31 July 2020 - divinity doesn't compete

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Jesus came to his native place and taught the people in their synagogue.

They were astonished and said,

“Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds?

Jesus always presents us with a choice. We can regard him according to the flesh, as the carpenter's son, the son of Mary, a normal man among men, whom we might rightfully question and compete with. Without faith Jesus seems to be just another man, and in this sense any wisdom or mighty deeds of his seem threatening to us. He is someone else on our level, or so we think, purporting to be better than us. If we take him to be merely human of course we will want to reject the idea that there is anything special about him for the sake of our pride.

Yet God never overwhelms our freedom in choosing how to respond. As Pascal said, "In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don't."

In order to make sense of Jesus we must start with faith. Only in the context of acknowledging who he is, both God and man, does the humility demanded of us make sense. Only when we realize that the Father in heaven is uniquely his Father do we realize that his wisdom and mighty deeds are not done in competition with us. When we have faith we are able to look beyond the superficial similarities to other men or other religious leaders. We are able to recognize excuses we make which are actually cop outs to avoid his claim on us. But this begins when we believe what he tells us about who he is.

When we refuse to start with faith Jesus will refuse to work many miracles among us. This is not done grudgingly, out of condemnation, or because in some way his power depends on us. It is done rather to safeguard us from further condemnation to which we would be liable.

"Not that because they did not believe He could not do His mighty works; but that He might not by doing them be condemning His fellow-citizens in their unbelief."

- Saint Jerome

The LORD may not overwhelm us with mighty deeds but he does constantly invite us to change and repent. He never gives up on us or abandons us. Even when our repentance doesn't seem particularly likely he persists. He is the hound of heaven who has scented us and won't stop until we are safely rescued.

Perhaps they will listen and turn back,

each from his evil way,

so that I may repent of the evil I have planned to inflict upon them

for their evil deeds.

May the LORD's efforts to chase us down not harden our hearts. The response that he desires is faith. Teach us, O LORD, who you are, and who we are in you.

But I pray to you, O LORD,

for the time of your favor, O God!

In your great kindness answer me

with your constant help.

Dan Schutte - These Alone Are Enough

30 July 2020 - every kind

Today's Readings
(Audio)

The Kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea,

which collects fish of every kind.

There is a temptation to only cast our nets where we know there are fish, or where there are only fish of a certain kind which we prefer. The disciples learned that even after fishing all night, when the waters seemed empty of fish, if they listened to Jesus they could bring in a miraculous catch. They learned from him not to discriminate in their efforts. The parables taught them that they shouldn't get hung up on whether plants were weeds or wheat before the end times, nor should they attempt to sort the appealing fish from the rotten before they are brought to shore. They should try to offer the Gospel to all without qualifications, to Jews, to Samaritans, and even to the all the nations of the earth.

In this Jesus teaches us a discernment principle. We must not judge when it is too soon to judge, when much of the workings of the Kingdom are still hidden. It is all too easy for our own judgments about who is receptive and who is not, what ministries are efficacious and which are not, to cause us to gravitate only toward those with whom we ourselves have the most natural rapport, as if evangelization were mainly a hobby geared toward our pleasure. Instead Jesus advocates openness, such as when he tells the disciples to stay with whoever will welcome them, and to eat whatever is set before them (see Luke 10). The Kingdom is spread by concern for others that is only possible when we aren't primarily interested in our own preferences.

Whenever the object of clay which he was making

turned out badly in his hand,

he tried again,

making of the clay another object of whatever sort he pleased.

We only see the clay that is still being shaped. Indeed, we ourselves actually are also still being constantly refashioned to broaden our capacity, to make us more useful for the Kingdom. We should not try to gauge which pots are worth purchasing based on how they seem before the potter is finished. We must instead look to see where the potter is working. We must trust in him to be able to shape us and our neighbors from vessels meant for wrath into vessels of mercy.

Indeed, like clay in the hand of the potter,

so are you in my hand, house of Israel.

The modern world of commerce loves A-B testing, where small tests of different options let us know which one will perform better. But there is at least a sense in which this is impossible in the Kingdom. We can't simply use any statistically analysis to determine that user engagement is up, and so such and such a method should be preferred. We can, however, judge the fruit. Is there peace and joy? Does God seem more loved? But even here we must be cautious that we are not being blinded by our own preferences. Therefore the only foolproof way to spread the Kingdom is the let the Spirit guide our nets, acting without any reservations on our part. We must offer the raw materials to the potter wherever we can find them and trust in him to achieve finished products that are beautiful to behold.

“Then every scribe who has been instructed in the Kingdom of heaven

is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom

both the new and the old.”

Let us trust in Jesus to bring our nets ashore. If we do, the fruits of all peoples, by means familiar and unfamiliar, are brought worth from the storerooms of the world.

29 July 2020 - from faith to faith

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Lord, if you had been here,
my brother would not have died.

Martha did not need to hide what she was feeling. She felt that Jesus had let her down and she said as much. But she did not let her feelings or her partial understanding of the situation limit her faith in Jesus.

But even now I know that whatever you ask of God,
God will give you.

Because she was able to hold in dynamic tension her own sadness with faith in Jesus he was able to draw her to another level of faith, one which encompassed and in some way made sense of the sadness.

Jesus said to her,
“Your brother will rise.”
Martha said to him,
“I know he will rise,
in the resurrection on the last day.”

Martha thought faith was something distant, a hope for the last day, which could not speak to her sadness in the present moment. Jesus told her it was more than that.

