31 August 2014 - dupe-lication

Jesus began to show his disciples
that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly
from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed and on the third day be raised. 

This isn't supposed to be part of the bargain, the disciples surely think when they hear this.  Healings, teachings, glory, the voice of the Father?  Sure.  Maybe even the restoration of the earthly kingdom of Israel?  Here's hoping.  But this?  Suffering?  Where did this come from?

Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him,
“God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.” 

Peter no doubt sympathizes with Jeremiah when he says

You duped me, O LORD, and I let myself be duped;
you were too strong for me, and you triumphed.
All the day I am an object of laughter;
everyone mocks me.

We all need to surrender our human ways of looking at God's plan.  We need to hear Jesus say "Get behind me Satan!" to all inside of us that would choose the easy over the true and the right.

Jesus calls us to follow him, even to the cross. We often try to put ourselves first, to save our own life, to shut up the message of the cross inside of ourselves.  But when we do that, it "becomes like fire burning" in our hearts. Holding it in tires us out.  If we try to save this life we end up losing it, and trying to hold onto the whole world gradually wears us down before it forfeits our who lives.

It is out of love that Jesus invites us to follow him to his cross.  It is out of love that we are invited to share in the great responsibility of redemption.  He gives us talents toward this end. At first we prefer to bury them because that seems easier. But eventually we realize, hopefully, that the gift of sharing in the cross is a gift of mercy.

I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God,
to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice,
holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship.

He allows us to offer our lives for something meaningful, something pleasing to God: true worship. All that we are takes on meaning. Everything we experience is taken up in the love of Jesus in which we now participate. He allows suffering because of the greater good he alone can bring from it. The shock when we first hear it is because we can't imagine how anything good can come from it. That is why we try to talk him out of it.  But it is not just a lesser good he brings from it.  It is not just a consolation prize for suffering.  It is so great a good that he brings from suffering that it dwarfs the evil of suffering itself. Part of that mystery is how it becomes for us an invitation to love and to live no longer for ourselves but for God and for others. This is what it means to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice. We all bring our piece. Note that "living sacrifice" is singular. We don't have to be so great as to bring a whole sacrificial lamb ourselves. We can go in on one offering with our brothers and sisters.

That is, we can do all that if the world doesn't talk us out of it. The world really wants Jeremiah to shut up.  It really doesn't want to hear about the cross of Jesus.  Distracting itself from suffering as best it can is "good enough" for the world and it sees no reason to hope for more. As we see how the world around us handles suffering, even though we know better, we often feel like we have been duped by God, as though there is an easier way that he tricks us into ignoring.

Do not conform yourselves to this age
but be transformed by the renewal of your mind,
that you may discern what is the will of God,
what is good and pleasing and perfect.

But the way of the world is headed toward a dead end. It is gradually being worn out as it runs headlong toward forfeiting its life.  We are called to something more.

For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory,
and then he will repay all according to his conduct.”

He will repay us with the banquet of life eternal.  So let us praise him.

Thus will I bless you while I live;
lifting up my hands, I will call upon your name.
As with the riches of a banquet shall my soul be satisfied,
and with exultant lips my mouth shall praise you. 

30 August 2014 - excavation expert

To one he gave five talents; to another, two; to a third, one– 
to each according to his ability.

Jesus knows our limits. He only gives us as much at a time as we can handle. But even so, we have to handle it.  Yet we see Jesus harvesting where he did not plant and gathering where he did not scatter.  We realize something supernatural is afoot.  We assume he must be mistaken to give us anything at all.  And then he leaves!  He's off on a journey and it seems we are left to our own devices.  But let's not bury our talents this morning.  Let us trust that the master knows what he is doing. He wants to give us great responsibilities. And he only wants to do that because he wants us to share his joy.  These great responsibilities are actually kingdom privileges.

Somehow we are called to be "co-workers in God's service" (cf. 1 Cor. 3:9).  That makes a little sense when we remember that we are called to be "partakers of the divine nature" (cf. 2 Pet. 1:4).  He invites us to share both his work and his rest (cf. Heb. 4:1). Do we trust him to get us there? We aren't particularly wise, powerful or noble.  In a lot of ways we are foolish, weak, lowly , and despised.  Compared to the task at hand we really do count for nothing.  But the LORD delights to use us!

Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise,
and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong,
and God chose the lowly and despised of the world,
those who count for nothing,
to reduce to nothing those who are something,
so that no human being might boast before God.

We need to believe that he knows what he is doing when he assigns the talents. We must not sit on the grace we are given.  We must not hide the light underneath a basket.  If we don't trust the master we are going to bury the talents he gives us. We'll see them as something fearful, meant for our condemnation, rather than something awesome, meant to bring us joy. When we understand that God is for us and not against us (cf. Rom. 8:31) we are free to use the power he gives us without holding back.  At the end of the day we won't be concerned about getting a greater reward than brothers and sisters with fewer talents.  We won't be concerned if we get the same amount as those who have only been in the field a short time.  We will be too busy celebrating the fact the we are allowed to help at all.

But we often get it backwards.  We believe that God will only love us if we get it right with our responsibilities.  But it is just the opposite.  We need to know and believe in his love for us (cf. 1 Joh. 4:16).  We are just earthen vessels.  The surpassing power is from him (cf. 2 Cor. 4:7). Even if the master seems to be off on a journey, even if he doesn't return for "a long time", he is still our wisdom, our righteousness, santification, and redemption. This is true even when he seems distant.  Feelings are only feelings.  He may feel distant.  He may be using this feeling to help us grow in maturity.  But we can be sure that he is with us to harvest where he did not plant and to reap where he did not sow.  On our own, we can do nothing (cf. Mat. 15:5), and so "Whoever boasts, should boast in the Lord."

We are blessed because the Lord choses us, not because we choose him.  Let us praise him.

But see, the eyes of the LORD are upon those who fear him,
upon those who hope for his kindness,
To deliver them from death
and preserve them in spite of famine.

Let us, therefore, take every opportunity to spread the kingdom that we are given, trusting in the one who gives.

29 August 2014 - cautionary tale

John the Baptist shows us what it means to live by the foolishness and weakness of God instead of the supposed strength and so-called wisdom of man.  He gives his entire life, the sum of his wisdom and strength, as testimony to Jesus.  He leaps for joy in the womb of Elizabeth when Mary brings Jesus into his presence (cf. Luk. 1:41).  He knows that Jesus is the lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world (cf. Joh. 1:29). He hears the voice of the Father call Jesus his beloved Son (cf. Mat. 3:17).  John's disciples tell him about all the ways in which the kingdom is coming in the person of Jesus: "The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor" (cf. Luk. 7:22).  Even in prison John the Baptist doesn't cease his mission.  Even though Herodias has it out for him he refuses to be silent. 

