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Matthew 16:1-12. The Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test Jesus they asked him to show them a sign from heaven.

It’s November and I am preoccupied with my parish’s Every Member Canvass and the impending annual Parochial Report. Show us a sign.

Times are tough. I head into the grocery store and am brought up short by the sight of the Salvation Army kettle and the tingling bell. It’s starting early this year, I think to myself as I put change into the pot. “Merry Christmas,” the volunteer says. Show us a sign.

Looking through vegetables I hear the unmistakable strains of the “Hallelujah Chorus,” a mixture of the sacred and the mundane. Show us a sign.

Leaving the store a woman sees my collar and stops me. “I’m sorry to bother you. My daughter is very sick and I am scared to death for her. I am Jewish, but I wonder if you would say a prayer for her?” I ask, “Why don’t I pray for you both?” I take her hands and say a Jewish prayer of healing and blessing. After we say “Amen,” she places her hands on my face and says, “You are an angel.” No, I say to her, just a sinner trying to do God’s work. “Pray for me,” I ask her.

The Lord shows us signs all the time. See them?

PRAY for the Diocese of Vermont (Province I, USA)

Ps [83] or 23, 27 * 85, 86; 1 Maccabees 1:1-28; Revelation 19:1-10

 

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Psalm 82. You are gods, and all of you children of the Most High; nevertheless, you shall die like mortals, and fall like any prince.

Leila was in her eighties when I, in my mid-twenties, was her priest. Half of the altar guild, Leila always had fresh flowers on the altar–all of them home-grown. Every Sunday after the liturgy those flowers found their way to those who were ill or home-bound.

One year when Veterans’ Day fell on a Sunday, Leila asked me to accompany her to the churchyard cemetery. There she lovingly placed a vase of flowers, complete with poppies, on the grave of her baby brother. The government-issued stone bore a simple cross, her brother’s name, rank, the dates 1900-1918, and the inscription “The Great War.” After a prayer, she remarked how she “sorely missed him to this day.”

He never made it to the front, dying of influenza on board ship en route to France. There was no trace of bitterness or irony in her voice. She told story after story of their younger days and they were all joyful.

Today we honor those who gave the full measure as well as living veterans who have given so much to ensure our freedom. May we be worthy of their sacrifices.

PRAY for the Diocese of Venezuela (Province IX, USA)

Ps 119:97-120 * 81; Nehemiah 7:73b-8:3, 5-18; Revelation 18:21-24; Matthew 15:29-39

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Or view the Bible passages at Biblegateway.com.

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Mark 12:38-44. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny.

Read the Bible cover to cover and you will come away with the unmistakable fact God always takes the side of the poor. That is a hard truth for many of us living comfortable lives in North America, even when economic times are difficult.

Jesus turns the attention of the disciples to the widow placing her offering into the Temple treasury. Most have put in their offering “out of their abundance,” Jesus says, “but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had.”

Do not misunderstand. Jesus does not say poverty is a better state of existence than affluence. That would be cruel. There is nothing noble about poverty. It diminishes both those who must endure it, too often innocent children, and also those who do nothing about it.

What Jesus is saying is that poverty of spirit is a requirement if we are to be open to being filled by the Holy Spirit. We are too often full of our own self-interest and not open enough to let God work through and in us. May God grant us mercy as we show mercy to the poor.

PRAY for the Diocese of Uyo (Niger Delta, Nigeria)

Ps 127 and Ruth 3:1-5; 4:13-17 –OR– Ps 146 and 1 Kings 17:8-16; Hebrews 9:24-28

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Matthew 14:22-36. Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him.

It was well past dark and bitterly cold on the runway that night in early 1978. Ice was everywhere. We were allowed to stay in our heated cars and vans as we awaited the arrival of eleven refugees our church was sponsoring from the killing fields of Cambodia.

When the plane arrived, out came five adults and six children wearing thin, pajama-like suits and flip-flops. In the bone-chilling cold we met each, and were greeted with the namasté–hands held together, thumbs at forehead, accompanied by a deep bow. This reverential greeting means, “I honor the Spirit that is in you.” I cannot tell you how undone, unworthy, that ritual made me feel. Feeble attempts at reciprocity were accompanied by giggles, but I soon truncated the ceremony by catching the youngest child from falling on the ice and carrying him to the heated car.

