31 October 2020 - life or death situations

Today's Readings

(Audio)

When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet,

do not recline at table in the place of honor.

In this world we do not always see those who exalt themselves being humbled and those who humble themselves being exalted. But this is the counterintuitive way that the kingdom works. The greatest in the kingdom are not those who exalt themselves, but rather those who let themselves become like little children (see Matthew 18:1-4), those willing, like Jesus, to be the servant of all (see Mark 10:44-45). There will be a great reversal when we meet the Lord, whether at our own death or at his second coming. Then the artificial place assignments which we contrive for ourselves, based on our sense of comparative status and worth, will give way the assigned seating of the marriage banquet of the lamb.

‘My friend, move up to a higher position.’

Then you will enjoy the esteem of your companions at the table.

We are called to learn that our comparisons with others don't provide us with a good basis for knowing our value. Not even if we're comparing our love and fidelity to Christianity to that of others can comparisons determine our worth. Jesus teaches us that we must be open to learn the truth of our value, not by insisting on it ourselves, but by receiving it from the host. Our value comes as a gift of grace, and it is by humility that we receive it. This happens not only at the end of our lives. We can experience it as a daily reality.

It may also be understood, even in this life, for daily does God come to His marriage feast, despising the proud; and often giving to the humble such great gifts of His Spirit 

- Saint Bede

Paul himself understood that the ways which he had previously used to assert his own value were no longer those that mattered.

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord (see Philippians 3:8-10)

Only because Paul knew that his value was found in Christ was he totally free to be used by God in any way that God desired.

Christ will be magnified in my body,

whether by life or by death.

For to me life is Christ, and death is gain.

If I go on living in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me.

Even a very spiritual Christian might be so caught up in longing "to depart this life and be with Christ" that he would refuse to "remain and continue in the service of all". He wouldn't state it out loud, but there could be an implicit belief that he was too valuable for the simple and humble works of mercy that can be performed on this world, deserving already of the complete beatific vision. Paul himself did desire to depart in see the face of Christ, but he did not therefore insist on this place at the head of the table. He let love itself draw him to that which was "more necessary". Doing so ensured that others too would share in "the joy in the faith" of which the wedding banquet will itself be the culmination.

I went with the throng

and led them in procession to the house of God.

Amid loud cries of joy and thanksgiving,

with the multitude keeping festival.

Songs in His Presence - Like a Deer

Newsboys - Thrive

30 October 2020 - observing him carefully

Today's Readings

(Audio)

and the people there were observing him carefully

Jesus doesn't change his behavior just because others are watching him. He has the integrity to act in the same way whether or not anyone is watching. We on the other hand are not always like this. Without people watching we sometimes slip into actions of which we are not proud, or entertain thoughts which we would be embarrassed to hear out loud. These aren't always grave sins, but they are often ways of catering to our egocentric worldview, of seeking to pamper ourselves with comfort and coddling beyond what is actually helpful, things which retain power over us to the degree that they are hidden. 

“Is it lawful to cure on the sabbath or not?”

The lack of one-to-one consistency between our inner life and our outer life also means that we are often afraid to speak up for and act on the truths we believe in our hearts. We recognize the afflictions from which others suffer but hold back from offering help because society insists that it is not the right time or place or means by which to help them. We see the world swelled with the discomfort of sin just as surely as Jesus saw this man with dropsy in front of him. But the world insists that sin is not sin and that for us to say otherwise is a sleight to the one who is suffering. We want to reach out in compassion but the world tries to prevent us, saying that no remedy is necessary. 

For it becomes us, when a great good is the result, not to care if fools take offence.  

- Saint Cyril of Alexandria

We are called give no heed to what our opposition thinks when there is a great possibility for good at stake. We ourselves must be willing to have our own darkness brought into the light enough to be healed. And in turn we must be willing to offer our own light to the darkness of others. We are called to become like Jesus who has nothing to hide and nothing to prove, who can therefore help anyone who will receive him.

Our own lives are marked by a process of growth by which the inner seed of the new life displaces the habits of the old life. The new life we are given effects a transformation in our hearts where we become less and less willing to hold unto hidden sin and selfish. As this happens we have less and less to hide. As we grow we become more able to act as we should, no matter what pressures we face.

I am confident of this,

that the one who began a good work in you

will continue to complete it

until the day of Christ Jesus.

