31 August 2020 - in weakness and fear and much trembling

Today's Readings

(Audio)

I did not come with sublimity of words or of wisdom.

For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you

except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

If we resolve to know nothing except Jesus Christ, and him crucified, we can avoid the risk of becoming an obstacle to Jesus. We won't tell him that his plans can't involve the cross when we remember that the cross was the very center of his own plans. 

and my message and my proclamation

were not with persuasive words of wisdom,

but with a demonstration of spirit and power,

For Paul, the message based on the cross was not simply one of surrender and defeat. It was based on demonstrations of spirit and power. Two Sundays ago we saw that it was by a demonstration of the Spirit to the soul of Peter that Peter received the revelation of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God. It was this Spirit, neglected, that made Peter a momentary obstacle. Without this power Peter fell into doubt and denial. But it was the same Spirit who allowed the Son of God to be recognized even after his apparent failure on the cross. It was this Spirit who allowed Peter to recognize Jesus again even after his own failures. It was by his power that any apparent weakness, perhaps the inadequacies of Paul's own words and preaching, could be woven into something that made the case for the power of God.

I have more understanding than all my teachers

when your decrees are my meditation.

Jesus himself was the fulfillment of all that the Spirit had said through the prophets of old.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me

to bring glad tidings to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives

and recovery of sight to the blind,

to let the oppressed go free,

and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.

Yet to hear this, the people of Nazareth would have needed to have their knowledge, in a sense, crucified. They had preconceptions that prevented them from giving a fair hearing to what the Spirit was saying through Jesus.

They also asked, “Is this not the son of Joseph?”

To know nothing except Jesus, and him crucified, would have left no room for these doubts. To be the son of Joseph was one thing, to be crucified something else again. But neither the former (which was in any case improperly understand) nor the latter meant that Jesus was less than he claimed to be. The fact and necessity of the crucifixion could have relativized and destroyed all other doubts.

Even outsiders like Naaman had their own preconceptions and limits, but these limits were eventually overcome. Even the widow could not have understood just what the power of God could make possible for her and her son until Elijah had worked those wonders. Let us at least try to give Jesus a hearing without preconceptions, one which is willing to listen, to be corrected, and even, insofar as we need it, to be crucified, so that we may know in turn the power of his resurrection.

that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death (see Philippians 3:10).

There is a promise here. Our faith can rest on the power of God. There is meant to be immense freedom from fear and doubt. May we be open to hear the anointed words of the Spirit so that we can receive it.

To Love You And To Make You Loved

30 August 2020 - bursting forth

Today's Readings

(Audio)

He turned and said to Peter,

“Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. 

You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do."

This rebuke of Peter is all the more startling when we consider what we heard just last Sunday which was in fact earlier in the same chapter of Matthew.

Jesus said to him in reply,

“Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah.

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

We see in Peter how it is not enough to think as human beings do. We need to think as God does or we risk becoming an obstacle to Jesus. This is no unique depravity on the part of Peter. It is simply that the human mind unaided can't understand or respond to God's plan.

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. 

From a human point of view, especially from the perspective of someone who genuinely loved Jesus, it would be natural to try to think of every other possible plan than one which involved his death. A human point of view would prefer a linear path from victory to victory for its messiah. Whether those victories were over the Romans in their day or over the suffering inherent in the circumstances of our own day we can't understand why there would be even a temporary setback let alone this apparent defeat Jesus describes. From this limited  vantage point of ours suffering will always remain a mystery. 

We know that God is all powerful, and yet he permits suffering that a greater good may be drawn from it. It's easy to say that. But then again, he doesn't permit all suffering and he does sometimes heal and even raise the dead. And so for any specific instance of suffering we can never just assume it is God's will and not try to alleviate it. We can guess how this or that illness might be used by God to bring something better. But we cannot see it from his vantage point. We cannot thereby ignore it.

Do not conform yourselves to this age

but be transformed by the renewal of your mind,

The only way for us to be open to God's will is to allow our minds to be renewed. This age will tell us that we must either heroically remove all suffering or ignore it entirely. In fact, what we are called to is the way of the cross. It is a way that can enter into suffering, that can experience it fully, and carry the burden of it for others, while still being open to the miraculous. To take up our cross means believing in providence. For the cross is no passive surrender. It takes the strength that comes from knowing that God has a deeper and yet unseen plan to persist unto Calvary.

Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,

take up his cross, and follow me. 

We can't get out of this world alive. Nor can we bring anything with us. Wishing to save our lives is ultimately futile. What matters, then, is the purpose for which we live, for whose sake we embrace our own crosses.

but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

We must live with the perspective that only renewed minds possess. This is how we can make of ourselves, our bodies, and our entire lives, by the mercies of God, a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, our spiritual worship.

When we realize that Christianity is not only always positive feelings and emotions, not always immediate deliverance from pain, not always immediate healing of the circumstances, we might feel like Jeremiah.

You duped me, O LORD, and I let myself be duped;

you were too strong for me, and you triumphed.

But like him, the Word of God has come to us. Like him, there is more within us than these doubts. We must let what is planted in us burst forth. 

I say to myself, I will not mention him,

I will speak in his name no more.