Finally this morning we celebrate his beheading (which certainly seems like a foolish thing to celebrate) as he lays his life down in testimony to Jesus.  He overcomes by the blood of the lamb and the word of his testimony (cf. Rev. 12:11).  By doing so he  destroys the wisdom of the wise and sets aside the learning of the learned.  His life bears prophetic witness to the coming crucifixion of Jesus. The very power of that same cross is revealed in the testimony of John's life.

Sadly, Herod stumbles over the stumbling block.  He is fooled by God's foolishness.  But he is initially curious.  At first he likes to listen even though he is perplexed. But he lets the perplexity get the better of him. When a worldly delight comes along it makes him completely forget about this invitation from John.  He ultimately chooses worldly pleasure over the kingdom.  He chooses "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life" (cf. 1 Joh. 2:16) rather than the grace which God the Father offers in Jesus Christ.  He chooses the world and its desires, even though they are passing away.  He will remember his treatment of John much longer than he remembers the dance of this girl.

Let us see Herod as a cautionary tale.  The LORD sends prophets into our lives to help us grow in holiness as well.  And often they call us to lay down our own human wisdom. This makes us perplexed. Yet there is still something in what they say that reveals the Spirit at work. For some reason, even though our human wisdom doesn't get it, we enjoy listening. They call us to embrace God's foolishness.  They call us to the wisdom of the cross.  The call to lay our lives down will always perplex us. But this morning we need to trust the Spirit inspiration that makes us want to hear that call.

We need to trust him more than ourselves because we read:

For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom,
and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

Just as Herod regrets his promise we often find our plans and designs brought to nothing and foiled. Only in God do we find the design that endures through all generations and the plan that stands forever. Let us praise him for examples like John the Baptist who give their all for what seems like foolishness.

Exult, you just, in the LORD;
praise from the upright is fitting.
Give thanks to the LORD on the harp;
with the ten stringed lyre chant his praises.

28 August 2014 - stay awake

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Stay awake!

But Jesus often finds us sleeping doesn't he?  Isn't it strange?  We know, somewhere in us, how important he is.  But our attention refuses to stay fixed on him.  

So you could not keep watch with me for one hour?

We can usually get our bodies in the right spot for an hour.  But the quality of our attention suggests we might as well be sleeping.  It is so unusual for us to give Jesus the attention we should that we often have profound experiences when we do it.  We experience the things surrounding us growing "strangely dim" when we fix our gaze on him.

But we are humans.  To be tired is part of our condition.  Our attention is limited. If we try to ignore this we find ourselves no stronger than the disciples. We see the importance of what is happening in the garden of Gethsemane juxtaposed against the weakness of the disciples.  We see the importance of what is happening at mass against the backdrop of our inattentiveness.  We sympathize with Paul when he says "I do not do what I want, but I do what I hate" (cf. Rom. 7:15). We can't even produce quality attention through our own efforts.  "Miserable one that I am! Who will deliver me from this mortal body?" (cf. Rom. 7:24).

Jesus tells us to stop trying to do it on our own.  Pray!  The Spirit comes to aid us!  His words, "Stay awake!" actually empower us to do what he says!  It almost seems to good to be true.

Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test.
The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

He himself gives us the strength to stand firm.  He sees to it that we are "not lacking in any spiritual gift" as we wait for Jesus to come, in the mass, in our lives, and at the end of time.  And we need these gifts.  They are the only way we can be prepared.  The Spirit himself is the oil in the lamps of the wise virgins.  Even the wise virgins fall asleep, but they have the oil of the Spirit.  When they hear the cry that the bridegroom is coming they are prepared.  They go to meet him with joy (cf. Mat. 25:1-13)

Jesus is coming "at an hour you do not expect" but not because he wants to catch us off guard.  He wants to find us ready but he knows that we are human.  He himself sleeps in the boat during the storm (cf. Mat. 8:25).  But he is more than ready to save his disciples from the storm.  We may find that our attention wavers just as the virgins all fall asleep.  But Jesus himself gives us oil for our lamps.  As long as we pray that we are not put to the test he will see to it that we are not lacking the oil of the Spirit.  Then we stand firm as wait.  Even if our attention is imperfect it is OK.  Now when we hear the cry that bridegroom is coming and we are roused from sleep we are able to meet him with joy.   It is all because of his Spirit in us.  This same Spirit makes us faithful and prudent servants in all we do. Without him we fail not only in paying attention to him but in paying attention to his presence in our brothers and sisters.

Filled with his Spirit let us join the praise of the psalmist:

Every day will I bless you,
and I will praise your name forever and ever.
Great is the LORD and highly to be praised;
his greatness is unsearchable.

Filled with his Spirit let us discover what a moment of true attentiveness can be, just as Augustine does:

Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you; yet if they had not been in you they would not have been at all. You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burned for your peace.

27 August 2014 - mother's son rising

Augustine and Monica

"Do not weep." 

Jesus consoles us this morning.  Let us hear him.  About what our we weeping?  Let him comfort us right where we hurt.

There is much that seems hopeless.  At first we experience good things and blessings.  But none of these can last forever.  Eventually, these blessings die and have to be carried out of the gates of the cities of our lives.  How does Jesus respond to this futility?

First we must quiet our hearts.  Futility tends to make us noisy.  It drives us to loud laments and hysterics.  It drives us to distraction.  But we need to quietly welcome Jesus into the hopeless places of our lives.

O LORD, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a child quieted at its mother's breast; like a child that is quieted is my soul.

When we are quiet he interrupts the funeral procession of our despair.  He sees hearts ready to entrust themselves to him like children and has compassion on us. Don't think he doesn't see us.  He does see us.  Don't think he doesn't care.  He has compassion on us.  We just need to trust him.

And he said, "Young man, I say to you, arise."
And the dead man sat up, and began to speak.

And of course the people go nuts.  The crowd goes wild.  This is what they want to see.  We know crowds like this.  We are often part of them.  And it isn't wrong.  There conclusion is strictly and literally true.

Fear seized them all; 
and they glorified God, saying, 
"A great prophet has arisen among us!" 
and "God has visited his people!" 

And indeed we are touched at the reunion of this boy and his mother.  We are moved by the compassion of Jesus as we read:

And he gave him to his mother. 

But is the man handed to his mother just to be parted again?  Yes.  Lazarus is raised and yet he will die again.  Healings are done, yet the body is still a clock gradually winding down.  Entropy marches inexorably onward.  Or does it?  

Now we see that there is one who is not thus bound.  We see one whose actions are not bound by the futility of this world.  Seeing this, we are healed where we are truly broken.  Our broken ability to trust God is healed.  Our ability to hope that there is more than we see is healed.  Our ability to love is no longer bound by slavery to self-preservation.

O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time forth and for evermore.

The man is given to his mother.  But he is not the same man any more.  He knows the power of the Spirit of Jesus.  

And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.

Even though he is destined to die again, he can now die trusting in God profoundly.  Futility and despair are not the last word and Jesus proves it.  If they were, there would be no exceptions.  Monica receives a spiritually dead Augustine into her arms after years of prayer.  Augustine himself hears Jesus say, "Take up and read".  He reads "the words of eternal life" (cf. Joh. 6:68).  By "holding fast to the word of life" nothing is futile anymore, not even death.  Death itself is defeated.  It is transformed.  It becomes for us the gate of heaven itself.  Augustine is not physically restored to life but both he and the young man can now hope to possess life eternal.