Jesus told her,
“I am the resurrection and the life;
whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live,
and anyone who lives and believes in me will never die.

Jesus revealed himself as the resurrection and the life. This was true even before he rose, even before he raised Lazarus from the dead. It was more than simply saying that Martha had good grounds for hope in something happening eventually. Jesus told her that who he was even in that moment was an undying life, and that all who would ever believe in him would share and be united to that life. There was a sense in which, close to Jesus, nothing was truly taken or lost. He was the head and the body was even then united to him.

We are drawn away by many distractions. Even Martha, whose faith was great, let serving detract from the one thing necessary. The more we can make that one thing central to our own lives the less we will be pulled by the anxieties and worries of life, even in the midst of service, even in the midst of sadness. We need to be like the prophet Jeremiah.

When I found your words, I devoured them;
they became my joy and the happiness of my heart,

The words of the LORD make us a solid wall of brass toward anything the world can send at us. Do we believe it?

She said to him, “Yes, Lord.
I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God,
the one who is coming into the world.”

Matt Maher - Because He Lives

28 July 2020 - harvest soon

Today's Readings

(Audio)

“Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”

The short-term implications of the parable are more obvious. The weeds and the wheat must grow together. But the complete explanation considers not just the process but the end.

The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.

The world is a field precisely because it is designed to produce a harvest. The point of the parable, therefore, is not simply that we should all just get along together. It is not simply trying to say that we cannot avoid difficult people and circumstances and so ought to make the best of it. The point is that what is happening now is happening so that the maximum harvest can be collected. Even the apparent freedom of the Evil One to act in sowing seeds is permitted, not simply because nothing better was on the table, but rather because even from his action God could bring some greater good. 

The Son of Man and his angels are more than able to dispose of the weeds at the proper time. Yet here and now weeds provide a real occasion for the servants in the field to doubt their master's providence or even his competence. The fact that the wheat must grow in the midst of adversity makes it seem as though they could have been grown better in some pristine garden where there were no weeds. We recall that they were originally planted in such a garden and it was only due to sin that:

cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field. (see Genesis 3:17-18).

Was this disaster not preventable? Could the seeds of these weeds not have been kept from the garden? Adam, the first gardener, could have done so for God "put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it" (see Genesis 2:15). If God had not allowed him to chose the curse the blessing offered could not exist in any meaningful sense. In the garden of Eden the wheat could have become all that it was meant to be by staying true to itself and growing even in the presence of that first seed of temptation. But with an eye to the eventual harvest God had a plan to bring good even from the curse. He sent his Son to be the new gardener, to till the field of the world, to make it bear supernatural fruit even and especially amidst trials. In this way we learn that nothing can hinder the growth of that which is divinely planted. Nothing can hinder the harvest. And so we must not go off and do our own thing. We must not come up with our own agricultural program, hermetically sealing ourselves off from all possibility of challenge or difficulty. We must grow where the LORD plants us because it is he who can bring us to the harvest.

Then the righteous will shine like the sun
in the Kingdom of their Father.

We are made to shine like the sun. That is the whole point of what is happening in the field here and now. We need to return to trust in the gardener, to not running and hiding when the field does not meet our expectations.

Among the nations’ idols is there any that gives rain?
Or can the mere heavens send showers?
Is it not you alone, O LORD,
our God, to whom we look?
You alone have done all these things.

Shine Like the Sun - Matt Maher

27 July 2020 - things visible and invisible

Today's Readings

(Audio)

The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed
that a person took and sowed in a field.
It is the smallest of all the seeds,

The mustard seed is so small. It doesn't seem like a large bush would be the result of something so small. The potential it possesses is hidden by its superficial appearance. The amount of yeast mixed with three measures (about 50 pounds) of wheat flour seems insignificant by comparison to the amount of wheat. We would assume that if we want a big bush a bigger seed would be needed. A non-baker might intuit that he would need to overwhelm the flour with the yeast in order to leaven the batch. But in fact "too much yeast could cause the dough to go flat by releasing gas before the flour is ready to expand" (see this site). That is fascinating, and entirely in keeping with Kingdom logic.

The potential of the Kingdom to influence and transform the world does not seem like enough. Faithful Catholics are a minority, and even we are so flawed that it is hard expect the world to count on us. We seem like a seed unlikely to be able to become a bush which can welcome all the birds of the sky. We seem too few in number to make any impact in the places where we are mixed with the world.

We need faith to take Jesus at his word about the Kingdom. We are called to believe in and rely on the power of the Gospel even when it is hidden. If we want a large bush that can welcome the birds we have to trust in the seed long before the results are evident. If we want our dough to rise and become delicious we need to trust in the ratio of yeast to flour that the Divine Baker prescribes. This is what faith means. The Kingdom does not grow or take shape without it.

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (see Hebrews 11:1).

Abraham planted and cared for the seed by his faith long before he saw the results. He had every human reason to question how following God to unknown lands and even sacrificing his only son could have the results promised by God. Like him we are called to believe in a God "who gives life to the dead and calls into being what does not exist" (see Romans 4:17), even to the point of "hoping against hope" (see Romans 4:18).

We are called to believe, to trust, and not only that, but to actually live counting on the promised results. We don't have to be afraid to engage the world because we know that we have a hidden source that can provide food and a home for all peoples. It is the same principle in the multiplication of the loaves (see Matthew 14:13-21). We are called to use what we have as God directs us and count on him to make it sufficient. Indeed there will be baskets left over.