But then it becomes like fire burning in my heart,

imprisoned in my bones;

Peter might have felt duped when he heard that Jesus would have to die. But he already had the experience of his mind being renewed, of revelation by the Father of the identity of the Son. After he was rebuked he would still have that memory within him, ready to burst worth and overwhelm his doubts. We have the same renewal, the same fire within us. May we not keep it inside, but let it burst forth.

My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.

Todd Agnew - Romans 12:1

Songs In His Presence - My Mouth Shall Praise You With Joy

29 August 2020 - he must increase

Memorial of the Passion of Saint John the Baptist

Today's Readings

(Audio)

John the Baptist was the voice crying out in the desert to prepare the way of the LORD. He was the one who would go before the LORD to prepare his way, to give his people knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins. He leaped with joy even in womb of his mother Elizabeth when he first met encountered Jesus. He was humble enough before Jesus that he could scarcely honor his request for baptism But he was obedient enough to honor it. Yet he was not without trials. From prison he sent his followers to make sure that Jesus was the one on whom they waited after all, that they had he not done what he had done in vain. Even so, he never gave up. He let himself be strengthened and held firm until the end.

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.

John didn't have much in the way of credentials to impress the worldly. Compared to the educated elites he must have seemed foolish. Compared to the authorities he doubtlessly seemed weak. But God chose him just for these reasons, to shame the wise, to shame the strong, to reduce to nothing those who are something so that no human being might boast before God. It was this contrast between worldly expectations of greatness and what people discovered in John, whom they recognized as a prophet, that silenced other voices. This meant that the voice crying out in the desert could be heard. That voice in turn had to decrease so that Jesus could increase. John, by virtue of his nothingness was the perfect one to first proclaim Christ.

What of us? Are we preoccupied with wisdom and strength? Do we imagine that these are the means by which our own era will be saved? From John we learn that if we are unwilling to be seen as foolish and weak, unwilling to be despised, we will not be able to have a meaningful impact. Any worldly wisdom or strength will not be able to point to the only possible solution, Jesus Christ. Instead it will result in human projects which begin, perhaps, with promise, but which can never entirely fulfill the longings they are meant to solve.

We must learn from John to be willing to decrease so that Jesus can increase. Most of us would have a hard time finding a ministry imprisoned by Herod. John might well have given up at that point and retired from the prophetic roll. It would have even been easy to give in to despair. But when John was tempted to despair in prison he turned to the Word of God, by asking his disciples to go on his behalf to Jesus.

Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. (see Matthew 11:4-5).

The assurance given by the Word of God himself helped John to find strength that could not come from wisdom and strength of this world. It gave meaning to a ministry that seemed hopeless, that appeared most likely to be futile in the eyes of the world.

Herod feared John, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man,

and kept him in custody.

When he heard him speak he was very much perplexed,

yet he liked to listen to him.

This last small ministry of John might have seemed to be futile. It was certainly not recorded in history that Herod ever really amended his life. Perhaps he did when he eventually died in exile. Perhaps having had his own power and the pretense of wisdom stripped from him made him respect the prophet he had killed all the more. But regardless, John died a martyr's death. It was not simply contingent on the success of specific actions of his, but as an entire life marked by fidelity that he would be known. This entire life was given as a witness to Jesus. But had he not been willing to be faithful even in the small and ignominious role he had at the end, his whole life could not have been thus offered as we in fact the case, as a pleasing sacrifice, holy and acceptable to the LORD.

When his disciples heard about it,

they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

Imagine instead a John who wouldn't say things hard for Herod to hear, but instead stoked his ego, buttered him up, and tried to persuade him to release him. Perhaps then he could get back to the business of his real ministry? This is the end of worldly wisdom and strength: compromise. It would have been a compromise to his whole identity as witness and prophet. But there was no compromise in John.

Our soul waits for the LORD,

who is our help and our shield,

For in him our hearts rejoice;

in his holy name we trust.

Nichole Nordeman - You Are My All In All

28 August 2020 - oil futures

Memorial of Saint Augustine

Today's Readings

(Audio)

The foolish ones, when taking their lamps,

brought no oil with them,

How often do we bring our lamps with us, but without oil? What good do we think they will do us without oil? Perhaps the oil is extra weight to carry and we'll acquire it at the last minute when we need it. But the difference between us when we are foolish like this and the wise virgins, is that the wise were ready.

While they went off to buy it,

the bridegroom came

and those who were ready went into the wedding feast with him. 

The Spirit helps us respond to the opportunities that our daily encounters with the bridegroom afford. If we don't have our oil ready we won't be able to greet him, to welcome him, to cooperate with what he wants to do in us.

Very early, the better to signify the gift of the Holy Spirit, an anointing with perfumed oil (chrism) was added to the laying on of hands

(see Catechism of the Catholic Church 1289).

The Spirit himself is the oil we need to keep with us. We have been entrusted with the gift, but to have the oil ready for our lamps we need to let the fruit of the gift manifest in our lives. We need love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (see Galatians 5:22-23). We need wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, and fear of the LORD (see Isaiah 11:2). If these fruit are not consistent realities in our lives we won't be ready to draw on them in times of need, times when Jesus is inviting us to respond to him dynamically when he meets us in specific circumstances of our lives.