Thank goodness for mothers that trust in the LORD.  Without them, where would become of this young man?  What of Augustine?  What of me?

Like the sun rising in the heights of the Lord, so is the beauty of a good wife in her well-ordered home.

Let's spread the news of God's compassion and love.  May more mothers be inspired in their prayers.  May sons and daughters be restored to life in every increasing number.  And may we all be given by Jesus to our mother in heaven, Mary holiest and most beautiful of all mothers.

And this report concerning him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country.

26 August 2014 - living tradition

From http://www.arethemost.com/

Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may be clean.

After all, it is not what goes into a man that makes him unclean, but what comes from his heart (cf. Mat. 15:11).

It is possible to get hung up on little things.  In some ways it is easier to remember to tithe "mint and dill and cummin" than it is to live up to the "weightier things of the law: judgment and mercy and fidelity." Both are important, but not to the same degree.  And the little things give us this sense of busyness that we can incorrectly interpret as productivity.  They give us details on which to focus so we don't have to see the big pictures that we don't want to see.

It can be more fun to be shaken out of our minds suddenly by a special revelation from a "spirit" or by speculation about the end times.  These things often become a distraction from the "weightier things" on which we know we ought to focus.  Even if we correctly interpret the signs of the times and pin down exactly the day and the hour it won't do us any good if we neglect the law.

From the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks (cf. Prov. 4:23).  Are we talking about little things?  Are we talking about trivial things?  How do we fill our heart with things which are really good for us? How do we ensure our speech is "only such as is good for needed edification, that it may impart grace to those who hear" (cf. Eph. 4:29)?

It would seem that the word of God itself might not be enough.  After all, the little tithes and the end times are both topics in the word.  But the word itself provides proper context for these, so that we don't get carried away or go beyond what is written (cf. 1 Cor. 4:6).  The whole of the New Testament is about putting first things first, about seeking first the kingdom, about making Jesus the center of our lives.  We hear it constantly:

To this end he has also called you through our Gospel
to possess the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

When our first priority is to echo the psalmist and "Say among the nations: The LORD is king" we find that no one can deceive us.  But we are human.  We are all too eager to be deceived.  We welcome error. We have itching ears that cannot stand sound doctrine (cf. 2 Tim. 4:3).

Fortunately, there is not just the word but also the living tradition and teaching authority of the Church to interpret it and to make sure we get it right.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, stand firm
and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught,
either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours.

Jesus wants to love us and give us "everlasting encouragement and good hope through his grace".  He wants to encourage and strengthen our hearts right now.  This strength and encouragement is found when he is at the center and we in his orbit.  We no longer have to run from ourselves, from our inability to change ourselves, and to hide in abstractions and details.  Then our every good deed and word are for him.  The weightier matters of the law turn out to be our first brush with the eternal weight of glory for which we are being prepared (2 Cor. 4:17).

25 August 2014 - endure all things

Jesus wants to see our faith flourish.  With that faith as the basis "the love of every one of you for another grows ever greater."  If we have faith our love grows.  We say with James, "I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works" (cf. Jam. 2:18)  When our love grows it follows that we have "endurance and faith in all your persecutions and the afflictions you endure."  This is a direct cause.  Paul says, "Accordingly".  He directly connects our faith and love to our ability to endure persecutions and afflictions.  He wants a faith that is so real that we can genuinely act on it in love.  James makes the same point when he says that we should "Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance."  In the midst of affliction and persecutions the love which faith creates manifests as endurance.  It this kind of love which wants to see the Kingdom come on earth.  It is love which will suffer for that kingdom.

This is love which doesn't cop out.  This is love which doesn't try to allow wiggle room for itself in case the stakes get too high.  This love puts the kingdom before self-interest.  It doesn't just put any old generic good first.  It puts the kingdom first.  The priorities of this love are in the proper order.

which is greater, the gold,
or the temple that made the gold sacred?

...

which is greater, the gift,
or the altar that makes the gift sacred?

We don't succeed when we try to use the strength of self to set aside selfishness.  This is especially obvious when we suffer.  When we suffer on our own strength we are not "considered worthy of the Kingdom" because we ultimately end up seeking ourselves rather than that kingdom.  Fortunately, God himself does all that is necessary to make us worthy.

We always pray for you,
that our God may make you worthy of his calling
and powerfully bring to fulfillment every good purpose
and every effort of faith,
that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you,
and you in him,
in accord with the grace of our God and Lord Jesus Christ.

He is the source of all we do.  He wants to give us a flourishing faith which culminates in the ability to give ourselves for love of God and love of neighbor.  He transforms us so that our lives can become a sacrifice of praise.  He gives us power "to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God" (cf. Rom. 12:1).  Our priorities are put in the proper order and our lives become songs of praise to him.

For great is the LORD and highly to be praised;
awesome is he, beyond all gods.
For all the gods of the nations are things of nought,
but the LORD made the heavens.

24 August 2014 - let it rock

Tu est Petrus

He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 

Because Jesus takes on human flesh for our sake there is a sense in which we must consider him one among many.  Let us look at him.  How can we tell the difference between him and the random people nearby?  Look, holiness!  Somehow he is different.  No one ever spoke like him (cf. Joh. 7:46).

But can we see the difference between that and John the Baptist?  John certainly embodies holiness, out in the desert, eating locusts, preaching repentence for forgiveness of sins.  Jesus doesn't always meet this stereotype.  He isn't know for fasting.  For some reason he has a reputation as a "glutton and a drunkard" (cf. Mat. 11:19).  Maybe they heard about that wedding in Cana.  Yet Jesus is holy.  The rich young man is right to call him good (cf. Mar. 10:18) even though God alone is good. But side by side, do we perceive more in Jesus than in John?

Do we perceive more in him than Elijah the wonder-worker?  Elijah raises the dead, calls down fire from the sky, and is taken up in a whirlwind.  Jesus does some impressive things as well.  But with Elijah being as impressive as he is and with his works being so flashy can we really see how Jesus is more?

The teachings of Jesus inspire us with hope, with love, and with zeal for our Father's house.  But can we really hear how his words are more than those of Jeremiah or one of the prophets?

We need to hear, see, and recognize in Jesus one who is not only greater than these but infinitely greater.  We need to perceive the vast gulf between creature and creator.

For from him and through him and for him are all things. 
To him be glory forever. Amen.

He doesn't just have inspiring words.  He is the very one who gives the prophets their words.  He doesn't just do mighty deeds.  He is the source of all miracles.  He isn't just holy.  He is holiness in the flesh.

We must look at him until the contrast he cuts with all others becomes evident. We cannot see this on our own.  We need the Father to reveal it to us.

For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. 

We need the Church to guide us so we do not err or go astray.  The Church, like Eliakim in the first reading, is meant to provide a surrogate Father for us in the person of the successors of Peter.

