17 Sun C / we pray... / Lk 11.1-13

Jesus and many more are for us: teachers of praying...
As you pray, you reveal your understanding of God; therefore...
First: we clear our understanding of God:
He is "our Father, who are in Heaven"   and today ? Challenge of LOVE...
Second: our good wishes: "may your name be held holy"
Third: we dare to ask: "give us our daily bread" and "fogive us"  etc...
To end: we praise God:  "the glory are yours"  etc...
This prayer, like every prayer tells us much about the idea we have of God.
Is there any development since Jesus ? 
As we get a new understanding of the world we may reach a new kind of prayer.
But Jesus gives us also an prayer-advice: faith-persistence is the key:
"Your faith has saved you" (Lk 7.50)
persistence means: daily prayer (whatever the weather).

And at the end: don't forget: the gift of God is His Spirit.
(And not whatever you want! / God knows what is good for you)

To have words at our disposal is good for praying - but not enough.
After you approach God actively with good chosen words -
you will discover: silence is more - you feel like a baby in the womb.
You will wake up to discover: God lives in favour of you - don't be afraid.

WORDS  -  SILENCE  -   FEEL in GOOD HANDS.

God cannot eer be captured in thought, imagination or word. Any concepts,
images or words we have about God are inadequate at best and idolatrous
at worst.
(With time we will discover all our words are very limited, they don't grasp
the reality, they only shape a model...
the child discover the world, the young shaps the world, the wise knows:
there is a difference between imagination and reality.)


There is no such "thing" like God, God is a WORD, a challenge... getting real
by your reaction...   the one who plays makes the music!

16 Sun C / Martha + Mary / Lk 10.38-42

Jesus and Lukas and the Christian Church until today they like the Mary-type,
the meditative listner to the Word of God. And the Church is glad to offer you
the right interpretation of the Word.
To be busy with the wordly affairs - that's not the best.
Rather go and pray...

Sorry: forget it...  Jesus has died! and the chance to listen to him is over!
Since then we listen to so many voices - all of them are human voices,
only some of them have the arrogance to pretend "we are godly voices".

As long as Mary refuses to tell us what Jesus told her - as long we see Martha
as the one who is doing the best: service to the people / make the table.
It looks like: Mary is far behind! She still needs somebody who explain her
the importance of service.
This is why Jesus told us she has chosen the better part: the part she still needs to become right: a service-woman to prepare the table of the World.
(too many people, they have no inviting table and nothing on the table)

What we need TODAY: Invitation to the round-table - well serviced - to decide:
                                    which word is for us the Word of God.
The reality is an other one: maybe you hear three readings and a psalm
                                            did you understand them ?
                                            did the homily help you ?
                                            you have to accept first: it's the Word of God,,,
                                            no work to understand the message...
                                            no exchange of views...   no doubts...
                                            only: go in peace.   (and I am lost).

15 Sun C / 140713 / "Next of kin" ? ? ?

The lawyer in Lk 10.25-37 knows exactly what is written in the Holy Book;
but he likes to irritate Jesus,the now famous profet of Nazareth, and he likes
to force Jesus to take side.
But first: it must be clear:
The Kingdom of God, the fulness of Life, is based on the rule: Love God...
and your neighbour as yourself. That's now clear...  but because life is complex:
again and again you have to decide: who is my next  - the one with the same blood? the one with the same language? with the same Baptism? with the same agenda? the one next door or the one with common interest, request? the one with the same colour or the one with the same Nation? To which relationship I give priority? family-relation, profession-relation, confession-relation etc...  ? ? ?
Jesus has given his new answer by the parable of the "mercyfull Samaritan".
The one who shows mercy to you is your next - she/he is to be loved!
Here we see how Jesus has established a new category of relationship.
The relationship of MERCY - who goes deeper than justice and peace.

How to understand it ? In the hebrew language MERCY = WOMB.
WOMB is the place where you are protected to grow up to be born into
fulness of life more and more...
The one who is for you a WOMB, who sows MERCY to you - she/he gives you the
chance to grow up protected and to go the way to participate more and more with
the fulness of Life. What are you without WOMB ?
The human life is based on the womb-net; on the mercy-relationship.
Some thinkers have seen the earth as womb; some believers see God as womb.
The famous "Lord have mercy"... means: God is for me/ for us womb.
And Jesus knows: human mercy mirrors God as womb.

14 Sun C / 07.07.13 / Mission-STRATEGY

Lk 10.1-10 presents us the "mission-strategy" of Jesus as follows:
JESUS has sent - ahaed of him - 72 disciples in pairs to bring the Good News
(the Kingdom of God is very near you) and to heal....
First Jesus made a statement: a) the harvest is rich  b) the labourers are few.
Sec.  Jesus gives instructions....
Third Jesus has a place and a good time for feedback und evaluation.

This text of Lk is seen like a seed, an example for a lot of "mission-work" for the next 2000 years.

Imitation A:  The CHURCH-leadership sends until today tens of thousands,
priests and laymen... into the world...
The statements of today: the harvest is more difficylt than ever...  (???)
The instructions of today: a lot of... eg. poverty, obedience, celibacy etc... etc...

Imitation B: Until today we have many more they are very well engaged to spread the Good News without any direct mission (sending) - they go out of their own decision (based on Baptism); or they have a story: Jesus sent them, they feel it.

To have a mission... is very modern...   CHURCH, State, Business (Banks) etc...
to publish your MISSION is part of your Identity. The "MISSION" is an expression
of where we like to go...  
take it all together: we find the conscious direction of the WORLD
For me, this great world-wide "mission-work" is an example of a cultural evolution...
and how the homo sapiens tries to give to the blind evolution a direction...
and here we find also the CHRISTIAN-tree in the "After-Eden-Garden".