How do we produce the fruit of the LORD? How do we do his work? It begins with believing in the one sent by the Father (see John 6:28-29). It is a belief that is even willing to look foolish to others, to seem naive, or too hopefully to be trustworthy. It may seem to others to be an opiate or a danger. 

The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing,

but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Faith in Jesus in the sine qua non without which we cannot be ready to meet him. And it should be obvious, but this can't be a one time decision to which we can simply point back. It must mark our lives. It must be something in which we grow from day to day as it is challenged by appearance and circumstance and is vindicated, whether or not that victory is apparent outside of our own spirits as believers. We grow in the certainty of the day that is coming when it will be vindicated to all.

At midnight, there was a cry,

‘Behold, the bridegroom!  Come out to meet him!’ 

By faith, even in 2020, we can say, "[t]he earth is full of the goodness of the Lord."

Matt Maher - Leave a Light On

27 August 2020 - waking up

Memorial of Saint Monica

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Stay awake!

For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.

What is entailed in staying awake? We hold a treasure in earthen vessels (see Second Corinthians 4:7), a pearl beyond all price (see Matthew 13:46). What level of vigilance is necessary to keep the thief from taking this from us?

It seems that what Jesus is asking us, first and foremost, is not some kind of special militarization of our awareness, not doubling down on spiritual self-defence, but rather consistency and fidelity.

Who, then, is the faithful and prudent servant,

whom the master has put in charge of his household

to distribute to them their food at the proper time?

Blessed is that servant whom his master on his arrival finds doing so.

To sleep, then, is not simply to have merely human limits on our awareness. It is rather to slide back into sin.

But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is long delayed,’

and begins to beat his fellow servants,

and eat and drink with drunkards,

the servant’s master will come on an unexpected day

and at an unknown hour and will punish him severely

Being awake is therefore more than a mere state of mind. It is living in the light of Christ. In this light the thief, who comes only to kill and destroy (see John 10:10), cannot hide.

Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime (see Romans 13:11-13).

It is easy to read the challenge to stay awake as a challenge to have constant awareness and vigilance. But it is not so much this as a call to remain in the light which Jesus has already given and to not withdraw from it, to hide from it, or to slide back into sin. In the parable of the wise and foolish virgins all of them in fact fell asleep, but some of them were still ready with fuel in their lamps. But it is the LORD himself who offers us the fuel of the Spirit. With his help we can be ready to fend off the thief and welcome the bridegroom.

I give thanks to my God always on your account

for the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus,

that in him you were enriched in every way,

with all discourse and all knowledge,

as the testimony to Christ was confirmed among you,

so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift

as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul wanted the Corinthians to understand how great were the gifts given to them by Jesus, enriched in every way, all discourse and knowledge, and every spiritual gift. He told the Ephesians something similar.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens (see Ephesians 1:3).

These gifts are the fuel given by the Spirit, embers that can be set ablaze (see Second Timothy 1:6). When the darkness begins to press in on us, or when we are tempted to slide into sin, these are means by which we can remain awake. Our lives are rather like a late night car ride when we are thoroughly exhausted and the radio, the heater, and our companions can do little to keep us awake enough to avoid hitting a tree. The Spirit in this analogy is the hit of caffeine that can fully restore us and help us to see the road ahead for what it is. Though he, of course, works better and more consistently than any energy drink.

He will keep you firm to the end,

irreproachable on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

DC Talk - In the Light

Dan Schutte - City of God

26 August 2020 - taking our disorder

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Even so, on the outside you appear righteous,

but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing.

We are often called by Jesus to ensure that our righteousness is not just a matter of appearance. The reason we have to be on guard is because actual righteousness isn't often glamorous. It is not having a big ministry with one's name in lights. It is not a matter of being renowned for knowledge, mighty deeds, or miracles. It is so invisible even as to be impossible to compare with others. It is often even difficult to recognize in ourselves.

When Paul instructed the Thessalonians in righteousness according to the tradition he passed on it didn't sound very flashy at all. It involved avoiding disordered ways and those who follow them. It involved simply doing what one ought to do day in and day out.

On the contrary, in toil and drudgery, night and day we worked,

so as not to burden any of you.

The simply work of day to day life, done for God, in fidelity to his commands, is the basis of righteousness. Anything special or extra must be layered on top of this base level. It is this persistence and commitment, already only possible by grace, that make us stable enough for anything further to which we are called.

May the Lord of peace himself

give you peace at all times and in every way.

The Lord be with all of you.

Even in the minutiae of our daily lives we must have the LORD's peace as our basis. The only alternative is a disorderly way. Peace of God will assure us that we don't need to be special to be valuable. And so we won't try to leap over others, demand special treatment, or to ignore the basics so that we can stand out and shine. The peace of the LORD is what can prepare us for those moments when we are in fact called to stand out and shine. We can then offer a stable light to others, one by which they can actually walk, not one that sparks briefly and then disappears, leaving them in darkness.

The LORD wants to cleanse the dead men's bones that fill us, the hypocrisy and evildoing. He wants to sweep them away with the living water of his peace. Imagine the freedom this gives. Rather than being so worried that what is within remains concealed, at needing to keep up an act to keep others from seeing inside, we can be whole, integrated, inside and out. We won't be perfect, of course. But we won't be protecting a teetering facade of falsehood. The LORD's peace gives us great confidence in dealing with our own flaws. But it does not avail us when we try to protect our egos.