I took off my overcoat and my suit jacket to wrap around our guests. Others did likewise. There was no luggage to wait for, so we began the ride into town. Soon the silence became a cacophony of voices. An interpreter said the children were curious about my clerical collar. She told them I was a priest, “a holy one.” Little did they know they were the true holy ones.

PRAY for the Diocese of Utah (Province VIII, USA)

Ps 75, 76 * 23, 27; Ezra 9:1-15; Revelation 17:1-14

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Matthew 14:13-21. This is a deserted place.

You all know a Mrs. Smith–the person who is always around when you complain and has more troubles than you. When I whined it was 115 degrees in the desert she said, “That’s nothing. It was 125 degrees here last week.” When I returned from Antarctica and reported temperatures of minus 62 degrees she replied, “It was colder here last winter.” Sometimes you just don’t have the energy for the Mrs. Smiths of the world.

But mine was cleverer than most. Every time she dismissed my complaints–or topped them–she was offering me something to eat: cookies, pie, a glass of milk or cup of coffee.
One day I asked about her old photos of a young sailor in one frame and a newly married couple in another. “That’s Fred,” she said. “We were married in June. He was killed in the Pacific before Christmas.”

“I am so sorry,” I muttered. “You must have been so very alone all this time.”

“Not at all,” she said. “I have my pictures and my memories. And all you complainers, of course. That keeps me busy. And I have God.”

Jesus said to the disciples, “You give them something to eat.” Are you feeding–or starving–the ones God has entrusted to you?

PRAY for the Diocese of Uruguay (South America)

Ps 69:1-23(24-30)31-38 * 73; Ezra 7:27-28, 8:21-36; Rev 15:1-8

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The story of the execution of John the Baptist sticks in the throat. You know exactly how the story will end, but every time you read it you hope the outcome will be different. It never is.

Speaking the truth always has consequences. The prophets’ call to speak the truth carries the risk of undesirable consequences. Herod’s self-entrapment, from making a promise to grant a request he never anticipated, does not earn him any pity. He sacrifices the life of John to preserve his own pride.

We can only imagine the sadness and sorrow that accompanied Jesus and the apostles at the news of John’s death. We are familiar with the same emotions when something unjust, unkind, and cruel happens to someone we know and love. How very much we should like to change the end of the story to something else. But we can’t.

What we can do is mourn, remember, and start again. We can pray to God to heal us, turn us from selfish pride, and open us to renewal by the Holy Spirit. It is not always enough to satisfy us, but it is a beginning.

PRAY for the Diocese of Upper South Carolina (Province IV, USA)

Ps [70] * 74; Ezra 7:(1-10)11-26; Revelation 14:1-13; Matthew 14:1-12

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Matthew 13:53-58. Jesus came to his hometown and began to teach the people in their synagogue, so that they were astounded and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these deeds of power?”

PRAY for the Diocese of Umzimvubu (Southern Africa)

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Matthew 13:44-52. “Have you understood all this?” [Jesus asked the disciples.] They answered, “Yes.”

If you have not yet fully grasped these truths, you are in good company. But, oh, the freedom that comes from knowing you are so loved by God! Do you understand?

PRAY for the Diocese of Umuahia (Niger Delta, Nigeria)

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Psalm 56. You have rescued my soul from death.

John lived the kind of life that was genuine, sincere, and without guile. He was the truest Christian I have ever known. For who I am as a person and a priest, I am indebted to John and the many others who took the time to care for me, correct me, teach me, or point me in the right direction.

On this day we commemorate the souls of all the faithful departed. Some of them have monuments and memorials; most have none–except our remembrance of them on this day. Let us be grateful for them.

Those who come long after us will offer grateful remembrance to God for the lives we have led. Did you think taking up your cross and following Jesus was merely an extraordinary thing? It is a saintly thing.

PRAY for the Diocese of Ukwa (Niger Delta, Nigeria)

Ps 57, [58] * 64, 65; Neh 6:1-19; Rev 10:1-11; Matt 13:36-43

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