He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,

The Church participates in revealing the utter uniqueness of Jesus Christ. Saint John Paul the Great shows that he takes this role to heart when he writes in his first encyclical that

THE REDEEMER OF MAN, Jesus Christ, is the centre of the universe and of history.

There are none like him.  But we need to develop eyes that can see the difference.  If we use our imagination, can we even imagine someone so amazing?  Not with our "flesh and blood" unaided. After all "who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor?"  He is simply more than we can compass, more than we can grasp, more than we can ask or imagine.  Yet he delights to reveal himself to children (cf. Mat. 11:25).

We are the work of his hands.  He will not forsake us.  He wants to know us in a way both close and personal. Let us not be proud, for "the proud he knows from afar."  Let us be childlike, open to the full revelation of who he is, his majesty and greatness!  He is exulted!

I will give thanks to you, O LORD, with all my heart,
for you have heard the words of my mouth;
in the presence of the angels I will sing your praise;
I will worship at your holy temple.

23 August 2014 - heavy or light

They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry
and lay them on people’s shoulders,
but they will not lift a finger to move them.
All their works are performed to be seen.

Contrast them with Jesus.  His yoke is easy and his burden is light.  He doesn't do any of this to be seen or to be impressive.  He is meek and humble of heart.  He accepts shame and suffering even though he is in the form of God.  Even though he has more right to be called Rabbi then anyone, more right to seats of honor, more right to distinguished tassels and phylacteries, he empties himself and is born in the likeness of man.  He lays his glory aside for our sake.

The Pharisees can tell us what to do, but they do not lift a finger to help us. They might know morality, but they have no grace to empower it.  And without that we flounder.  This burden simply crushes us.

What I do, I do not understand. For I do not do what I want, but I do what I hate.  (cf. Rom. 7:15)

So does it help when the Pharisees tells us what we should do?

Well, then, are we better off? Not entirely, for we have already brought the charge against Jews and Greeks alike that they are all under the domination of sin (cf. Rom. 3:29).

Only Jesus helps us to bear the yoke.  In fact, he bears all the weight himself.  This weight manifests as his cross.  We do not even contribute at first.  Yet like Simon of Cyrene we are invited to help, to share the yoke, to walk with Jesus under it.  Not having a yoke and burden is not an option.  But we do get to choose the one we want.  We find that when we choose the one which Jesus offers we also find rest for ourselves.  We find that his yoke is easy and his burden is light.  He only shares it because to share it is for our good.  We can even say:

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church (cf. Col. 1:24).

In his presence, the momentary affliction is revealed as weightless compared to the eternal weight of glory (cf. 2 Cor 4:17).

When his glory dwells in our land, when his presence dwells in our hearts, we experience kindness and truth meeting.  We experience justice and peace kissing.  His grace makes truth spring from the earth.  His grace makes justice look down from heaven.  He himself gives all the benefits for which we long.

We are called to invite people to share his yoke.  We do this, not for our own pride, but so that they can find rest.  We don't just list rules like the Pharisees, even though the rules may be correct.  We invite people to the presence that sets free.  He himself will lead us all in the right way.  He himself will give us the power to walk in it.

And I saw that the temple was filled with the glory of the LORD.
Then I heard someone speaking to me from the temple,
while the man stood beside me.
The voice said to me: 
Son of man, this is where my throne shall be,
this is where I will set the soles of my feet;
here I will dwell among the children of Israel forever.

22 August 2014 - dry bones

Hail, Holy Queen

He made me walk among the bones in every direction
so that I saw how many they were on the surface of the plain.
How dry they were!

This morning the LORD Jesus wants to give us more of his life.  He knows that we have been down here in "the desert wilderness" for what seems like forever.  He knows that we are looking for "an inhabited city" in which we can dwell but have not yet found anything lasting.  This morning he wants to give us "times of refreshing" (cf. Act. 3:19) so that we can continue on toward the city God has prepared for us, a better country, a heavenly one (cf. Heb. 11:16).

He wants to lead us by "a direct way" to this city, not a way that is circuitous or crooked.  He wants to satisfy the longing soul.  He wants to fill "the hungry soul with good things."  He does this by gathering us to himself.  He says "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst" (cf. Joh. 6:35).

He wants to knit our scattered bones together again. He wants to cover us with new muscle and flesh.  He wants to breathe his very life into us through his Spirit.  

Then you shall know that I am the LORD,
when I open your graves and have you rise from them,
O my people!

And this is not just a promise for the last day.  This is not just the resurrection of the body.  We are meant to live by the power of his resurrection today.  

But if Christ is in you, although your bodies are dead because of sin, your spirits are alive because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit which dwells in you (cf. Rom 8:10-11).

He wants us to come to believe him and trust him when he says, "I am the LORD."  He wants us to live on the strength of his promise.  The resurrection is God's promise for our future and at the same time our strength  It is our bread and our water for our desert pilgrimage toward our heavenly homeland.  It gives genuine power and makes a real difference.  Only in response to this power can we truly heed the command to "love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind." Only when his love animates our dry bones can we love our neighbor as ourselves.  And since the "whole law and the prophets depend on these" let us open our hearts to this gift, his very breath.

He gives us his very breath through Mary.  The Holy Spirit comes upon her.  Within her this metaphorical breath of God becomes the literal breath of God for us.  He conquers death, but not apart from her.  On this feast of her Queenship let us receive through her the blessings he longs to give us.  As Saint Amadeus of Lausanne writes in this morning's office of readings:

Able to preserve both flesh and spirit from death she bestowed health-giving salve on bodies and souls. Has anyone ever come away from her troubled or saddened or ignorant of the heavenly mysteries? Who has not returned to everyday life gladdened and joyful because his request had been granted by the Mother of God?

21 August 2014 - invited

Don't be this guy.

everything is ready; come to the feast

Today Jesus invites us to experience the joy of our salvation.  He has killed the calves and fattened cattle to feed us with rich fair.  We must "celebrate the feast" because "our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed" (cf. 1 Cor. 5:7).  As Isaiah says, "Only listen to me, and you shall eat well, you shall delight in rich fare" (cf. Isa. 55:2).  This is the banquet where we may ask and receive, "so that your joy may be complete" (cf. Joh. 16:24).  This is the joy that marks the life of the early disciples in the Acts of the Apostles, so obvious that it was said "there was great joy in that city."  After all, they devoted themselves to the feast, the "breaking of bread" (cf. Act. 2:42).  This is what blessedness means! We read in Revelation, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb" (cf. Rev. 19:9).

How is it that we have better things to do?  Why do we ignore the invitation and go off to our farms and businesses?  What is it about this invitation that can even provoke some to rage?  Somehow the very suggestion that there might be something better, a lasting peace that the world cannot give, can offend us.  We hear it as a condemnation rather than an invitation.  We might wonder how some know about it before others. Are they better than us to have been invited first?  No, the only criteria to be worthy of this invitation is to accept it.  That's why the king says, "The feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy to come."  Even the wedding garment is a gift we do not earn.  St Hilary writes "The wedding garment is the grace of the Holy Spirit, and the purity of that heavenly temper, which taken up on the confession of a good enquiry is to be preserved pure and unspotted for the company of the kingdom of heaven."