At the beginning of our Christian walk we would probably have difficulty being partners with Paul in his imprisonment. We would be too busy with ourselves, too worried about being exposed as frauds if we tried. Paul, certainly, could bear the burden of imprisonment well. But what if helping him had consequences for us? Would we be unmasked as Christians in name only? But as grace changes us we become more and more confident, not in ourselves, but in the one who is at work within us. In order to help others we do not first demand of ourselves perfection, but rather the simply willingness to cooperate with grace.

And this is my prayer:

that your love may increase ever more and more

in knowledge and every kind of perception,

to discern what is of value,

Our love can increase, our knowledge can grow, and our discernment can become more and more accurate, because the one who began the good work in us is the one who will himself complete it.

He has made known to his people the power of his works,

giving them the inheritance of the nations.

Dan Schutte - What You Hear In the Dark

Craig Musseau - Good to Me

29 October 2020 - the real battle

Today's Readings

(Audio)

“Go away, leave this area because Herod wants to kill you.”

Jesus knew that he was not fighting a battle against flesh and blood. This made him free from the temptation to take his human opposition more seriously than they deserved.

For our struggle is not with flesh and blood

but with the principalities, with the powers,

with the world rulers of this present darkness,

with the evil spirits in the heavens.

When we make the mistake of seeing our struggle as against those who disagree with us, politically, morally, religiously, or philosophically we commit ourselves to battles that we aren't meant to fight, and which may not be winnable. We become emotionally invested in outcomes that cannot be guaranteed, which indeed will at least sometimes fail to come to pass.

Doesn't it seem difficult for us to live with the same sort of freedom that Jesus demonstrated? After all, there were real political stakes in his day. There were real issues of truth and justice that different groups embodied or did not embody. Jesus did care about truth and justice. But he knew that his problems could not ultimately be solved by politics. He resisted every effort to make him a king (see John 6:15). This was the temptation the devil offered when he showed him "all the kingdoms of the world" (see Matthew 4:8). Would Jesus try to struggle against flesh and blood to set these things right? No. Would he simply ignore them as irrelevant? No. Instead he cut to the heart of the problem, and in doing so enabled us to realize who are true opponent is and what battles really matter in our own lives today.

‘Behold, I cast out demons and I perform healings today and tomorrow,

and on the third day I accomplish my purpose.

The corollary to the risk of taking our opposition in this world too seriously is the risk of ignoring the greater reality of the spiritual battle in which we find ourselves. We may be very active in our engagement with politics, for example. But if so, are we still more engaged in the spiritual battle? As much as we spend time coming up with strategies and plans to approach the issues we encounter in our natural life, do we spend more ensuring the we are armed and ready for the spiritual battles which are even more real?

Therefore, put on the armor of God,

that you may be able to resist on the evil day

and, having done everything, to hold your ground.

We can't be useful in politics or religion or anything else if we are already a captive in spiritual combat. As well meaning as we may be, we won't be able to exercise the power that could make a difference. We will utterly lack that freedom. That is why we must protect it.

The spiritual combat is not subjective. It is based on the revealed truth of God as the most basic thing without which we are defenseless, and, as it were, our pants are down.

So stand fast with your loins girded in truth,

For this reason, too, faith is a shield that keeps us safe from lies about ourselves, about God, and about the world.

We need to rely on the righteousness that comes from God rather (see Romans 3:22) than that which we have to create for ourselves. Doing so avoids the risks that come from having something to prove to others. Any other righteousness is fragile because we are flawed. It leaves our hearts exposed. 

What is the purpose of our fight? For what are we called to be prepared?

and your feet shod in readiness for the Gospel of peace.

We are called to be ready to spread peace in the world. It is, as Jesus tells us, the peacemakers who are blessed (see Matthew 5:9). How unusual this is when we reflect on it as the purpose of our battle. Has there ever been another army with this goal? Even for us, it is easy to lose sight of this vision if we forget our real enemy and fail to take seriously the need to wear the armor God provides. When we forget the real battle we get caught up in a back and forth and the need to try, somehow, to preserve our own lives against the onslaught that comes from all directions. Rather than letting ourselves be determined by circumstances, we are called to take an active role, to be makers and maintainers of peace. If we forget we are in a battle we might assume that peace can be achieved by simply being passive. But we have a weapon in this fight and we must use it.

the sword of the Spirit,

which is the word of God.

By word and prayer we conquer those enemies which are our true enemies, those which oppress, not just one group or another, but all mankind. We overcome by the blood of the lamb of the word of our testimony (see Revelation 12:11). By fighting this battle, by simple perseverance with the tools we have been given, our victory is assured.

Maranatha! Music - The Battle Belongs to the Lord

Born Into a Battle

Hillsong Worship - This Is How We Overcome

28 October 2020 - from inside the house

Saints Simon and Jude, pray for us!