If we don't plant the seed, if we hold back the leaven, if we do not share our loaves and fishes, what will become of the world? What will become of us? If we don't follow God's plan and design we tend to fall for counterfeit plans and substitute kingdoms.

This wicked people who refuse to obey my words,
who walk in the stubbornness of their hearts,
and follow strange gods to serve and adore them,
shall be like this loincloth which is good for nothing.

It is vital to realize that we are made for God, to be satisfied by him alone, and the only way to attain this proimise is to walk by faith.

For, as close as the loincloth clings to a man’s loins,
so had I made the whole house of Israel
and the whole house of Judah cling to me, says the LORD;
to be my people, my renown, my praise, my beauty.

May we not forget God who gave us birth, even when his workings are hidden, even when we seem overwhelmed. Yet even if we should forget him he is still 
faithful. He continues to call us back and to offer us the wisdom we need.

I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation
of the world.

26 July 2020 - ask something of me

Today's Readings

(Audio)

The LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream at night.
God said, “Ask something of me and I will give it to you.”

What would we ask if the LORD made this offer to us? Must of us would probably choose to ask for a way to address some immediate problem. Wouldn't it be tempting to ask, above all else, that the LORD end the pandemic or systemic racism? Wouldn't we almost feel like bad people if one of those things wasn't the basis for our answer?

Solomon certainly had pressing issues. He had enemies. He lived in a world where long life was much less likely than it is even during the pandemic. And with riches he could he provided great stability for his kingdom and comfort for himself. But Solomon, before even acquiring supernatural wisdom, already was wise enough to see beyond the narrow horizon of the immediate.

The tyrannical nature of the pressing things of the present always clamors for our attention. But if we allow ourselves to be caught up entirely in these things we will lack the perspective that truly matters. The present problems will end. But the next ones will follow. And we will be even more caught up, invested, and therefore afraid when they do. We can only navigate the temporal trials of this world well if, like Solomon, we ask above all to see them from God's perspective.

Give your servant, therefore, an understanding heart
to judge your people and to distinguish right from wrong.

Solomon was asked what mattered most to him. What was his treasure? He ignored all else that he might have gained and chose the pearl of great price. He found was offered a treasure that was hidden, that was not the obvious ones that people readily know about and seek after. He was willing to prefer that treasure to all of those things. After him, Aquinas did something similar when the LORD appeared to him and said, "You have written well of me Thomas; what reward will you have?" Thomas replied "Non nisi te. (Nothing but you, Lord)."

But what of us? Wouldn't we first ask for the life of our enemies? In other words, wouldn't we ask that all who oppose the arguments we believe in would succumb to the truth as we understand it? And wouldn't we follow that up with a request for long life for everyone, that no one need suffer from this pandemic nor any other disease? And then would we not ask for riches, to balance out the inequalities of society, so that everyone would have enough? These are in fact great goods. They are not to be shunned because they are bad. But without the wisdom of God to as the conductor of the orchestra, the architect of the building, they turn into a cacophony of noise and a structure that can't help but collapse. The question is do we believe that we can make these things work without God as guide? This is a temptation which Solomon overcame. The LORD offers us the same wisdom to believe as he did, to desire as he desired, to ask what he asked.

The revelation of your words sheds light,
giving understanding to the simple.

When we chose the Gospel as our treasure, when we seek first the Kingdom of God, all else is added to us (see Matthew 6:33).

In addition, I give you what you have not asked for: I give you such riches and glory that among kings there will be no one like you all your days (See First Kings 3:13).

In the short term this is true because even pandemics and social upheaval will be among the "all things" that "work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose." Even great trials can conform us to the image of the Son. In the long term, all things will be set right.  We will be able to enjoy these treasures with no more misfortune to fear, no sorrow or suffering to disturb us. Possessing them now, treasuring them, allows us to cling to the good grounds we have for that hope. This is what wisdom does. This is the difference the Divine perspective makes.

And those he predestined he also called;
and those he called he also justified;
and those he justified he also glorified.

25 July 2020 - the weight of glory

Today's Readings

(Audio)

“Command that these two sons of mine sit,
one at your right and the other at your left, in your Kingdom.”

There is a good aspect to the desire this request expresses. To be near to Jesus is something we should all want. There is even a sense of desiring glory that is licit and good.

Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing (see Second Timothy 4:8).

The Kingdom has crowns which we can rightly desire, for which we can legitimately strive. Indeed, Jesus had already promised the twelve that they  would sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel (see Matthew 19:28)

But the glory of the crown, the glory of the thrones, is not the same as the glory of human reputation or renown. It is not something which can be bestowed arbitrarily, simply because one asked. It is glory for which we must be prepared.

For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison (see Second Corinthians 4:17).

These places of honor are not for Jesus to give, but for those for whom they have been prepared by his Father. They are prepared by the Father when he draws us to follow Jesus through his own path of obedience and suffering.

“You do not know what you are asking.
Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?”
They said to him, “We can.”

Jesus himself works with the Father to prepare these heavenly mansions (see John 14:3), these eternal dwellings for us. This is a reward we ought to desire. But the true and correct form of this desire is also very different from the one expressed by the mother of the sons of Zebedee. For the true form of this crown, this power, this righteousness, is the form of a servant. To truly desire it is to count worldly honor as nothing.

Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant;
whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.

