Lily says, "Go CAL!"I can't remember if I related my fairly humorous (if you're not me!) story of a couple of weeks ago and my attempt to purchase tickets to the CAL/USC game, so if I did, I apologize. But here it goes again!
I got home from work and Marilyn asked me if I wanted to go to the CAL/USC game. For those of you not familiar with my family, our daughter Sarah is a graduate of CAL, and we got pretty interested in the football program while she was there--it could be worse--they could have a terrible team, but thankfully it's been a good one for about 8 years now. Anyway, Marilyn HATES USC!--Acutally, it's not that she hates USC so much as she likes to cheer against them when they play us. Back to the humorous part.....
I told her, "Sure! Sounds like fun!" So I went on line with Marilyn standing right beside me (I'm not taking all the blame for this one!) and we went to site that we always use to buy tickets. The price of the tickets was $155 each! "Oh my God!", I exclaimed, "Why so much?" We thought it might be because USC is a premier game and Berkeley is building a new athletic complex and they have to pay for it somehow, right? So we bought 5 tickets--one for me, Marilyn, Alicia, Sarah and Lorenzo--$805 with tax and postage. I told Marilyn, "It had better be ONE HELL of a game!" The computer informed us that we would get the confirmation of our purchase on line the next day and our tickets to the game would arrive in plenty of time through the US mail.
The next day, our confirmation came--it read "Thank you for supporting CAL football. Your SEASON TICKETS are on their way to you."
So we're going to the CAL game today..the game starts at 2:30, but Marilyn and the girls like to go early and buy some cheese at the Cheese Board and eat lunch before the game, so we're not spending tens of dollars for hot dogs and nachos.
The reason for this long-winded explanation is that I probably won't have time later to post, so this post is a little earlier than normal.
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Isaiah 50:5-9a
Psalm 116:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9
James 2:14-18
Mark 8:27-35
What’s your "comfort zone? " For some people, their comfort zone is sitting in an easy chair with a good book. Mine is right where I am now—sitting at the computer, reading and writing about Our Lord and His message. Every now and then, though, I have to go to work (lol) or Marilyn has a “honey-do” for me that will take me out of the “zone”. She will do it with an innocent question or a gentle prodding, depending on the import of the task.
Jesus applies a stronger "shock treatment" than that to the comfort zone of his apostles in the Gospel tomorrow. After he challenges them to confess that He is more than just a human teacher, one with divine authority, He then announces to them the sobering news that He is soon going to suffer a humiliating passion and death at the hands of His enemies. Ironically, it is Peter, who had just publicly proclaimed that He was the Son of God, who immediately rebukes Jesus for such defeatist talk. And Jesus says to Peter, "Get thee behind me, Satan!"
Do we modern-day disciples do any better at accepting a Messiah who calls Himself a "suffering servant"? How good are we at joining our own sufferings with Jesus' redeeming passion and death? It's all part of the "faith plus good works" that St. James speaks about in today's second reading. He insists that faith without loving works is dead. For centuries, battles have raged about "faith alone" or "faith and good works" being necessary for salvation. Of course, we cannot pull ourselves into heaven without the grace of God. But common sense confirms the truth of today's second reading. Faith without actions that flow from that faith is useless and hollow.
Jesus wants far more than only the assent of our mind to the truths that He proclaims. He wants the full assent of our hearts and wills. Since Jesus gave Himself completely to us even unto death, He will never rest content until we have given Him back our total selves. That means accepting the suffering that He asks of us, and joining that suffering to His own sacrifice for the redemption of the world. That is faith accompanied by works.
I got home from work and Marilyn asked me if I wanted to go to the CAL/USC game. For those of you not familiar with my family, our daughter Sarah is a graduate of CAL, and we got pretty interested in the football program while she was there--it could be worse--they could have a terrible team, but thankfully it's been a good one for about 8 years now. Anyway, Marilyn HATES USC!--Acutally, it's not that she hates USC so much as she likes to cheer against them when they play us. Back to the humorous part.....
I told her, "Sure! Sounds like fun!" So I went on line with Marilyn standing right beside me (I'm not taking all the blame for this one!) and we went to site that we always use to buy tickets. The price of the tickets was $155 each! "Oh my God!", I exclaimed, "Why so much?" We thought it might be because USC is a premier game and Berkeley is building a new athletic complex and they have to pay for it somehow, right? So we bought 5 tickets--one for me, Marilyn, Alicia, Sarah and Lorenzo--$805 with tax and postage. I told Marilyn, "It had better be ONE HELL of a game!" The computer informed us that we would get the confirmation of our purchase on line the next day and our tickets to the game would arrive in plenty of time through the US mail.
The next day, our confirmation came--it read "Thank you for supporting CAL football. Your SEASON TICKETS are on their way to you."
So we're going to the CAL game today..the game starts at 2:30, but Marilyn and the girls like to go early and buy some cheese at the Cheese Board and eat lunch before the game, so we're not spending tens of dollars for hot dogs and nachos.
The reason for this long-winded explanation is that I probably won't have time later to post, so this post is a little earlier than normal.
=======================================================
Isaiah 50:5-9a
Psalm 116:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9
James 2:14-18
Mark 8:27-35
What’s your "comfort zone? " For some people, their comfort zone is sitting in an easy chair with a good book. Mine is right where I am now—sitting at the computer, reading and writing about Our Lord and His message. Every now and then, though, I have to go to work (lol) or Marilyn has a “honey-do” for me that will take me out of the “zone”. She will do it with an innocent question or a gentle prodding, depending on the import of the task.
Jesus applies a stronger "shock treatment" than that to the comfort zone of his apostles in the Gospel tomorrow. After he challenges them to confess that He is more than just a human teacher, one with divine authority, He then announces to them the sobering news that He is soon going to suffer a humiliating passion and death at the hands of His enemies. Ironically, it is Peter, who had just publicly proclaimed that He was the Son of God, who immediately rebukes Jesus for such defeatist talk. And Jesus says to Peter, "Get thee behind me, Satan!"
Do we modern-day disciples do any better at accepting a Messiah who calls Himself a "suffering servant"? How good are we at joining our own sufferings with Jesus' redeeming passion and death? It's all part of the "faith plus good works" that St. James speaks about in today's second reading. He insists that faith without loving works is dead. For centuries, battles have raged about "faith alone" or "faith and good works" being necessary for salvation. Of course, we cannot pull ourselves into heaven without the grace of God. But common sense confirms the truth of today's second reading. Faith without actions that flow from that faith is useless and hollow.
Jesus wants far more than only the assent of our mind to the truths that He proclaims. He wants the full assent of our hearts and wills. Since Jesus gave Himself completely to us even unto death, He will never rest content until we have given Him back our total selves. That means accepting the suffering that He asks of us, and joining that suffering to His own sacrifice for the redemption of the world. That is faith accompanied by works.
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