Today's Readings

(Audio)

you are fellow citizens with the holy ones

and members of the household of God

We are part of something bigger than ourselves. This is more than simply a 'me and Jesus' movement, although the relationship of each one of us to him is irreplaceable.

When day came, he called his disciples to himself,

and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named Apostles

The Apostles aren't the only ones who are chosen. We don't approach the household of God from the outside, like a job we research and then for which we apply. Rather the initiative and the call comes from inside the house.

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you (see John 15:16).

What does it mean to be chosen and integrated into a preexisting structure? It means we don't get to play the architect or to make up the design of the structure ourselves. The household to which we are joined is the one that is "built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone." It also means that we don't get to set the terms for our continued participation. Imagine individual bricks leaving a wall because they didn't like the color it was being painted. A wall made up of bricks like that wouldn't last long.

Through him the whole structure is held together

and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord;

in him you also are being built together

into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

We are built together by Jesus himself. This is a challenge to our individual identities, because it is a call to place our individuality in service of the purpose of that into which we are being built. This means that to the degree that we chose to be selfish we hinder the ways in which God in the Spirit can be present, not just in ourselves, but in the larger body. But when we allow ourselves to be built together, even if it means that we ourselves have to have our rough edges sanded down in order to fit, the Spirit will be able to be more present in the body than he would simply in unrelated individuals. Miraculous and powerful things begin to happen when we let the architect put the pieces in place and we cooperate with his designs for our lives.

you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ (see First Peter 2:5).

The supernatural reality of this household is something that, when it is working as intended, becomes evident even to outsiders. Even without any proselytizing on our part they sense something spiritual at work within.

Through all the earth their voice resounds,

and to the ends of the world, their message.

27 October 2020 - starting small

Today's Readings

(Audio)

It is like a mustard seed

It is like yeast

When we first rely on the power of the Kingdom it seems too small to make a difference. This is the moment of the planting and the mixing. We can't wait until we have a partially grown bush or a partially leavened loaf. If we don't plant the seed at the smallest point it will never grow. If we don't leaven the dough before it begins to rise it will never happen. We are called to begin with faith, with the expectation that the eventual outcome will far surpass the appearance of the initial investment.

The seed of Jesus's own life seemed too small a thing to change the whole world. The Church into which that seed grew became large enough for the birds of the sky to dwell in its branches. The bread which the Son of Man would give did not seem like enough to feed the hungry. Five loaves and two fishes didn't seem like enough to feed the crowd. Much less did the bread of the Eucharist seem like enough to sate the spiritual hunger of the entire world. Yet the crowds ate and were satisfied. We have found that the bread from heaven that we receive in the Church is enough to satisfy, that it contains all sweetness within it.

Only by realizing that small beginnings are expected, and by trusting in the promises of the one who tells us where and how to begin, will we find the outcomes that the Kingdom promises, those things for which we most long.

For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother

and be joined to his wife,

and the two shall become one flesh.

Marriage, or any sort of vocation, seems to be a bad idea in this world. Commitments seems like too little in the face of hostile circumstances and ever changing preferences. We see the bushes often die around us before and birds can live in them. Or sometimes they die, leaving the young birds to find new homes. What makes the Kingdom seeds different? They are based on and draw their life from a union which is inseparable, an outcome which is inevitable, and a victory that is assured.

This is a great mystery,

but I speak in reference to Christ and the Church.

Husbands and wives, clergy, and indeed all Christians, can draw their life from the loving union of Christ with his body. The incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection, of Jesus assures us that no matter how small and hopeless the beginnings, the Kingdom's outcomes cannot be hindered. The only danger is that we ourselves might opt out when we don't see results. As long as we stick with the process we too will have places to dwell. We too will eat and be satisfied.

For you shall eat the fruit of your handiwork;

blessed shall you be, and favored.

Sonicflood - In the Secret

Newsboys - Secret Kingdom

26 October 2020 - the imitation game

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Be imitators of God

It is easy to read this command without feelings its impact if we are too used to hearing it. But who are we that we should think to imitate God? Further, wouldn't doing so be prideful, assuming that we could somehow make ourselves like the one who is "the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God" (see First Timothy 1:17), the one "who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see" (see First Timothy 6:16)? Yet it is Jesus himself who calls us to imitate God.

You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect (see Matthew 5:48).

Jesus was confirming and strengthening something that was a common refrain in the Old Testament.

Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy (see Leviticus 19:2).

