of us, as Christians, are asked to be a part of a greater purpose than ourselves.  Each job we do for this parish and school, is to be done with a total submission and understanding of that purpose.  As my transition reminded me of this, it also reminded me of an article I once read, and a reflection I previously wrote.  If I may, I would like to post that in this Corner as a reminder for all of us that our choices either make us a part...or set us apart of God's purpose in our lives.  

 As I was reading some articles on vocations, I came across an interesting article about the difference in meaning for apart, and a-part.  Apart, means to be separated by distance or time.  A Part, means to be a piece of something that forms the whole of something.   I found this to be extremely interesting in how it is relevant to one's life.  Take for example our Schools, Parishes, and Communities.  I have referred to this in the past as the "I"nstitution using a capital I to focus on the importance of the role each of them play in a unified mission.  In this example, each of these three should be "A Part" of the whole, not "Apart" from one another.  True unity and growth cannot happen without that.  

Let's take it one further step and look at ourselves as individuals.  We are asked to be "A Part" of the Catholic church, it's teachings, it's education and formation processes, and its overall mission when it comes to utilizing our talents to be disciples of Christ.   However, like myself many times, we fall outside of this idea making us "Apart" from the Catholic mission.  Why is this?  Why do often times ignore the calling of God?  Many times, we simply don't feel it is us that God is talking to.  "Who am I?" right?  "Why would God call me to drop everything and follow this path or that path, I mean, I'm sure someone will step in and take care of this particular issue."  Or maybe it's the notion that "Look, I'm just going to keep my head down, do my thing and ride this out.  God wouldn't be asking me to make these changes in my life without a sign or something, and this feeling I have, these thoughts I struggle with understanding, that certainly can't be a sign."  Then there is another in particular that I have been guilty of many times "Okay God, I think I understand what you are asking me to do and honestly, I'm okay with that but can't it wait a while, I mean, everything seems to be going alright does it have to be right now?"  Ask yourself if any of these sound familiar to you.  

Apart and A Part.  Interesting.  Recently I was listening to a presentation that was given some years ago, by a former professional soccer player from Bloomington Illinois who gave it up to become a priest.  In his presentation, he referred to a book her was reading called "Rome Sweet Home" by Scott Hahn where, in one of the stories there was a couple who was converting to the Catholic Faith and the wife had been having trouble with her conversion process.  She knew she was going to convert but she just wasn't quite sure when until she ran across this quote: "Delayed obedience is Disobedience."  This statement hit me square in the face!  Delayed obedience takes us further Apart not only from what God wants us to do, but apart from the whole never allowing it to become what it could be as it will be missing a piece and, never allowing us become what we could be as well.

My conclusion from this is that I don't want to be Apart from what God wants for me.  No matter how confusing or untimely in my point of view that it may be.  I want to be A Part of His plan for me, A Part of the "whole" whatever that may be.  Are we doing all we can?  Are we listening to God when he calls us?  Are we turning our lives over to Him so that we may become A Part of his plan he has for our lives?  Or, are we looking away, waiting for someone else to do His work, ignoring the call because it is too confusing or doesn't fit into our time frame, all the while drifting further and further Apart from what God is calling us to do?

Mr. Swann/Principal

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic School 

Gospel Reflection - Mr. Swann

In today's Gospel, Matthew talks about the young man who approached Jesus and asked "Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal live?"  The Lord answered that he should obey the commandments at which the young man asked what else.  Jesus answered, "If you wish to be perfect, sell all your possessions, give the money to the poor and follow me."  At this, the young man left grieving as he had many possessions.  

The man is upset because he, at this moment, realizes that the Truth is not what he wished to hear.  How many times are we like that.  "Look Lord, I keep your commandments, I go to church, I even teach at a Catholic school.  Isn't that enough??"  The simple answer is NO.  Nothing we have, nothing we have done, no awards or degrees or amount of money gets to come with us to eternity.  Nothing but the choice to fully follow Jesus is what affirms that opportunity.  My grandfather used to say that "the truth hurts but makes us stronger, but lying hurts far worse and leaves wounds that rarely mend.  So, if you asked a question, be prepared to hear the truth."  

I pray that we all have the strength to ask what we are lacking and what we must give up in order to fully free us to follow Jesus's mission in our lives.  And then, let us have the courage to hear the answer and respond by letting go of our attachments which hold us back from Christ's purpose for our lives, whether that be wealth - like the young man, pride, self-pity, fear, etc.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the many blessings which you bestow on us.  As we attempt to draw closer to Jesus, we ask that we will be freed from worldly possessions helping us become ready for the day when will return to you.  Amen. 

Mr. Swann/Principal 
Our Lady of Mount Carmel