Behold, thus is the man blessed

who fears the LORD.

Chris Tomlin - Give Us Clean Hands

25 August 2020 - the weightier things

Saint Louis of France

Today's Readings

(Audio)

You pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin,

and have neglected the weightier things of the law:

judgment and mercy and fidelity.

It is easy to let ourselves become distracted with lesser things so that we don't have to deal with the larger problems looming on the horizon. We probably do this in many ordinary ways, simply busying ourselves with a million little things to put off difficult things we'd prefer to avoid. But it is even more seductive when we're looking at our walk of faith. We can so busy ourselves about the minutiae that we blind ourselves to parts of our lives where we need to take action or to change and repent. What good is one more round of Lectio if is just filling our minds with something other than what God is saying. If our hearts are closed to the poor, and we use our rosary as a distraction rather than as a wedge to open them, what good will that do? These are good things, but they must be properly ordered.

But these you should have done, without neglecting the others.

We can become disordered in our approach to the faith. We can focus on things which seem spiritual to us, which make us seem spiritual to others, and neglect the ongoing process of transformation that is meant to go on inside of us.

You cleanse the outside of cup and dish,

but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence.

Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup,

so that the outside also may be clean.

It isn't so much that anything that we are doing is necessarily wrong. It is more a matter of our intention, the reason for the priority we give things. We need Jesus to help us to properly order our lives from the inside out. Otherwise it is all too easy to hide from ourselves.

But who can discern his errors? Clear thou me from hidden faults (see Psalm 19:12).

We need to be well grounded in the teaching of the Church, from Scripture and Tradition.

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.

When we are rooted in the truth we will be less susceptible to self-deception or deception by others.

We ask you, brothers and sisters,

with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ

and our assembling with him,

not to be shaken out of your minds suddenly

We have seen others who become so fixated with figuring out the signs of the coming of Jesus, of predicting the day and the hour, as to perhaps neglect more important matters. But this is just one example of where our curiosity untethered from revelation can lead us into idle speculation. We should indeed avoid any distractions "which promote speculations rather than the stewardship" (see First Timothy 1:4). 

In short, we need to focus on what is important. And the Bible and the Church themselves show us what this is. We need to focus on judgment and mercy and fidelity. We need the fidelity to open ourselves and others to mercy, so that we may escape the judgment of sin. We need love of God and neighbor, both the spiritual and corporeal works of mercy. We need, above all, to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and let him order and provide for the lesser things as he so chooses.

for he comes to rule the earth.

He shall rule the world with justice

and the peoples with his constancy.

Bob Dufford (Saint Louis Jesuits) - All the Ends of the Earth

24 August 2020 - naming names

Saint Bartholomew

Today's Readings

(Audio)

“Here is a true child of Israel.

There is no duplicity in him.”

Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” 

Nathanael had just been derogatory toward 'anything from Nazareth.' He wasn't immediately receptive to what Philip told him about Jesus. Yet Jesus praised him for his lack of duplicity, even though this was apparently their first meeting. To what could Jesus be referring? It seemed, given Nathanael's initial dismissal of the claims about Jesus, that Jesus really could have any basis for saying what he did.

Jesus answered and said to him,

“Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.”

Jesus was aware of the conversation between Nathanael and Philip even though he wasn't present. He saw it with his divine awareness, from above, as it were. Further, he not only saw the words, but he saw Nathanael's heart. Jesus saw that the fact that Nathanael didn't jump immediately on his messianic bandwagon stemmed from legitimate concerns, from his integrity as a true child of Israel. From one who wasn't given to flattery, this was high praise. To one who now felt exposed to divine knowledge, and who had just said something to Philip he might now wish to take back, this must have felt like an act of mercy.

Nathanael answered him,

“Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.”

Jesus often demonstrated such supernatural knowledge of others. It was the same sort of revelation that would later convert the woman at the well. Her testimony that "He told me all that I ever did" (see John 4:39) converted many of the Samaritans in the town. Jesus displayed a deep and intimate knowledge of others. It was this intimacy, this personal relationship, that ultimately took precedence in how they understood Jesus. He was not just the leader of a movement, not just a messiah. He was someone who knew them personally in a way that no one else could.

I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me (see John 10:14).

It was just this sort of knowledge that helped Mary Magdalene to recognize Jesus after his resurrection.

Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher) (see John 20:16).

Jesus also has this intimate knowledge of each one of us. He wants us to feel just as seen and known by him as do any of the disciples. "[H]e calls his own sheep by name and leads them out" (see John 10:3). He calls each of us by name, just as he does Mary Magdalene. He knows each of us, just as he knows Nathanael and the Samaritan woman. He even knows our past sins and failings. Yet he welcomes and calls us no less on their account.

Today's feast is an invitation to intimacy with Jesus. And this intimacy is only the beginning, because it leads ever deeper into the realities of heaven, and even the hidden life of the Trinity.

