Father Bill says...a Lenten Journey, 1st Sunday of Lent

to: all of my friends
from: Father Bill Muench

Today, I want to consider the Sunday Scriptures with you – the Lenten Sundays are very special.

The Old Testament ready for this First Sunday of Lent is from Deuteronomy – it is an instruction given by Moses for the Jewish Harvest Thanksgiving – the people show their gratitude to God by their offerings and by remembering – they are encouraged to remember the Exodus – “He brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand and outstretched arm – with terrifying power, with signs and wonders.” God watched over his people – their faith was not baseless. Our liturgy – our worship at each Mass – is built on our memory of God’s great love for us through the life, death and Resurrection of Jesus – this is our faith. Our reading from Romans reminds us to confess our faith with our lips and our lives – and we will be saved. When we forget, we cease to be a people of faith.

The Gospel from Luke (the same story is told in Matthew and Mark’s Gospels) – the story of the temptation of Jesus – Jesus, fully human as well as fully divine – had to deal with some of our weaknesses.

Jesus goes out to the desert to pray – to be away and to be alone. Lent is our desert – our time to step aside with the Lord – our time to accept some hardship to be close to God. (Last Sunday, I drove down to visit my sister – five hours alone in the car can be like a desert-experience – and also five hours back)

Jesus in the desert is hungry – and is tempted to work a miracle to get something to eat. This can be a real temptation for us – especially during Lent – sick of our mortification – and we are certain that only food (or chocolate or whatever we gave up) will make us happy – life is filled with so many challenges – how to deal with the things of life – food or other stuff – “One does not live on bread alone” – bread – makes us think not just of food – but also material things – bread – money.

Then the temptation to test God – to abandon faith and demand a sign, a solution from God – to abandon the worship of God, for the worship of worldly things, power and fame. “You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.” God does not send misfortune to test us – nor does God respond to tests that we construct in order to prove God’s loving nature.


We are so easily tempted – all of us are weak and prone to sin – we are fertile soil for the tempter – the challenge is to know ourselves, to recognize evil – to deal with it within ourselves.

Is our faith bold enough – strong enough – to resist the temptations – that try to lead us away from God – that we abandon our worship of God because of our own desires and demands –

LET US PRAY

Almighty God, my Father – strengthen my faith – too many times I am so weak – too many times my faith is empty – I cannot be patient and faith-filled – I want something – I want my own way – I want solutions – I want answers – I don’t want to wait on you, my God – so I lose my trust in you, Lord - O Lord, strengthen my faith. This is my prayer. Amen.

Please join me as we say the Lord’s Prayer together.

By the way – I am truly enjoying the winter Olympics – I am so impressed with how hard these young people work to prepare themselves for their events – such dedication – what an example for us all.

Father Bill says...Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

to: all of my friends
from: Father Bill Muench

for the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time


Wednesday this week is Ash Wednesday

The beginning of Lent – get ready to do something special for Lent

This week I wandered down to Syracuse – visited my nephew, Paul and Susan – and their children, Mary, William and Anna. Today, happens to be Anna’s birthday – 11 years old. As things turned out, the day turned sad – because they learned of the death of their pastor – a truly loving and caring priest, who had a gift of reaching young people and teen agers – as well as being an exceptional pastor for all families. They will miss him dearly. I also had lunch with a lawyer – I had taught him in high school many years ago – that was a truly enjoyable time – remembering people and events long forgotten. And, finally, a meeting with my tax man – that was a bit more difficult than confession.

I feel so badly for my friends down south – Virginia and Washington, D.C. – battered by the recent storm – while we say we love snow up here – we also know that too much is too much.

The Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Finding the Kingdom of God – being a part of this Kingdom – “for the Kingdom of God is your.”

Someone has written: “The Kingdom of God is inside you – Jesus
God’s Kingdom is where the king is and he is in you and in me.
- not tied to buildings of wood or stone
- not tied to names or titles
- not tied to times and plans
- not tied to language and expressions
- not tied to our abilities and inabilities
tied only to the possibility of living in you and me as Lord of life.”

So, how do we discover the Kingdom of God – and how do we become part of the Kingdom. In Luke’s Gospel for this Sunday, we hear again the Beatitudes – similar to the Beatitudes in Matthew’s Gospel – but not the same. In Luke’s Gospel, the Beatitudes are presented first as four “blessings” – than as four “woes.”

In this place, Jesus begins – “Blessed are you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours.” You and I will discover the Kingdom of God by being poor. In the second part of Luke’s Beatitudes – Jesus says, “Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.” Poverty offers a warmer welcome to God than riches. Poverty – not having very much – materially, yes – but also spiritual poverty – lacking the spiritual strength and courage – makes us turn to the Lord to face difficult, even impossible situations in our lives and those of our family or community. When we consider ourselves rich – we feel we do not need anyone – including God. Often, the rich come to discover their own poverty – their own neediness – and then they discover God.