Jesus invites us to receive this summons as an invitation.  We're out in the world ignoring it.  We're trying to prove we have value, trying to work to earn our right to exist.  But Jesus loves us into existence.  We don't earn it.  His invitation to the feast is also free and undeserved.  When we finally surrender to him and just let him love us we experience the joy he longs to give us.  We no longer try to prove ourselves with the "better things" we have to do.  We no longer take offense at the messengers who bring this invitation to us.  He creates clean hearts in us that are open to receive all that he wants to give. He wants us in his presence, clothed in his Holy Spirit.  This is the "clean water" that purifies us from the idols of the "better things" we have to do.  We just need to receive it!

Hebrews suggests some practical steps we should take:

We should not stay away from our assembly, as is the custom of some, but encourage one another, and this all the more as you see the day drawing near (cf. Heb. 10:25).

If we act like the banquet of the lamb is unimportant we will certainly come to experience it that way.  If we encourage one another like it actually matters we may even begin to feel like it does.  It may begin to feel like we had just be stone but are now alive.

I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you,
taking from your bodies your stony hearts
and giving you natural hearts.
I will put my spirit within you and make you live by my statutes,
careful to observe my decrees.
You shall live in the land I gave your ancestors;
you shall be my people, and I will be your God.

20 August 2014 - waging love

So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more, but each of them also got the usual wage.

We all do it.  We compare ourselves to others.  We envy those who seem more blessed and count ourselves better than those who seem less so.  Why do we get this way?  We start thinking that we've earned something.  We become proud of our supposed hard work.  Yet salvation is "not by works, so that no one can boast" (cf. Eph 2:9).  When we look back on our struggles do we see them as God triumphing over our resistance to him?  Or do we misunderstand?  Do we think that we did something on our own?  He says, "apart from me you can do nothing" (cf. Joh. 15:5).

‘My friend, I am not cheating you.
Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage?
Take what is yours and go.

Perhaps wage was never the right way to look at it.  After all, "the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (cf. Rom. 6:23). Whether we follow him from birth, indeed from the womb, like Mary and John Baptist, or whether we come to him in our last moments like penitent thief on the cross we all hear the same promise, "Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise" (cf. Lul. 23:43).  We may have to go through more purification to receive this gift because we still lack the holiness without which no one will see God (cf. Heb. 12:14).  But God's love is a consuming fire.  As we enter into his atmosphere his love will consume our impurities.

Woe to the shepherds of Israel
who have been pasturing themselves!

We need to take a different approach to the tasks to which God calls us.  We might not have a whole flock.  But we all have sheep that we need to look after.  We all have family and friends.  We want to ensure that they are not lost, that they are well fed, that the pastures in which they wander are verdant.  We need to remember that these sheep are ours only secondarily.  They belong first to the LORD.

For thus says the Lord GOD: 
I myself will look after and tend my sheep.

His concern for them is greater than ours.  If we look after these sheep apart from the chief shepherd we will quickly become tired.  As we work hard on our own we will not experience the love of God for his sheep as our driving force.  But it is meant to be just that.  Without him we do end up trying to pasture ourselves, to protect ourselves, to comfort ourselves, rather than loving those with whose care we have been entrusted.

What if I wish to give this last one the same as you?
Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money?
Are you envious because I am generous?’
Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

We become jealous of the very love we give, thinking that we ourselves are receiving less and being cheated.  Yet we are both sheep in the LORD's pasture.  He tends us both.  The wages he ultimately pays us are the same.  These are the wages of love.

Only goodness and kindness will follow me
all the days of my life; 
And I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for years to come.

19 August 2014 - the real new age

From: http://www.thebricktestament.com/

“Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of heaven.

We are called to be poor in spirit.  We are called to be willing to sell everything to buy the pearl of great price.  We are called to be willing to sell everything for the treasure in the field that time and death cannot take away.  But we all cling to worldly blessings in one way or another.  There are areas in all of our hearts that make us go away sad like the rich man goes away because we both have many possessions.

Our most essential possessions are secondary.  We must not worry about even food or clothing more than the kingdom.  Our most essential relationships are secondary.   We must be willing to give up brothers or sisters or fathers or mothers. Sometimes serving the LORD does divide brother against brother and Father against son.  Even then he must be first.  How much more, then, must we be willing to give up houses or even lands for him.  Yet can we imagine that?  The LORD calling us to forego our greatest investments?  Calling us to move from the familiar to the uncertain?  Yes!

“For men this is impossible,
but for God all things are possible.”

Rather than turning to God we usually try to figure out how to make the impossible possible for men. We find ways to convince ourselves that if we just use our riches the right way we can bring about the kingdom ourselves.  In response, we hear, "your has grown haughty from your riches".  There is a constant temptation to associate temporary blessings with divine favor.  This is how some Catholics become concerned with social teaching as if it was the entirety of Church teaching.  So let's have some sympathy with them.  Even when we aren't taking that approach for society, we still tend to take a social gospel approach to our lives.

Because you are haughty of heart,
you say, “A god am I!
I occupy a godly throne
in the heart of the sea!”—

We may have possessions.  And the things about which we are concerned aren't bad in themselves.  They pertain to what we think will bring happiness to ourselves and to others.  But Jesus must have the first place.  This is how it can be hard for the rich to enter the kingdom.  We have to sell our rights to bring ourselves happiness.  This is literally impossible on a human level.   Yet the rich may still enter the kingdom of heaven because nothing is impossible for God.  So how does he do it?

Jesus said to them, “Amen, I say to you
that you who have followed me, in the new age,
when the Son of Man is seated on his throne of glory,
will yourselves sit on twelve thrones,
judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

He gives us his promise.  He offers more than we can ask for or imagine.  He reveals, when necessary, the hollowness of our attempts at happiness.  He shows them to be insubstantial so that we do not content ourselves with too little.

No, you are man, not a god,
handed over to those who will slay you.

He helps us to appreciate the blessings we have from him.  Our pasts our filled with genuine goods that we often misattribute to our own efforts.  We say, "A god am I" instead of thanking God.  He teaches us to look back on genuine blessings with thanksgiving.

“How could one man rout a thousand,
or two men put ten thousand to flight,
Unless it was because their Rock sold them
and the LORD delivered them up?”

When we don't hold to false blessings, when we don't misattribute true blessings, we are freed to trust in his promise.  We can set our treasure in heaven.  We can "set our minds on the things above" (cf. Col. 3:2) and fix "our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith" (cf. Heb. 12:2).  Now his promise is enough.  It is a genuine reality that pulls us toward it with the inexorable gravity of love.

And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters
or father or mother or children or lands
for the sake of my name will receive a hundred times more,
and will inherit eternal life.