And he said to him, “Amen, amen, I say to you,

you will see heaven opened and the angels of God

ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

Because Jesus himself is the bridge uniting heaven and earth we can see that there is no way to the Father except through Jesus. He is the ladder that was first dimly intimated in the dream of Jacob. But there is no climbing this ladder that bypasses the personal aspect of our relationship with Jesus. It isn't systems, practices, or ideas that are essential for our ascent. It is a person who knows us, flaws and all. He himself is the one in whom heaven are earth are united.

He took me in spirit to a great, high mountain

and showed me the holy city Jerusalem

coming down out of heaven from God.

It gleamed with the splendor of God.

John Mark McMillan - Future / Past

23 August 2020 - a Church founded on faith

Today's Readings

(Audio)

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

Jesus asks us who we say he is. The right answer is not something we can ultimately be told or which we can work out for ourselves. The witness of others and even of our own rational minds can point us in the right direction. But they can never carry us across the threshold of faith. For what we believe, though it does not conflict with reason, does transcend it

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! 

How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways!

We can learn from Peter to seek a higher form of understanding, one which does not come from flesh and blood, but by faith given by the Spirit of God. Paul too marvels at how different are God's ways of thinking from human ways. They are so different one might be tempted to just give up. But he does not despair and resign himself to knowing nothing.

“For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ (see First Corinthians 2:16, emphasis mine).

Our minds only truly work the way they are meant to work when the are operating from, in, and for God, for his glory. This is what it means to have the mind of Christ. This is the gift given by the heavenly Father that makes it possible for us to understand the identity of Jesus sometimes in spite of appearance and circumstance. It is faith, but it is not a faith that we can compartmentalize. It is allowing the whole orientation and working of our minds to be changed and made to refer to a higher point of reference than ourselves, higher than flesh and blood.

And so I say to you, you are Peter,

and upon this rock I will build my church,

and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.

It might seem like the mindset to which Jesus calls us would yield a highly individualistic faith. If we don't really get it from others, if institutions can't produce it within us, than why build a Church? Yet we must take Jesus at his word that he intended to gather a people around Peter and his successors, and that it would really be essential, that it really would hold the keys to the Kingdom. What purpose could such an institution serve? The Church could not give the gift of faith in the same way that the Father gave it to Peter. But the Church did and does faithfully propose Jesus Christ from one age to the next. 

I will place the key of the House of David on Eliakim’s shoulder;

when he opens, no one shall shut

when he shuts, no one shall open.

Like Eliakim and his successors, the authority entrusted to the Church is of a divine origin. But the gathering Jesus created around his Church had a new central organizing principle. The gathering had a new mode of power, rather than those of military of political might.

The Church asks us again and again, 'Who do you say that Jesus is?'  She herself, though not the source, is the channel through which the grace of faith is given. She is in a real sense the body of Christ, asking us to respond to her, and, through her sacraments, offering us the power we need to do so. The fact of the matter is that while the Church seems at first to be an institution, mere flesh and blood, hidden behind that appearance is a spiritual reality, the Mystical Body of Christ.

in the presence of the angels I will sing your praise;

I will worship at your holy temple.

Matt Maher - The Spirit and the Bride

22 August 2020 - called close

Today's Readings

(Audio)

For they preach but they do not practice.

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.

This fault of the Pharisees is something against which we all must guard. It is far too easy to dump the burdens of obedience on others without the grace to facilitate that obedience. We judge and condemn when others display ignorance and lack of mercy. The behavior that we judge is often justifiably judged. It is often worthy of condemnation. But what of the people who practice it? Are we just weighing them down with ever increasing lists of what they're doing wrong? Or are we first showing where the grace to life those burdens can be found?

We need to be careful about what motivates our judgments. Yes, we do need to understand which actions are moral and which are immoral. We need to know the character of people to understand whether they would be good to have as friends, good to have as politicians, or if it would be better to be more cautious and guarded toward them.

We need to avoid making judgments just to assert our own moral superiority. Yet if we look at ourselves, isn't this our most frequent sort of judgment? When we last thought something negative about an important political figure, did we bring that thought to prayer or did we just leave it as a condemnation, shaking our heads in disgust from the moral high ground?

Jesus teaches how to avoid the temptations to self-aggrandizement and delusions of the grandeur based on our own moral virtue. He is showing us that, while being moral and making good judgments is important, it is not how we should seek to be recognized by others.

As for you, do not be called ‘Rabbi.’

You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers.

Call no one on earth your father;

you have but one Father in heaven.

Do not be called ‘Master’;

you have but one master, the Christ.

We have one teacher, one Father, and one master. We implicitly compete with him when we use our moral judgments as weapons against others or as padding for our own pride. This path, quicker than any other, will lead to hard lessons in humility when our failings are unmasked. Let us learn instead to be humble. If we learn to trust in Jesus as teacher and master we will discover how to help others carry their burdens, just as he first carried our own.

We need to discover a different and better reward than that of building our own pride. We need a better reason to judge and do the good than simply to feel good about ourselves. Jesus himself wants to be that reward for us. When we seek this reward and not ourselves it is easier to wish the same thing for others, even for those who are for the moment our enemies.

And I saw that the temple was filled with the glory of the LORD.

The goal is not to be righteous people, secure in the fact that we have done everything right. The goal is a world that is in right relation to God. The more we let God carry our burdens, and through us to carry the burdens of others, the more this relationship will be restored, and the closer he will come.

