Ponder This

Does your mind wander during Mass? Do you ever find Mass hard to follow? Whether you answered “yes” to either of these, by simply asking the question, you’ve shown an interest in understanding your faith! I believe that a lot of men (and women, and kids) disengage in Mass and kind of “go through the motions.” But, I also believe that once you are engaged in Mass and the Catholic faith, you will find a great richness, and when I say “richness”, I mean the really good cheesecake kind of rich that makes you want to take very slow bites of, to thoroughly enjoy! So how do you get engaged in Mass? You prepare.
What follows on these pages is a collection of the Sunday Gospel readings we hear in Mass, with short “questions to ponder” after each of those readings. These were originally written once a week for members of the Men’s Club at St. Simon the Apostle Catholic Church in Indianapolis, and were sent out a couple of days before each Sunday Mass. The intent was for the busy young men, husbands, and dads in the parish to have an opportunity to read the Sunday Gospel passage, then read a question that they could ask themselves and perhaps relate between their lives and the Gospel, then ponder that message until they hear it again on Sunday. It’s like practice for a sport… you practice to improve so you can compete. Practicing for Mass works the same way, and I would argue that you’re relationship with God, and others, will improve!


LITURGICAL YEARS AND HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
You may or may not know (I didn’t!) that the Catholic Church has a repeating cycle of three “liturgical” years, so the same Sunday Gospel readings come up every third year:
“Year A” focuses on the Gospel of Matthew (2020/2023/2026);
“Year B” focuses on the Gospel of Mark (2021/2024/2027);
“Year C” focuses on the Gospel of Luke (2019/2022/2025).
The collection in this book is from the Gospel of Luke, or “Year C” in the Catholic Church.
Each year starts with the season of Advent, around December 1st, followed by Christmas, then a few weeks of “Ordinary Time,” then Lent and Easter, then more “Ordinary Time.”
To use this book, start by finding the liturgical calendar name of the upcoming Sunday. Examples are “Second Sunday of Advent” or “Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time.” You can usually find this in your church bulletin, or look up “readings” on the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops website (www.usccb.org). Then, match the name of the upcoming Sunday with the Sunday in this book, read the Gospel passage and the question to ponder, and think about it. Don’t forget to go Mass on Sunday with your family, and see how God speaks to you!

Year C (Gospel of Luke)
Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

LK 9:51-62
When the days for Jesus' being taken up were fulfilled,
he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem,
and he sent messengers ahead of him.
On the way they entered a Samaritan village
to prepare for his reception there,
but they would not welcome him
because the destination of his journey was Jerusalem.
When the disciples James and John saw this they asked,
"Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven
to consume them?"
Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they journeyed to another village.

As they were proceeding on their journey someone said to him,
"I will follow you wherever you go."
Jesus answered him,
"Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests,
but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head."

And to another he said, "Follow me."
But he replied, "Lord, let me go first and bury my father."
But he answered him, "Let the dead bury their dead.
But you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God."
And another said, "I will follow you, Lord,
but first let me say farewell to my family at home."
To him Jesus said, "No one who sets a hand to the plow
and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God."

Question to Ponder… This seems kind of hard, doesn’t it? You can’t say goodbye to your family, you can’t bury your dad, you won’t have a place to rest your head. As Luke writes in this passage, Jesus was “resolutely determined in his journey.” Are you “resolutely determined” to plow straight ahead with Christ, despite the no-excuses hard work that it takes?