18 August 2014 - follow

Jesus wants to give us the grace to follow him, this morning.  He wants to help us get beyond everything that holds us back.  He invites us to take it to the next level, to be perfect.  Earlier in Matthew he tells us to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect.  Now he helps us to see what that means for a particular person.  He wants to help this man to have the "holiness without which no one will see the Lord" (cf. Heb. 12:14).  His face is hidden from this man but he wants to reveal it.

Jesus wants to help this guy see beyond his religious complacency.  The young man is like us when we have a hard time thinking of things to tell the priest at confession, "All of these I have observed."  But he still senses something is amiss.  Just being in the presence of Jesus, the "One who is good", invites him to come higher.  So he asks, "What do I still lack?"

I will now desecrate my sanctuary, the stronghold of your pride,
the delight of your eyes, the desire of your soul.

If the LORD's sanctuary becomes a point of pride for us he has no choice but to allow it to be desecrated.  He reveals the insufficiency of our own observance of the law.  He desecrates it with the sense of something which we still lack.  This desecration prevents us from being content with too little.  He is willing to take away the delight of our eyes because we have been delighted with too little.  The desires of our souls are too small.  He even says, "I will hide my face from them" if he must.  He does not want to be distant and yet he cannot put a tacit approval on a life that has ceased to grow toward him.

Yet even if his face is hidden he does not abandon us.  He still comes near to us to invite us to follow him more closely.  In the presence of the "One who is good" we realize that there is something we all still lack.  There is something in all of us which we need to give away so that our treasure can really be in heaven.  There are still "many possessions" of earthly treasures of which we need to divest ourselves.  We need to sell them so we can receive the pearl of great price and the treasure hidden in the field.  We need to store our treasure in heaven "where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal."  Then our treasure will be secure, and so will our hearts, because "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."


It is possible to keep the letter of the law but to forget "God who gave you birth."  It is possible to check off all the boxes.  We all experience struggling to examine our conscience all the while having the sense that something is lacking.  Are we still trying to find a formula?  A system? There is no formula or system.  Those are things that we can hold and grasp.  Those are under our control.  We are called to let go of these vestiges of control and to just heed the call of Jesus, "come, follow me."  There are no guarantees about what such a call might entail.  It can be scary, but it is meant to be exhilarating.   Ultimately, it is more than we can ask or imagine.

17 August 2014 - enduring hope

Sometimes Jesus teaches us lessons which can frustrating to learn.  Sometimes he doesn't immediately meet our needs.  We cry out to him but at first we hear nothing.

But Jesus did not say a word in answer to her. 

When he does say something it isn't always something which immediately fill us with hope.  Is he saying he isn't here for us?  Is this like all of those other good things about which we hear, for someone else but not for us?  He isn't even speaking directly to the Canaanite woman when his first response finally comes.

I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

Is he avoiding responding directly to us because he doesn't want to deal with us?  Does he imply that we aren't worthy of his love?  Are we less than the blessed, undeserving of the grace which he lavishes on people better than us?

“It is not right to take the food of the children
and throw it to the dogs.” 

It sure seems like this is what he is saying.  And yet, we know it cannot be.  We know that the LORD wants his house to be "a house of prayer for all peoples" and not just for those blessed few he chooses over and against others.   He says, "them I will bring to my holy mountain and joyful in my house of prayer". He excludes no one.  He wants "all the nations" to praise him, not just one, not just a few. He only ever "delivered all to disobedience" as a part of a plan "that he might have mercy upon all. " There is not one group whom he loves and blesses and another he ignores.

The Canaanite woman hopes against hope.  She perceives one thing in the silence and in the apparent insults.  But she holds to a deeper hope.  And she is eventually vindicated.  Jesus only says what he does in order to reveal her faith and to refine her hope.

Then Jesus said to her in reply,
“O woman, great is your faith! 
Let it be done for you as you wish.” 
And the woman’s daughter was healed from that hour.

She is not excluded.  Jesus doesn't answer right away because he wants to make sure she knows what perseverance is all about.  It is only he that perseveres to the end that will be saved (cf. Mat. 24:13).  It is the one who keeps asking, keeps seeking, and keeps knocking will receive, find, and have the door opened. (cf. Mat. 7:7).  It is the woman who is persistent with the unjust judge who has her case decided favorably (cf. Luk 18:6).  Our friend will give us the bread for which we ask at midnight because of our persistence if not our friendship (cf. Luk. 11:8).  But why would this be the case?  We know that we don't earn anything by our works, so that can't be it.  It isn't that we have to prove ourselves somehow. Why do we need to persevere?  We begin to suspect that God doesn't really want to bless us.  We start to think that he only reluctantly measures blessings as we bother him and force his hand.

The Father allows this playful association with the unjust judge and third friend precisely because he is so unlike them.  He exaggerates the extremes imagine about him when he doesn't respond right away.  He exaggerates them so much as to make them comical so we don't take them seriously.  

It isn't that he is being cajoled into doing things he doesn't want to do.  He is trying to teach us perseverance, and that hope that has to be there to underlie it and support it.  Abraham faces this in the extreme when he is told to sacrifice Isaac.  He has to cling to the promise even when his present circumstances seem to contradict it.  He has to hope against hope.

Jesus may be silent to this Canaanite woman at first. But let's remember that on the cross he hears silence of the Father.  He himself has to hope and hang on when all seems lost.  And he wants to manifest this grace in us.  It is not a grace to prove ourselves or to earn salvation.  It is a grace only to hold onto him no matter what is going on in our circumstances.  Death always looks like death, it is just that sometimes there is a resurrection on the far side.  We are all called to run the race with endurance (cf. Heb. 12:1) but our part is simply to keep going, to not give up.  He gives us all the strength we need.

The woman has a final lesson for us today.  When she is discouraged, look how she responds:

But the woman came and did Jesus homage, saying, “Lord, help me.” 

And even though the immediate response of Jesus is not what she wants she sees that he now speaks to her directly.  Her hope is stirred and inflamed.  She can now persevere until she finally receives her heart's desire.

So when our circumstances are difficult and God doesn't seem to care let us do him homage as well.  Let us cry out to him.  Then, let us listen.  We base all this on his fidelity to his promises.  He was faithful before.  He is faithful.  He will be faithful again.  We have good reason to hope, no matter what we're hearing now.  In our desolation we aren't good listeners.  Our hope must go deeper.

May the peoples praise you, O God;
may all the peoples praise you!
May God bless us,
and may all the ends of the earth fear him!

16 August 2014 - spirit joy child

Give me back the joy of your salvation,
and a willing spirit sustain in me.

Have we experienced the joy to which Jesus refers?  He tells us the he wants his joy to be in us that our joy may be complete (cf. Joh. 5:11).  The kingdom of God is ultimately about "righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit" (cf. Rom. 14:17).  If that is what the kingdom is about then it isn't an optional add-on for saints.  