Paul understood that there was honor to be sought, but not in the way he had understood it before meeting Jesus. He counted everything as loss so as to attain Christ (see Philippians 3:8). He recognized that our treasure is presently contained in earthen vessels. There is a treasure, but we tend to want to esteem the container. Paul on the other hand understood the need to drink the chalice, "always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body." He understood that there was indeed a treasure to be sought, but it was not a treasure of domination or superiority, according to the paradigms of the world. It was one of service, of suffering out of love for others.

So death is at work in us, but life in you.

This understanding that Paul expresses is in fact the same as that to which the response Jesus gave to James and John called them. He showed the core of their desire and helped them see beyond the earthen vessels that had their attention so transfixed.

Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served
but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.

24 July 2020 - be still and grow

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Hear the parable of the sower.

We want to provide rich soil for the seeds generously sown by the sower. Rich soil is soil dedicated to the purpose of receiving the seed. But compared to other types of ground this can feel empty or useless. Well trod paths of worldly habits are not good places for seed. Yet effort must be invested into the ground that would receive the seed. Rocks must be removed. Thorns must be avoided. But all this is for something that happens below ground that is hard to see.

And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.” (see Mark 4:26-29).

It is almost as though what we are called to present is a profound emptiness, one which we hold sacred, which we allow nothing other than God to enter.

Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth! (see Psalm 46:10).

Jesus will himself give us the grace of good soil, if we ask him. He will help us be sure there is nothing above preventing the seed from breaking forth into our lives and nothing below preventing its roots from spreading throughout our being.

Jesus is the shepherd after the heart of the Father. He sends shepherds into the world so that the faithful can bear fruit. He helps us forget the things of the past and welcome and become open to the presence of the LORD in our midst.

They will in those days no longer say,
“The ark of the covenant of the LORD!”
They will no longer think of it, or remember it,
or miss it, or make another.

It is important for us that we avail ourselves of the graces of the most wise and prudent shepherds that we can find, those who share the heart of Jesus. There are indeed other kinds of shepherds out there, shepherds to be avoided.

Woe to the shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should not shepherds feed the flock? (see Ezekiel 34:2).

Without shepherds who are concerned for the sheep we risk facing the wolves. The shepherds are part of God's plan for preparing the soil for seed. They are part of the way that the grace of rich soil is given. Are our shepherds helping us to protect the space within us so that God and God alone can fill it? It isn't always easy to find shepherds who truly care for the welfare of the sheep. But God wants us to have such shepherds and so we should pray to find them.

He who scattered Israel, now gathers them together,
he guards them as a shepherd his flock.

23 July 2020 - growing rich

Today's Readings

(Audio)

To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich;
from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

All true riches are in Christ, "in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Colossians 2:3). He became poor in his incarnation that he could raise us up in divinization.

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich (see Second Corinthians 8:9).

At first the idea of taking away from anyone who is already impoverished to begin with sounds hostile and mean. But when we realize that this is the inevitable fate of all riches not based on having Christ as our treasure we realize that it is a warning given out of kindness. The house built on a rock will last. But these riches are houses built on sand.

What do we account as riches in our own lives? What do we value the most and give priority in terms of our time and our money? We are called to assess these things to ensure that we the treasure we are seeking is a treasure that can last. We are often easily distracted by things which seem like wealth but which are not. We should pray with that the eyes of our hearts be "enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints" (see Ephesians 1:18).

The parables teach us how to have kingdom values. But they are not scientific formulae that can be used to acquire riches on our own terms. The parables themselves require that we have Christ already so that we may grow rich in their wisdom. Faith and humility are the keys that unlock them.  

What does it look like to value worldly riches instead of those of the kingdom?

Two evils have my people done:
they have forsaken me, the source of living waters;
They have dug themselves cisterns,
broken cisterns, that hold no water.

Let us then return to the devotion of our youth, when we loved God as a bride, and followed him even into the desert. The desert is not a place we go to find riches, but if the bridegroom is present we have more than we could ask or imagine.

I remember the devotion of your youth,
how you loved me as a bride,
Following me in the desert,
in a land unsown.

22 July 2020 - increase our desire

Today's Readings

(Audio)

“They have taken the Lord from the tomb,
and we don’t know where they put him.”

We are made for God. There is nothing else that will ultimately satisfy us. But we sometimes find ourselves in a situation like Mary Magdalene. We can't find the LORD. There is only the tomb, the sorrow, the need for something which we cannot find. Maybe we implicitly acknowledge that this need is for Jesus. But we are usually quick to move on and try to forget and dull the pain. We don't often sit with it in the way that Mary did.

Mary stayed outside the tomb weeping.

Mary's desire to see the LORD was a holy desire. It was a genuinely good thing in its own right. The stronger the expression of that desire the better. Jesus taught that the one he perseveres to the end will be saved (see Matthew 24:13). Perseverance in this sense has more to do with a flawless succession of righteous deeds and more to do with cultivating the desire we see expressed so beautifully in Mary Magdalene.

I sought him but I did not find him.
I will rise then and go about the city;
in the streets and crossings I will seek
Him whom my heart loves.

Jesus taught us to seek and keep seeking, to ask and keep asking, to knock and keep knocking (see Matthew 7:7). It is in this persistence that we receive, that we find, and that the door is opened. Just as the woman desires justice so much that she won't leave the unjust judge alone (see Luke 18:1-9) so too should we be relentless in our desire for the one who himself is both justice and mercy.

I had hardly left them
when I found him whom my heart loves.