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.

Vineyard Music - I See the Lord

21 August 2020 - too simple?

Today's Readings

(Audio)

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees,

they gathered together, and one of them,

a scholar of the law, tested him by asking,

“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”

The Pharisees probably expected to hear something clever, which they could pick apart. They would then not only expose Jesus to be the fraud they believed him to be, but also prove their superiority over the Sadducees who had been silenced by him. Jesus answered them in a way that left them no room whatever to assert their superiority.

You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart,

with all your soul, and with all your mind.

This is the greatest and the first commandment.

The second is like it:

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

The response of Jesus was something so simple, so basic to the Jewish faith, that it left no room for argument. Yet to the complicated this response can seem too simple. Isn't there more that is needed in addition to simply loving God and neighbor? Won't the world fall apart if these are our only concerns to the exclusion of all others? How could the whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments which had thus far been unable to set the world aright? 

If we insist the more is needed it is because we have never truly loved with all of our heart, soul, and mind. Those leftover bits that remain in our control are the things that seem to be missing, things which the commandments appear to omit. But they only appear neglected because we are still clinging to them instead of God. Because we see the parts of ourselves that are trying to manage these errata rather than looking at God we do not see the ways in which ordering our lives toward him orders all the rest in turn.

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you (see Matthew 6:33).

In order to respond to and understand what Jesus is telling us, that we must put love of God and neighbor above all else, we cannot continue to be fragmented. It is as though are bones are scattered across the plain. Bones separated from bones cannot act as they are meant to act. Hearts divided do not have the full power of life within them. What then do we do? One response which is clearly impossible is for our own bones to pull themselves back into place. We need the word of God to make us able to live again.

Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones:

See! I will bring spirit into you, that you may come to life.

I will put sinews upon you, make flesh grow over you,

cover you with skin, and put spirit in you

so that you may come to life and know that I am the LORD.

It is more than ourselves, properly ordered, that makes us truly alive. Even with every piece in place from a natural point of view, we do not experience true life until we are filled with the Spirit.

Prophesy to the spirit, prophesy, son of man,

and say to the spirit:  Thus says the Lord GOD

From the four winds come, O spirit,

and breathe into these slain that they may come to life.

So let us pray to hear the word and to be filled with the Spirit, so that we can live as we were meant to live.  Jesus is clear: we are meant to live for of love.

They cried to the LORD in their distress;

from their straits he rescued them.

TobyMac - Made To Love

20 August 2020 - garment navigation

Today's Readings

(Audio)

‘Tell those invited: “Behold, I have prepared my banquet,

my calves and fattened cattle are killed,

and everything is ready; come to the feast.”’

Jesus has prepared for those who love him things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard. The Father has prepared a wedding feast for his Son and his bride, the Church. They want to share their joy so much that they don't simply cancel the party when those first invited don't come. Even open hostility to the invitation doesn't diminish their desire to share their delight.

There is such an amazing celebration so close at hand. Yet we act like the elder brother of the prodigal, determined to wait outside because, perhaps, it isn't all about us. We are more interested in those things which are all about us, even if they are trite or boring.

Some ignored the invitation and went away,

one to his farm, another to his business.

Sometimes we are triggered by the very fact of such a celebration being prepared when our own affairs, and the affairs of the world around us, don't seem worth celebrating. We may even actively suppress such joy as it tries to spring forth, insisting that nothing rise above the dour levels of the circumstances in which we find ourselves.

The rest laid hold of his servants,

mistreated them, and killed them.

What are we really waiting for? Will our farms and businesses ever provide anything by comparison to that to which we are invited by the King? Will the circumstances of the world ever so align as to provide anything close to these calves and fattened cattle? Then why wait? Everyone is invited, after all. Nothing is unfair to anyone about choosing to delight in that which is offered to all. For if we see any still out on the street, the bad and good alike, we too can invite whomever we find.

Go out, therefore, into the main roads

and invite to the feast whomever you find.

A legitimate concern is how we are to present ourselves before such a great and generous king while the dirt of the streets still clings to our clothes. Where are we to find an appropriate wedding garment?

He said to him, ‘My friend, how is it

that you came in here without a wedding garment?’

But he was reduced to silence.

We need not be reduced to silence. The garment itself is a gift.

for the marriage of the Lamb has come,

and his Bride has made herself ready;

it was granted her to clothe herself

with fine linen, bright and pure” (see Revelation 16:7-8).

This gift is first given in baptism, for "as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (see Galatians 3:27). It is the new heart about which Ezekiel speaks.

I will sprinkle clean water upon you

to cleanse you from all your impurities,

and from all your idols I will cleanse you.

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.

We read that "the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints" (see Revelation 16:8). But we know that these deeds can only come from a new heart, filled with the Spirit, responding to grace. What an amazing feast it will be as the LORD offers himself to be our food and our drink. He clothes us with himself and his own righteousness. He himself gives us the gift of new wedding garments and even new hearts.

Let us not hesitate. Neither can we go unprepared, when all we need to enter is freely given. We need not remain in the darkness outside. We can be among those who are both called and chosen.

And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified (see Romans 8:30).