Children are naturally joyful.  But it does little good to tell a morose child to cheer up.  Children who aren't joyful don't make the mistake of trying to manufacture joy.  They receive it.  It might not be as soon as they want but it does come.  And when it does they have no memory of the thing that made them sad.

Children were brought to Jesus
that he might lay his hands on them and pray.
The disciples rebuked them, but Jesus said,
“Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them;
for the Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
After he placed his hands on them, he went away.

So even when the LORD tells us to "make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit" we should see the context.  Just above this we read that we must turn and be converted.  In other words, we must look to the LORD and rely on him for joy instead of ourselves.  When we look to him and rely on him we do our part to create the new heart he wants us to have.  He says "make for yourselves" and then tells us how to get his power to do so.  If we try to make it for ourselves without turning to him, without coming before him like children, we will fail and fail hard.

So when our lack of joy causes us distress as if we are failing somehow let's not worry too much.  Let us content ourselves to know that joy is a gift the LORD wants to give us in his time and season.  Let us ask:

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (cf. Rom. 15:13).

Let us ask him for a heart that is clean from our jaded and cynical attitudes and open to the joy he wants us to have.  He has "no pleasure in the death of anyone".  And seeing us joyless doesn't make him happy either.

LORD, we come to you as children.  We set our gaze upon your face.  Lay your hands upon us once more to fill us with your Spirit of joy.

15 August 2014 - upward call

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.

Let our eyes watch as Mary, most lovely, holy, and exulted of creatures is lifted up to a heavenly home.  Let us watch with hearts filled with hope.  She is lifted up not just for her own glory but to be a sign for us of what awaits those who trust in Jesus with all their hearts.  Listen to the Preface from the Assumption mass:

For today the Virgin Mother of God
was assumed into heaven
as the beginning and image
of your Church's coming to perfection
and a sign of sure hope and comfort to your pilgrim people;

The Church coming to perfection is us!  Mary is raised on high today to inflame our hope.  The almighty does great things for Mary today.  He wants to do great things for all of us.  We have been "blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavens" (cf. Eph. 1:3).  All of these blessings are found in Mary because in her we find Jesus.    Think about it.  He wants to give us an example, but not something impersonal or abstract, of his love and care for creatures.  He wants to give a foretaste of the future, but not in an impersonal way.  He blesses us through Mary because he wants to be so close to us that we share one mother.

“Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

Just as Christ is the "firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep", the New Adam who ascends into heaven so too does Mary go before us as the New Eve, assumed into Heaven.  Jesus goes to prepare a place for us.  He also prepares a place for himself in us.  Mary is the New Tabernacle and the New Temple from which Jesus reigns.  He lifts her up so that she may draw the whole Church with her to form the living stones of this temple, the stars that crown her on her throne (cf. Rev. 12:1).  Don't take the stairs.  Mary is our elevator to heaven!

Jesus cleanses the Church so "that he might present to himself the church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish" (cf. Eph. 5:27) Mary is the image into which we are shaped, without no stain of sin.  She is no abstract diagram in a textbook.  She is our mother!  We look for such things when we look for examples.  We look for letter and law when we need to look for Spirit.

So shall the king desire your beauty;
for he is your lord.
They are borne in with gladness and joy;
they enter the palace of the king.

He desires the beauty of the mother whom he created to be all-beautiful.  He will desire our beauty as well.  That is the hope we learn today.  He shows us the beauty to which we are all being fashioned. Today he brings Mary to himself with gladness and joy.  We too shall come before him with all the gladness and joy of the prodigal coming home.  And we need this hope, because the dragon we face is menacing.

Then the dragon stood before the woman about to give birth,
to devour her child when she gave birth.

But we are not left in his power.

Her child was caught up to God and his throne.
The woman herself fled into the desert
where she had a place prepared by God.

In the arms of our mother we are lifted up.  When we are lowly she allows us to embrace Jesus with her own perfect motherly embrace.  Then, at last, we hear:

“Now have salvation and power come,
and the Kingdom of our God
and the authority of his Anointed One.”

14 August 2014 - exile liberation

Using the normal readings and also at the Franciscan Lectionary:

1 John 3:13-18
Psalms 116:10-13, 16-17
John 15:12-17

When he began the accounting,
a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount.

We owe so much to our God.  Even before we factor in the passion of Jesus we owe him more than we can fathom.  He creates everything from nothing.  Nothing exists because it deserves to exist.  It exists because God loves it into existence.  So we see the debt we owe to him is already insurmountable.  But for somehow, with incomprehensible love, Jesus takes on flesh so that he can suffer and die for us.  We owe him more than we can ever fully appreciate let alone repay.

But when we do begin to appreciate how much we are loved we are empowered to love others with the same love which we receive.  When we realize how much we have been forgiven we won't hold back forgiveness from our brothers and sisters.

His master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant!
I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to.
Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant,
as I had pity on you?’

Are we as gratefully as we ought to be?  Clearly not.  Yet many of us mitigate the words of Jesus at first.  We think we haven't done anything 'that bad.'  We haven't killed anybody, OK?  We're no Hitler or Stalin.  We've been forgiven, what, little white lies?  Is that, then, all we can muster ourselves to forgive in others?  Or when we forgive others greater faults do we think ourselves superior?  We are perhaps failing to be thankful for the mercy which keeps us from sin when we do choose the good.  We are possibly also not realizing the deep-seated idolatry in our own hearts that chooses self over others.  Let us rejoice in mercy even as another who never did anything 'that bad' rejoices.  Therese of Lisieux sets a great example: "Make it clear, Mother, that if I had committed all possible crimes, I would still have the same confidence. I would feel that this multitude of offenses would be like a drop of water cast into a blazing fire".

If we truly appreciate this mercy we won't hold it back from others.  If we truly value what we have from God we will have the grace to even offer our very lives for others as Maximilian Kolbe does.  He loves others even as Jesus loves him.  He lays down his life for his friends (cf. Joh. 15:13-14).  He is not one who can see his brother in need and yet close his heart against him. He loves not just "in word or speech but in deed and in truth" (cf. 1 Joh. 3:17-18).

Then we can be signs of God's love for the world.  Just as Ezekiel is made to be a sign of the coming exile...

I am a sign for you: 
as I have done, so shall it be done to them;
as captives they shall go into exile.

...so we become a sign of the return from the even more profound exile.  We reveal that on the far side of the exile of death is the paradise of the New Eden, heaven itself.  We do this when we reveal in our own lives that there really is a love stronger than death.

The main lesson? "Do not forget the works of the Lord!"  If we remember them we are empowered!  This is how we forgive, not just "in word or speech" but from the heart. Sharing in this love we prove to the world that our exile does not have to be forever.  One day we can hope to say:

O LORD, I am thy servant; I am thy servant, the son of thy handmaid. Thou hast loosed my bonds.

13 August 2014 - act accordingly

13 August 2014 - act accordingly

Again, amen, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth
about anything for which they are to pray,
it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father.