It is our desire for Jesus that can pull us beyond our old modes of understanding, of regarding the world according to the flesh, and reveal the new creation to us. The answer to this desire is profoundly individual and fulfills our longings so exhaustively as to open our eyes to supernatural faith.

Jesus said to her, “Mary!”
She turned and said to him in Hebrew,
“Rabbouni,” which means Teacher.

The holy desire we have is itself a gift from God. It allows us to hang on in the face of situations which we don't understand and which are almost impossible to bear. It calls to mind Thomas Merton's statement about prayer.

“Prayer and love are learned in the hour when prayer becomes impossible and the heart has turned to stone.”

Even the heart of stone can persist precisely by this desire that it not be stone, that the stone of the tomb not be the final word. It is as we experience the beginnings of the fulfillment of this desire that we begin to walk in a personal relationship with Jesus. It is his answer, not in the abstract, but to each of us by name, that makes us witnesses to the resurrection.

“I have seen the Lord,”

Lord, Enkindle Me

So Bless the Lord

21 July 2020 - the family plan

Today's Readings

(Audio)

But he said in reply to the one who told him,
“Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?”

There is a new and spiritual reality that takes precedence over the natural reality which we know. It is a reality which we are told that we must prefer even over the deepest natural bonds.

Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me (see Matthew 10:37).

It is in some sense consoling to see Jesus practicing what he preaches. He himself is the Son with whom the Father is well pleased. He himself is the only one who perfectly accomplishes the will of his heavenly Father, and, in doing so, opens the door for us to share in that relationship. He fills us at baptism with the Spirit that makes us too cry, "Abba! Father!" (see Romans 8:15). He himself is therefore the center of this new and preeminent spiritual reality.

But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision but of God (see John 1:12-13).

If even the deepest bonds of family must not be preferred to Christ, then we must prefer nothing to him (see Rule of Saint Benedict, Chapter 72). We must accept no other center point for our own lives, around which they can rotate. We must accept no substitute as our source and our destination.

Who is my mother?

Mary is therefore doubly the mother of Jesus. She is his mother in the natural sense. But she, more than any human, cooperated with the will of the Father in heaven when she gave her 'fiat' and said, "Be it done unto me according to thy word" (see Luke 1:38). Her motherhood is therefore unique and privileged compared and not merely natural, entirely noncompetitive with Jesus and his centrality in our lives. Others can share in the motherhood is Jesus, but Mary possesses it par excellence. Jesus therefore makes his own mother a gift to us. In a real sense we are his mother in the way he means to the degree to which we give ourselves over to Mary as our mother, to make her perfect 'Yes' and unwavering fidelity our own.

From the cross Jesus says to us, "Behold, your mother" (see John 19:27) If we accept the gift as did the beloved disciple we become, with him "her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus" (see Revelation 12:17).

It might seem like Jesus was being dismissive of his mother. But he needed the crowds to understand that she was not to be esteemed merely on the basis of blood, for this new family of his would transcend the limits of natural relations and even include the Gentiles. And Mary already knew herself to be favored and  blessed by God. This apparent slight did not make her waver, did not even cause a pause in her song of trust to God. She was suited for this new and spiritual family because nothing mattered more to her than obedience to the Father and love and devotion to her son. 

Far from being a call to neglect Mary, Jesus is actually revealing the true reason we should turn toward her and avail ourselves of her aid. God looked with favor on her lowliness. And now we thrive precisely as generations who call her blessed.

You will show faithfulness to Jacob,
and grace to Abraham,
As you have sworn to our fathers
from days of old.

20 July 2020 - when we don't get a sign

Today's Readings

(Audio)

“Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.”

We tend to prefer the dramatic. We want to see the Red Sea split or Elijah's sacrifice consumed by fire from heaven. We want to see Gideon's as the only thing that gathered dew in the night and then straightaway ask for it to be the only thing dry the following night (see Judges 6). Sometimes the LORD does have a place for signs. But the sign he gives are given for the sake of the well disposed, whose hearts were open.

An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign,

If we seek a sign merely as entertainment, or worse, for self-justification against the claims of Jesus, no sign will be given that is to our taste. When we think we want signs and wonders from on high we need to be clear about what is actually driving us. Are we seeking God's will? Are we seeking clarity for his mission? Or are we rather looking for excuses to do nothing, or for the reward without willingness to participate in the work?

Jesus never leaves us without means to understand who he is and what he is about. But we don't get to dictate the terms of his revelation.

but no sign will be given it
except the sign of Jonah the prophet.
Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights,
so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth
three days and three nights.

The resurrection already revealed everything needed to prove the claims of Jesus. It vindicated his preaching and proclamation of the kingdom. More so than the men of Nineveh we have already been given good grounds for belief. Solomon was famed for his wisdom, which the world came to him to hear. But the words of Christ which we have been given are truly the wisdom of God and the power of God (see First Corinthians 1:24).

What we have already been given in Christ should be more than enough for our own belief. When we insist on miraculous signs we often showing a lack of gratitude for what we already have. The fact of who Jesus is is already evident to us, yet because we ourselves are uncomfortable we insist on more from him.

Like the Pharisees we have our own ideas about how the Messiah ought to act and what he ought to do. We imagine dramatic triumph where we instead find wisdom that suffers patiently out of love. Fortunately, our own return and repentance can be similar simple, similar humble and without ostentation.

You have been told, O man, what is good,
and what the LORD requires of you:
Only to do the right and to love goodness,
and to walk humbly with your God.