Let me take one more moment – and consider one of the other beatitudes of Luke’s Gospel. Jesus says, “Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh” – and, conversely, “Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep.” Laugh – in this regard, we laugh when we realize that we are a part of the Kingdom of God – God is with us – we can rejoice – we have it made – but to come to that moment, we must be brave enough to weep – to weep for our own failings, to weep for the sufferings and sadness of those around us – our loved ones and family, to weep for a broken world. That path leads to the Kingdom of God and then we, with God’s help and love and peace, we can begin to make sense of it all – and then truly laugh out loud (as the internet crowd likes to say). But if all we can do now is laugh – if the only way we can react to our world is to laugh – we have missed something – if we have missed the pain – ours and others – if we have missed the sadness, ours and others – if we have missed the difficult path of love – our laughter becomes empty – and we will end up – grieving and weep.

LET US PRAY

Almighty God, my Father, show me the way – show me the way to the Kingdom – that I may find your presence in my life – then I will live in your spirit – may I be poor enough to discover the riches of your love – may my tears bring me to your peace. This is my prayer. Amen.

Please join me as we say together the Lord’s Prayer.

Happy St. Valentine’s Day to you all – please be my valentine.

Special prayers to Father Sturtz as he heads out on his mission with the others of the Mission of Hope to Nicaragua.

Happy Birthday to my great-niece, Anna

Father Bill says...Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

to: all of my friends
from: Father Bill Muench

No that is not me – but I did go skiing on Wednesday – first time out this year – up to Mount Tremblant with Fathers Peter, Dick and Vinny. That morning was rather cold – I mean cold – but it did warm up during the day. These old muscles rebelled at all of the activity – but it turned out to be a fun day – great to be out of doors – and the day was beautiful – it truly felt good – although the next day was filled with aches and pains. I stayed up with the others for a couple of hours – but then decided to go off on my own pace on a nice easy slope – at one point, I came up to the chair lift at the same time as a children’s class – and the instructor asked if one of the children could ride up with me – and I had the most delightful conversation with an 8 year old from Connecticut – the ride ended much too soon. I am not certain I will get out again – but I did enjoy that day at Tremblant.

The Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

The overpowering immensity of divine holiness – God’s see so much in each of us – even we don’t – God’s message to us today – you don’t know how great you are – how great you can be – how much you can accomplish – with Jesus you can change the world. Too often – when we stand before the goodness of God – we feel in adequate and sinful – yet, the Lord invites us into the immensity of God’s love – God’s forgiveness – God’s call for us to become greater than we can begin to imagine for ourselves.

So this Sunday’s Scriptures give us three examples: from the Old Testament, Isaiah – the great prophet of the Old Testament – who initially stood before the Lord and prayed, “I am a man of unclean lips” – I cannot accomplish anything for God --- St. Paul, “I am the least of the apostles – not fit to be called an apostle – I persecuted the Church of God”---and St. Peter, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”

But God was not deterred – he saw what he was looking for – as he constantly does with each of us – despite our inadequacies – and our poor opinion of ourselves – the mission is never dependent upon the worthiness of the minister but upon God’s grace – God can and does accomplish so much – even with the weakest of disciples, of priests.

I know enumerable stories of wonderful and successful priests, Sisters, lay ministers and missionaries – who in worldly standards were considered lacking in ability and talent – but developed into world changing disciples of the Lord – through the grace and love of God.

I remember a shy priest, a poor speaker – actually, very poor – but he spoke with the love of God – he spoke to the heart of his people – and he touched so many – and in that way changed the world. ---- I remember a friend – a teacher – who actually was not very talented – and yet touched students in a wonderful way – I believe because she was truly filled with the love of the Lord.

Consider our Scriptural examples – Isaiah – he is touched by the seraphim – and lead to God’s holiness – he experiences the purging of his sins – becomes brave in God’s grace – “Here I am, Lord, send me.”

Peter – all about fish – he is tired, cranky, it has been a poor night – first Jesus interrupts his plans by asking to teach from his boat – and then suggests that they go back out fishing – they fish with nets – the nets have been hauled in and cleaned – and Jesus suggests they go back to work – hard work – and they catch a huge haul – and Peter discovers something wonderful about Jesus – and immediately join in Jesus’ mission. – Peter discovered something special about himself.

Paul – accepts that it is by the grace of God that he is what he is – he surrenders to God’s power – and forgiveness and love – “God’s grace in me has not been ineffective” – such a conversion – his whole past is reversed – he is now invited into the excitement of the following of the Lord – a new person with a new mission.

God was not deterred – he saw what he was looking for – God sees something in each one of us – if we could just allow ourselves to be seized by the grace of God – God longs to use the gifts and skills we have already – and put them to us – by the Lord – in a new way – in God’s way – in the mission of the Lord.

God needs you – God calls you – open your heart to the excitement of following the Lord.

LET US PRAY

Almighty God, my Father – I am ready, Lord – touch my life with your grace and love – show me how I can best serve you – and give me the wisdom and boldness to follow. This is my prayer. Amen.

Please join me as we say together the Lord’s Prayer.