If we have been missing the joy of our salvation, we should be free to pray for it to be restored, just as the psalmist prays.

Give me back the joy of your salvation,

and a willing spirit sustain in me.

Dan Schutte - Table of Plenty

David Ruis - We Will Dance

19 August 2020 - labor union

Today's Readings

(Audio)

And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner, saying,

‘These last ones worked only one hour,

and you have made them equal to us,

who bore the day’s burden and the heat.’

We should take a moment to sit with this complaint. We shouldn't be too quick to spiritualize it. It is natural to be sympathetic with those who worked the whole day but got the same as those who only worked for an hour. It is natural because we are used to a world where we earn by working, where we are valued based on our performance. But this is not how the economy of the Kingdom works. If we don't take the time to feel our first responses to this revelation we will never truly understand what the landowner means when he explains.

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?

There is no parity between the work and the reward. The landowner does not simply give us what we earn. What we receive is so much more than usual daily wages that we could never earn them if we labored forever in the field. From that perspective there is not much difference between an hour and a day. This was how the good thief on the cross was able to receive the same gift of eternal life as Peter, Paul, or the rest of the saints.

And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (see Luke 23:43).

There is a sense in which the rewards differ in heaven. Those who by grace open themselves to love will have more room to be filled by God. It is in this sense that Jesus speaks of some as being greater in the Kingdom. But there is no connection with effort, much less with time.  Because it is by grace the whole transformation, which can open us to the unimaginable fullness of grace, can take place in an instant. Were it not so, children could not have the first place. Yet this is exactly what Jesus tells us.

We may rightly wonder, what then of the field and the labor? If the landowner will simply pay us all, why make us work at all? It seems that if he actually needs us for the work, then the work has value, and that value should increase with the amount of work done. Right?

Going out about five o’clock,

he found others standing around, and said to them,

‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’

They answered, ‘Because no one has hired us.’

He said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard.’

The landowner thinks we should not be standing around idle all day. He recognizes the dignity of work and invites us to share in it, even if just for an hour. The work itself, without regard to pay, is already a privilege. This is especially true of Kingdom work. But we can also reflect here on the inherent dignity of all work.

Work  is a good thing for man-a good thing for his humanity-because through work man not  only transforms nature, adapting it to his own needs, but he also achieves fulfillment as a human being and indeed, in a sense, becomes "more a  human being.” (St. John Paul II, On Human Work [Laborem Exercens], no. 9)

Other shepherds exploit sheep for their own benefit. Only the Good Shepherd truly has the interests of the sheep at heart. We can trust him whether he is calling us to labor in the vineyard or to rest in pastures of repose. He won't let us be consumed for some arbitrary value we can provide. He loves us before we can offer anything. He himself gives us all we have to offer back.

I will save my sheep, 

that they may no longer be food for their mouths.

For thus says the Lord GOD: 

I myself will look after and tend my sheep.

The real revelation today is the value we have does not stem from what we can do or what we can offer. When we are first annoyed at the apparent injustice to the laborers who labor all day we realize that we haven't entirely internalized this revelation. We still don't completely trust that God isn't just one more evil shepherd using us for his own ends. So let us pray for that trust. We can begin by placing ourselves in the position of the good thief on the cross and with him pray "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom" (see Luke 23:42). We can be sure he will answer.

Even though I walk in the dark valley

I fear no evil; for you are at my side

With your rod and your staff

that give me courage.

Jon Foreman - The House of God Forever

 

18 August 2020 - needle work

Today's Readings

(Audio)

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

We saw this difficulty yesterday with the rich young ruler. His riches were a hindrance to following Christ. He went away sad because he could not sell what he had, give to the poor, and follow Jesus. Or rather, he chose to be sad and to walk away. To embrace joy and hope and possibility seemed to be beyond him. And in fact it was.

“Who then can be saved?”
Jesus looked at them and said,
“For men this is impossible,
but for God all things are possible.”

Keeping the commandments was not enough to dispose the rich man's heart to follow Jesus. And Jesus was the only way to pass through the eye of the needle into the Kingdom. Unless we follow the path revealed by Jesus in his incarnation and passion, the path of self-emptying, the bloat of riches means that there is just too much of ourselves, too much pride, to fit through the gates. 

Ezekiel warns the people about the peril of riches, of trusting too much in one's own wisdom and intelligence, of caring too much for silver and gold. These things are temporary by definition. They can't survive the onslaught of the barbarous nations. Clinging to them is a recipe for disappointment and even disaster.

Following Jesus is the way into the Kingdom. But it is a disconcerting way, where the reward is not always evident. To divest of the riches and treasures of this life is concrete and empirical. But the rewards are first known to us only through faith in the word of God.

Jesus does promise riches for those who follow him, though they are not earthly riches. What we embrace is not a mere negation but rather a positive promise full of hope. We don't just discard riches. We embrace true wealth, the treasure which we can lay up for ourselves in heaven. In exchange for receiving the disdain of this world we are made to reign in the world to come, seated on twelve thrones as judges.

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.