We need to detach from our desire for drama so we can get to the heart of the matter, the mercy of God revealed in the face of Jesus.

He that offers praise as a sacrifice glorifies me;
and to him that goes the right way I will show the salvation of God.

19 July 2020 - branching out

Today's Readings

(Audio)

The kingdom of heaven may be likened

The kingdom of heaven is not intuitively evident in its appearance or its action in the world. Perhaps this should be an obvious point, but it bears reflection.

All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables.
He spoke to them only in parables,
to fulfill what had been said through the prophet:
I will open my mouth in parables,
I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation
of the world.

Jesus taught about the kingdom in parables. In doing so he gave the humble access to the hidden wisdom of the kingdom but kept the proud from perceiving it. The kingdom itself, in inchoate form, was too humble for the world to recognize it or to take it seriously. A mustard seed could only be known to be anything significant after one knew the sort of tree it would become. Leaven was only impressive in its ability to transform the baking process to those familiar with it. Just to look at them apart in isolation was to miss their power. So too the kingdom in its seminal form. The words and ministry of Jesus did not seem like enough to bring the full world transformation that the Messiah was to bring. So too in each heart today. The words and ministry of Jesus through his body don't seem like enough to overcome the hard heartedness that is so deeply rooted in human nature.

It is the smallest of all the seeds,
yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants.

Through these parables Jesus teaches us hope. He allows us to see beyond the present moment, caught up in the process of growth and beginnings to the hope of the things to come. Until Jesus returns, the kingdom is always both now and not yet. But he enables us to see through his eyes to the not yet. He empowers us to live our lives here below, yet with our minds fixed on the things of heaven (see Colossians 3:2) where we have our true citizenship (see Philippians 3:20).

Only through trusting what Jesus reveals can we recognize and live out the promise of his kingdom. Otherwise things which are actually important will seem so small as to be trivial. Our own actions in the day to day minutiae of life will seem negligible when in fact they are the very place where the world is leavened, "until the whole batch was leavened."

Jesus teaches us to see things from an eternal perspective. This makes us patient with the apparent weeds, whether those are other people or even aspects of ourselves. Wheat and tares look similar at early stages of growth, and so he teaches us not to judge others too quickly, lest we accidentally uproot those who would eventually turn out to be wheat. He teaches us not to judge our own trials and even our own lack of progress too quickly, for it might be just in these trials that our progress is truly being made. More drastic means to extricate the weeds in our own hearts might prevent us from discovering wheat that we didn't realize was there. We much prefer to avoid a situation entirely rather than sitting with it and counting on God to transform us. But it is often the later to which we are called.

Even our prayer must emerge from humble beginnings, beginnings that seem almost worthless in the eyes of the world and even our own. But, because they are guided by the Spirit actually mean more than any method or effort of ours.

The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness;
for we do not know how to pray as we ought,
but the Spirit himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings.

How else, apart from the revelation of the kingdom, would we discover that the whole point of power is actually kindness and mercy? Yet the seed form of the kingdom, which only in retrospect reveals its power, is precisely kindness and mercy.

But though you are master of might, you judge with clemency,
and with much lenience you govern us;
for power, whenever you will, attends you.

18 July 2020 - on not contending

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Many people followed him, and he cured them all,
but he warned them not to make him known.

Jesus knew that the Pharisees took counsel against him to put him to death. He could have taken direct action against them, called forth legions of angels, and destroyed them. Or he could have felt obliged to be in their faces about the truth he came to bring. But this would be to let them set the terms of the discussion and ultimately the circumstances of his death.

Behold, my servant whom I have chosen,
my beloved in whom I delight;
I shall place my Spirit upon him,
and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.

Jesus was secure enough in his identity as the Son of the Father that he didn't need to prove himself to the Pharisees. He didn't even feel the need to enter into the competition that they imagined they had with him. One reason Jesus was able to keep his own peace was that he didn't need his cures to be broadcast broadly in order to experience his own worth. His left hand could care less about what his right was doing. It was enough for him that the Father's will be accomplished. A normal human, especially one in our own time, would probably be thinking about scaling up the ministry, and using each healing as an opportunity for advertising, to bring the Kingdom as quickly and efficiently as possible. We can learn from Jesus that 'quickly' and 'efficiently' aren't primary criteria that matter to the Kingdom.

He will not contend or cry out,
nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets.
A bruised reed he will not break,
a smoldering wick he will not quench,

The patient approach of Jesus is precisely the approach the made his message available to the bruised and the smoldering. The loud, the efficient, and the overwhelming would impatiently pass by hearts like these. It would say, 'Get on board or get out of the way.' But the tender heart of Jesus was able to be entirely available to the people who needed him most.

He that holds not out his hand to a sinner, nor bears his brother’s burden, he breaks a bruised reed; and he who despises a weak spark of faith in a little one, he quenches a smoking flax.

- Saint Jerome

Jesus was patient. The patience of God is not indefinite. It is not simply ignoring the problem. It is oriented toward mercy and healing. The bruised reed can again be made whole. The smoldering wick can again blaze with the fire of the Spirit.

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance (see Second Peter 3:9).

The victory of the LORD already began at his resurrection when he healed our bruised and smoldering human nature in his own flesh. Now that justice is being brought to victory in the world by his Church. The time of the Church is still a time of mercy, still a time of healing, still a time for hope in his name. However, just as the time came for Jesus to make himself known to the world by his death and resurrection so too is a day appointed when Jesus himself will return to judge the living and the dead (see Acts 17:31). Let us receive his healing while it is a time for healing so that we may we be found worthy of that day. 