Jesus wants us to be united.  He wants us to be like the the disciples who pray in one accord at the coming of the Holy Spirit.  We are not meant to act in isolation.  We aren't splinter cells, planted in enemy territory with on ourselves on whom we can rely.  God himself "is not solitude, but perfect communion" as then Pope Benedict XVI reminds us.  No wonder then that we are exhorted to make "every effort to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (cf. Eph. 4:3).  Love urges us outward.  Love is not content to stay within itself.  And prayer is meant to manifest our love. The main thing is a union of intention.  But it is even better when we can actually be with one another and pray vocally together.  We manifest this unity in a more profound and visible way.

For where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there am I in the midst of them.”

Idolatry has the opposite effect.  It turns us toward things which are less than human, things incapable of relationship, and in doing so make us something less than human as well.

Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.
They have mouths but do not speak,
eyes but do not see.
They have ears but do not hear,
noses but do not smell.
They have hands but do not feel,
feet but do not walk;
they produce no sound from their throats.
Their makers will be like them,
and anyone who trusts in them (cf. Psa. 115:4-8).

This is true not only of those things which we naturally think of when we think of idols.  It isn't just statues in the "image of mortal man or of birds or of four-legged animals or of snakes."  It is anything we choose at the expense of love.  Entertainment is an obvious and common idol of our modern era.  But there are others. Any time we don't treat others for the own sake we are making idols.  Think of the times when we are more involved in what is going on in our head than in what someone is saying.  This sort of idolatry can be hard to avoid.  It might even be frightening to us to think of such things as idols.  But today we see the blueprint for avoiding idolatry of all kinds.  The "unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" is the antidote.  Praying with one accord is the key.  By our own power we can try to have fellowship but we may just find ourselves alone together.  We experience ourselves as "strangers and sojourners" (cf. Eph. 2:19). But when we pray Jesus comes into our midst and breaks down these barriers.  His Spirit unites us as "fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God."

Now we don't need to fear.  The temple in Ezekiel's time is overrun with idolatry.  The LORD's presence does not and cannot remain.  After all, "What accord has Christ with Beliar?" (cf. 2 Cor. 6:15).

Then the glory of the LORD left the threshold of the temple
and rested upon the cherubim.

But even when the glory of the LORD rises from the earth it is only to reveal his transcendence over idols.  This vision of his glory reveals him as utterly unique.

Who is like the LORD, our God, who is enthroned on high,
and looks upon the heavens and the earth below?

Unlike idols, the LORD has no physical eyes and yet looks upon us even from the heavens.  He wants us to understand that he is unique, that he cannot be one among many, and that he is not a force that can be subverted to human purposes.  When we understand that he is unique we seek him with one accord.  Then we find ourselves united with one another as well.  We find our foreheads marked with his sign, the "Thau" of his cross.

12 August 2014 - food in due season

12 August 2014 - food in due season

As for you, son of man, obey me when I speak to you:
be not rebellious like this house of rebellion,
but open your mouth and eat what I shall give you.

We need to receive God's words because of from whom they come rather than because the content measures up to our evaluation.  If we insist on being arbiters of the Word of God ourselves we risk becoming people who "will not tolerate sound doctrine but, following their own desires and insatiable curiosity, will accumulate teachers and will stop listening to the truth and will be diverted to myths" (cf. 2 Tim. 4:3-4).

The only distinction that matters is that it is not a human word.  We need to open our mouths and eat it so that we can receive it as "it truly is, the word of God, which is now at work in you who believe" (cf. 1 The. 2:13).

We're self-styled sophisticates.  We are so protective of our ability to choose what we consume.  It has been a long time since we simply receive what is set before us.

“Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children,
you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven.
Whoever becomes humble like this child
is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.

This is just one way in which Jesus means children to be an example to us.  Children trust their parents to provide for them.  They receive simply and rely utterly on the nourishment their parents provide.  Which is not to say they always enjoy it.  It is not that they aren't given bitter vegetables which they don't want.  But even so, children don't hold back from family meals in favor of their own plans.  They aren't going to go to their own pantry and prepare something.  They aren't able to get to a restaurant on their own.  They rely on their parents.  For them it is that or going hungry.  

"If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" (cf Mat. 7:11)

Indeed, when we receive what we are given it not only feeds our bellies and fills our stomachs it is "as sweet as honey" in our mouths.  God truly does give good gifts to those who ask him.  He teaches his disciples to eat what is set before them, even on a human level, to help them to understand this.  "When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you" (cf. Luk. 10:8).

He wants us to rely on him.  He wants us to come to believe what the psalmist proclaims.

How sweet to my palate are your promises,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!

We need to learn to trust what the LORD provides and not hold back from the banquet he sets before us in the sight of our enemies.  Even if the food is a scroll proclaiming "Lamentation and wailing and woe" if the Father serves it then we must eat it.  Even words like these are meant to guide us away from the perils of sin and selfishness to the bread from heaven which has within it all sweetness.  

This sweetness is not just for us.  It is for all of the lost sheep.  It only grows in sweetness as it is shared.  So let us be little ones ourselves.  Let us find all of the little ones who need to hear this and not despise them. Let us follow our shepherd who comes to seek and to save the lost.

How sweet to my taste is your promise!

11 August 2016 - a little clare-ification

Readings from the Franciscan Lectionary

2 Corinthians 4:6-10, 16-18
Psalms 45:11-12, 14-16
John 15:4-10

Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison

Today Clare wants to help us to worry less about our outer nature.  She wants to teach us to look to the things that are unseen instead of the things that are seen.  The things that are seen are transient.  The afflictions we face are momentary.  They waste away our outer nature.

Our inner nature is a different story.  If we look to things that are unseen, things that are eternal, we see God shining in our hearts "to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ."  This is the glory of Christ risen from the grave.  This is the vision which changes us from one degree of glory to another (2 Cor. 3:18).  Jesus gives new color to the temporary circumstances we face. His paschal mystery gives them new context.  Now, though afflicted, we can be "always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies."  Now we are invincible.

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;

Now, far from wasting us away, our afflictions prepare us for the coming kingdom.

For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison 

Everything is put in its proper perspective.  It is seen in its proper proportion.  All this as long as we look to the things that are unseen rather than the things that are seen.  All this because we fix our gaze on Jesus.

Clare can help us with this because she embodies it.  She is very literally like the woman in the psalm who forgets her people and her father's house for the sake of the king who desires her.  She knows that she is an earthen vessel and doesn't worry about what she will eat or what she will wear (cf. Mat. 6:25).  Instead of earthly clothing she is clothed with the "many colored robes" of righteousness that prepare her to come before the king "with her virgin companions", the women of her order.  She does so with "joy and gladness".

We are called to abide in Jesus as branches on the vine.  This means being rooted in the eternal and unseen.  Yet the fruit we bear is not hidden.  It is amidst the world transient and temporary that we bear much fruit.  And by "this my Father is glorified".  We fix our gaze on Jesus.  We stay connected to the vine.  When we do his Spirit fills us, gives us his risen life, and makes us bear fruit for kingdom.

If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit that dwells in you (cf. Rom. 8:11).