Our treasure is in the world to come. But it is not only a future reality. By faith it can become real to us even now, today. Mark's version of the Gospel reminds us that no one who gives up present rewards for Jesus will "not receive a hundredfold now in this time" (see Mark 10:3). By faith we are already seated in heavenly places (see Ephesians 2:6). Even already, by baptism, we are anointed as priests, prophets, and kings. By faith we are meant to be victorious over anything the world can throw at us. By faith we are meant to reign.

much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ (see Romans 5:17).

Brenton Brown - Lord Reign in Me

17 August 2020 - only One who is good

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?”

We're all like this rich young man to some degree. We want the checklist so we can ensure we've ticked all the boxes. We sense that there must be some conformity of our lives with the good but we think we have a sense of what this entails. We assume we probably have most of the list but that perhaps there is room for a little refinement.

He answered him, “Why do you ask me about the good?

When we bring this question to Jesus he upends our assumptions entirely. We discover that we are still acting like Adam, insisting that he could know good and evil on his own. Jesus attempts to shift our entire paradigm.

There is only One who is good.

We must begin to think about good things only in relationship to the One who is good. No one besides God is in a position to speak of the good. He alone is perfectly good. He alone makes all things work together for good. Only by considering him as origin and end do particular goods take their proper place.

If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.

The commandments, those boxes we thought we were checking, are revealed to have a deeper meaning. The reason there was a lingering thought that something was missing in our performance of the good is because apart from the One who is good all of our good deeds were external, done insofar as they were convenient, and did not really change us and transform us as genuine encounter with the good would do.

“All of these I have observed. What do I still lack?”
Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go,
sell what you have and give to the poor,
and you will have treasure in heaven.
Then come, follow me.”

Jesus tells us to get rid of the things tethering us to those old perspectives so that we are free to follow him. When we follow him we are able to learn from the only One who is good. We learn to give, not just from our surplus, but from our need. We learn to give ourselves away in love. This is not something done once and over. It is a lifetime apprenticeship to Goodness himself.

Let us give ourselves as freely as we find the grace to do. For if we love our many possessions too much it is an act of love for God to allow them to be taken, as he shows through Ezekiel and does to Israel.

I am taking away from you the delight of your eyes,
but do not mourn or weep or shed any tears.

The risk is that without the One who alone is good directing our actions even God's own sanctuary can become "the stronghold of your pride". We are most likely rich in ways that would blow the mind of the rich man in the gospel. We doubtlessly have many more possessions and much more comfort than he. Still, Jesus invites us to leave aside that which hinders us. We need not go away sad. Let us follow him.

16 August 2020 - temporary rejection

Today's Readings

(Audio)

“Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! 

My daughter is tormented by a demon.” 

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

When we seem to encounter rejection from God, when he doesn't immediately grant what we ask, there is a hidden purpose in this rejection. When we encounter resistance and don't immediately receive what we ask there is a reason.

He said in reply,

“It is not right to take the food of the children

and throw it to the dogs.” 

This rejection can feel so difficult that the temptation is to simply give up. We may try to spiritualize our sorrow, saying that we're just submitting our own will to God's. But often it is more a matter of simply giving up on our end than of anything we bring before God.

We are called to persist. It is only when we don't give up that the temporary refusal can give way to a more complete reception than would otherwise be possible.

She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps

that fall from the table of their masters.” 

The woman asked and kept asking, knocked, and kept knocking. As she did so all pretense of deserving or worthiness had to be abandoned. She learned to stake everything on trust in the one she knew to be Lord, Son of David. She perceived in him an abundance that would not be diminished if it overflowed even to one with no right to those riches. Her faith was tested and was able to grow because she did not give up.

Then Jesus said to her in reply,

“O woman, great is your faith! 

Let it be done for you as you wish.” 

Paul too was unwilling to give up on his people, the Jews who did not accept Christ. He realized that they had chosen for themselves rejection by God. But even more, he realized that it was meant to be a temporary rejection, with results that would more than make up for however long the delay should last.

For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world,

what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?

The roles had switched between the Canaanite woman and the Jewish people. It was the Gentiles who first experienced not being the chosen ones. But it was precisely in this context, desperate for a salvation they did not know, that they were surprised by undeserved mercy, that they were opened to something that made the many long years apart from the God of Israel worth the wait. They, and we with them, had to learn to embody both the persistence and the humility of the Canaanite woman in order to heal the affliction of our own souls.

Now that a majority of the Jewish people do not accept Christ we must recognize the workings of providence even here. We must see what Paul saw, that somehow this brief turning away will ultimately result in something greater when they are at last accepted. Because of this Paul did not abandon his race, nor consign them to damnation. He persisted in his hope for them.

I glory in my ministry in order to make my race jealous

and thus save some of them. 

Jesus plans to bring all peoples, Jew and Gentile together, into one body. There is much healing that is needed before we can experience the unity he intends for us. There are barriers of race and gender and ethnicity that still separate his people. There are afflictions of our own souls, yet unhealed, that keep us from the closeness to God we are meant to know. The hope Jesus has for us today is that even when encounter an apparent 'No' it is paving to the way to a greater and as yet unimaginable 'Yes'. This is meant to give us courage to persist, like the Canaanite woman and like Paul.

So may your way be known upon earth;

among all nations, your salvation.

Matt Maher - Lay It Down

Joy Williams - Hungry (Falling On My Knees)