The unsettling reality that we might not avail ourselves of mercy in time should make us earnest, but not impatient. It should make us active but still sharing the meekness of Christ. Otherwise, if we do too little, or too much apart from Christ, the words of the prophet Micah might come to pass for us.

Our ruin is complete,
our fields are portioned out among our captors,
The fields of my people are measured out,
and no one can get them back!

Clearly our LORD does not want this fate for us. When we wish he'd push harder and be more clear and direct we can take solace in the fact that this too is part of his mercy. The apparent slowness of God to respond to what we perceive as so immediate and so urgent is a part of his mercy. He desires to see us healed. And healed hearts ought to have this same desire for our neighbors.

You do see, for you behold misery and sorrow,
taking them in your hands.
On you the unfortunate man depends;
of the fatherless you are the helper.

17 July 2020 - letter and Spirit

Today's Readings

(Audio)

“See, your disciples are doing what is unlawful to do on the sabbath.”

The Pharisees get caught up in the minutia and miss the bigger picture. They do this because they want to be respected and to be seen as the ultimate authorities on the law. They want to discredit the increasing popularity of Jesus by criticizing the apparent misconduct of his disciples. If he were really a great teacher wouldn't his disciples be perfectly compliant with every jot and tittle?

He said to the them, “Have you not read what David did
when he and his companions were hungry,

The precepts prohibited those who were not priests from eating the bread of offering were not so absolute that David and his companions were made to go hungry. The sacred bread could be given to the one anointed by the LORD and his companions even though they were not priests. The bread of sacrifice could be given for the preservation of the flesh, "for the preservation of man is a sacrifice acceptable to God" (Saint Jerome).

Jesus is someone greater than David. He was to receive and kingship that would never be taken away and a reign without end. As the Pharisees persecute him it is even more appropriate that he and his disciples satisfy their hunger to give them strength for that mission. 

Unlike David, Jesus is not only a King but also a great high priest (see Hebrews 8:1), and his disciples are made priests in union with him. He is the one who can distribute not only the bread of the fields but also the bread of heaven. Because the service of all holy things is ultimately a service of he himself, nothing done truly for his sake can be blameworthy.

Or have you not read in the law that on the sabbath
the priests serving in the temple violate the sabbath
and are innocent?
I say to you, something greater than the temple is here.

Exceptions to the Sabbath already existed. But the Pharisees missed the purpose behind these exceptions. They failed to see that the Sabbath itself was designed for man (see Mark 2:27), to give him rest. They failed to see that the rules were designed to create a world open to mercy, rather than judgment.

If you knew what this meant, I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
you would not have condemned these innocent men.

Back to us, then. We are hungry and stand in need of mercy. Let us not get distracted in asserting our superiority and righteousness. Let us trust in Jesus to bring us the promise of Sabbath rest, and to satisfy our deepest hunger. Let us not become dominated by the letter, and realize instead that the spirit of the law is entirely rooted in grace and mercy. When we follow Jesus there is a real sense in which "all things are lawful" (see First Corinthians 10:23). But this is only the case when we are not merely following the letter but when, by the Spirit, we follow Jesus into the mission field of the world.

If we have been guilty of condemning others, of not rising to the level of the Spirit ourselves, we can avail ourselves of mercy, just as did Hezekiah. After all, according to Jesus, mercy is the whole point.

I have heard your prayer and seen your tears.
I will heal you: in three days you shall go up to the LORD’s temple;
I will add fifteen years to your life.

16 July 2020 - yoke, over easy

Our Lady of Mount Carmel

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart;

Apart from Jesus we work too hard. We invest effort in what cannot satisfy us. We attempt to achieve our own salvation, even if we don't necessarily realize that is our underlying motivation, but we fail.

We conceived and writhed in pain,
giving birth to wind;
Salvation we have not achieved for the earth,
the inhabitants of the world cannot bring it forth.

Jesus is calling us to something that is more like peace, rest, and healing than gritting our teeth and putting in work. This is not to say that people observing us might not wonder how we accomplish so much, how we seem to need so little for ourselves. Yet subjectively it won't seem like us to us, for the LORD is working in us.

LORD, you will decree peace for us,
for you have accomplished all we have done (see Isaiah 26:12).

We can experience an easy yoke and a light burden to the degree that we share the yoke with Jesus. He prevents us from charging ahead and exhausting ourselves. He provides strength when we can't imagine taking another step.

and you will find rest for yourselves.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.

Our strategies are usually too self-centered to experience the true rest of Jesus. We work as hard as we can, exhaust ourselves, and find infinitely more to do. We become frustrated and throw off the yoke. But without it, the work that needs doing accumulates. Even when we aren't doing the work our minds continue to accumulate the burdens of the work still to be done.

No works of ours can achieve salvation. But by grace and through faith God's works can be accomplished in us. When we consciously share the yoke of Jesus we give up our right to boast and take pride in our accomplishments. But at the same time much more is in fact accomplished. We begin live in a way that fills the purpose for which we were made.

For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them (see Ephesians 2:10).

But again, this is through his strength, not ours..

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work (see Second Corinthians 9:8).

The right response to this is not to make a list of all the works we aren't doing, all the ways in which we are not living for the praise of God, and setting to work on those things. The right response is to come to Jesus in prayer and ask him to share his yoke with us, to take it upon ourselves consciously, and follow where he leads. It is different from a carefully mapped plan. It is a nudge to the right or to the left. It is a call to take a step faster or to slow down. But an elaborate plan isn't needed when we have Jesus to lead us.

And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. (see Isaiah 30:21).

Jesus proposes to us an entirely new way to live. It is a life based on the abundance of the gift of his resurrection, no longer limited by our own human limitations.

But your dead shall live, their corpses shall rise;
awake and sing, you who lie in the dust.
For your dew is a dew of light,
and the land of shades gives birth.

15 July 2020 - trusting the experts

Today's Readings

(Audio)

I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
for although you have hidden these things
from the wise and the learned
you have revealed them to the childlike.

So many people in this world want to be seen as wise, to be seen as in the know, as on the right side of the debate because of their skill is navigating conflicting stories.  Is it any wonder that being childlike has no appeal? Although Jesus is not recommending naivety or credulity he nevertheless describes an approach to receiving the truth that is completely at odds with that which is normal in society.

One way to look at being childlike is finding a credible authority and putting our trust in them. In this way it is analogous to trusting in the consensus of scientists and researchers for those who do not share in their expertise. But in these hidden things which God reveals there are no human experts. Revelation goes above and beyond what science and even the most clearly reasoned philosophy can discover. And the trust we are called to place in the Father goes beyond the trust which any human authority deserves. Even if they are always correct, scientists are still human, still not individuals than can always and without exception will our good. The Father does not merely speak truth. He is the truth itself. And he always and without exception has our best interest at heart. We can trust him as a Father who always has our flourishing in mind.

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? (see First Corinthians 1:20)

The Father is more worthy of trust than any human expert. But the arrogant inherently recoil. Being right in the eyes of the world is something that the arrogant desire. They would probably prefer being able to figure everything out for themselves. But as long as they can at least be right they don't necessarily need to avoid the recommendations of experts. But they can take no such self-satisfaction in the trust we are called to place in God. Trusting God admits the weakness and fallibility of our reason, that our minds are darkened, that we often prefer lies to the truth. It acknowledges that we are limited, that we are creatures, that the only way to ultimate truth is to receive it.

All things have been handed over to me by my Father.
No one knows the Son except the Father,
and no one knows the Father except the Son
and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.

The Son wishes to reveal that Father to us. We age in our hearts to the degree that we live apart from his life-giving Spirit. Without him we become unable to receive as children can. But his promise to give us new hearts is not a one time promise. He wants to make all things new in us, the make us childlike again, and enable us to receive his promises.

Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven (see Matthew 16:17).

If we exult ourselves too much the LORD will allow us to be humbled. The reason is not simply as punishment but so that we can remember the source of our life, and in remembering to avail ourselves of that source more and more, and to be thankful.

Therefore the Lord, the LORD of hosts,
will send among his fat ones leanness,
And instead of his glory there will be kindling
like the kindling of fire.

But as the psalmist says, we are not abandoned. Let us return to the LORD with new and childlike hearts, ready to receive what he reveals.

14 July 2020 - to whom much is given

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Jesus began to reproach the towns
where most of his mighty deeds had been done,
since they had not repented.

More was expected of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum than was expected of Tyre, Sidon, and even Sodom. Jesus had revealed himself to them, done mighty deeds in their might, and they did not change. They were given much and so much was expected of them (see Luke 12:48). They had been given special grace that those cities of the Old Testament had not been given and would be held accountable to that grace.

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God (see John 3:18)

Woe to us who have been given such graces if we do not respond to those graces. Woe to us who, after having known such graces, still return to our old ways.

For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.” (see Second Peter 2:21-22).

It makes sense that those who have never known Jesus act in ways that are sinful and worthy of condemnation. But we don't have the excuse of ignorance that they have, nor even of our own weakness, for the grace is Jesus is constantly on offer to us. The only reason that makes sense of why we fail to change is complacency.

All of these woes may sound like condemnation. But they are not spoken to condemn, but rather to convict. Jesus desires that we do change, that we repent, meaning that we reorient our lives around him. He is warning us of the risk of being mere spectators of grace without partaking of it. He is calling us to not only sit near the well but to drink deeply, to not only come to the font, but to submerse our hearts entirely in his grace.

Even though telling others about Jesus raises their level of accountability, even though it takes away the excuse of ignorance, we are nevertheless not doing them a disservice. Even if Sodom perished in ignorance, and even if they will find the day of judgment in any sense tolerable, we are meant for more than tolerable. We are meant to be citizens of a city on a hill (see Matthew 5:14), Mount Zion and a heavenly Jerusalem (Hebrews 12:22), where lives have been changed and there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (see Romans 8:1).

The response that Jesus wants from us is faith. Faith is the only source of true repentance and change. It is the response which keeps us safe and firm where the cities of the reproaches faltered and fell.

But within sixty years and five,
Ephraim shall be crushed, no longer a nation.
Unless your faith is firm
you shall not be firm!

Faith recognizes Jesus and his mighty deeds. It is not content to simply let him pass through the city of our hearts without reorganizing everything around his presence. It calls for our passions, the citizens of our hearts, to repent and be reordered around the king in our midst. It is ultimately this mode of his presence, not just as teacher, but as king, that gives solidity and joy to our own lives.

Mount Zion, “the recesses of the North,”
is the city of the great King.
God is with her castles;
renowned is he as a stronghold.