It isn't prideful to imitate our God, because our God is not like other gods. To be like Zeus or Apollo would indicate only delusions of grandeur. But imitating our God means imitating his compassion, his forgiveness, and his mercy. It is not simply trying to be like a celebrity we respect. Our imitation of God is possible only "as beloved children". We see what this looks like the most perfectly in the life of the only begotten Son, who "loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma." Jesus reveals the Father, and so reveals the way to imitate him. That is why the one who has seen Jesus has seen the Father (see John 14:9), and why Jesus himself is the way, the truth and the life (see John 14:6).

“There are six days when work should be done.

Come on those days to be cured, not on the sabbath day.”

When we aren't sure how to answer a moral question, for instance, how to spend our time on a sabbath, we can imitate Jesus and his heart for others. The leaders of the synagogue thought they were doing God's will, but they did not really know his heart. They criticized Jesus for showing compassion because they were more interested in their own understanding of rules and legalism than in imitating the God of salvation and mercy. We may be similarly tempted to double down on our own understanding of rules rather than looking to Jesus to see how he himself embodies and reveals the Father's love. But we should shift the focus. How did Jesus fulfill the commands? How did he himself imitate his Father's heart? We in turn can imitate him in the specific circumstances of our lives. The rules we have in Scripture and Tradition are right, important, and valuable. But if we do not look to see how Jesus himself lived out the law in his own life and imitate his approach, the rules can become dead letters, snares that make us less like God and not more.

This daughter of Abraham,

whom Satan has bound for eighteen years now,

ought she not to have been set free on the sabbath day

from this bondage?

We are called to live as children of light. John the Baptist insisted that he was not the light (see John 1:8), but Aquinas tells us that we can be light be participation in the light of Christ. Only in this way can we begin to fulfill the call to imitate God. It is only as sons and daughters in the Son that we can live lives that are like that of the Father who himself becomes our source of life.

He is like a tree

planted near running water,

That yields its fruit in due season,

and whose leaves never fade.

Whatever he does, prospers.

dc Talk - In the Light

Dan Schutte - City of God

TobyMac ft. Hollyn - Lights Shine Bright

25 October 2020 - the greatest commandment

Today's Readings

(Audio)

You shall love the Lord, your God,

with all your heart,

with all your soul,

and with all your mind.

Our loves are not often properly ordered, and they certainly aren't perfectly ordered. In what ways do we fall short? At our worst there is an implicit reversal where we love ourselves first, and God and neighbor only insofar as doing so makes us feel self-actualized. This can take the guise of religiosity, as when we pray only for things which bring us pleasure. 

This is the greatest and the first commandment.

The second is like it:

You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 

When our loves are disordered they can take the shape of helping us to craft images of ourselves as people who are concerned for others, without actually being concerned for them. It is the sort of spirit that could pray for someone and yet not lift a finger to help them.

Sometimes we really do try to love ourselves and our neighbors genuinely. But when we do this without reference to God, and to the fact that we are all created to find fulfillment only in him, our efforts at love can be partially effective at best. We may meet a temporal need while at the same time cementing a sinful predisposition by being unwilling to have a difficult conversation. We certainly know what this sort of love looks like in ourselves. We do some things which are good and helpful but we hold parts of ourselves back because of the fear that if we give ourselves entirely to God we somehow be miserable.

Jesus tells us that our lives are designed to work when we place God first. They will never quite work if we simply have God as one facet or priority among many in our hearts. When God is first we are able to love our neighbor as ourselves because we first know ourselves to be loved, and toward what end, our eternal destiny in heaven. Without the entirety of heart, soul, and mind our prideful egos will still have purchase to negotiate a sphere of our hearts that is only our own, not open to God. And such parts of us will never find fulfillment.

We can see if we are responding to this call to love in a genuine way by whether or not it takes concrete action in our own lives. Do we, in the places where God has planted us, with the means and gifts he has given, chose to live lives of service? Or do we instead look to our own interests and those who are naturally close? We can see how much God is first in our loves by how we treat those on the peripheries, the aliens in our land, the poor who stand in need of our assistance.

You shall not molest or oppress an alien,

you shall not act like an extortioner toward him

you shall return it to him before sunset;

When God is first we are able to love all people made in his image, not just those whom it serves our own sensibilities to love. In loving them, especially those who cannot repay us, God himself is loved. Without that love, our love is nothing (see First John 4:20).

We don't think of ourselves as serving idols. But to the degree that God is not first in our lives, a degree that we can see reflected in how well we love our neighbors, then idols must still be ruling us. To whatever degree that is true we must still turn from them to serve the living God. 

and how you turned to God from idols

to serve the living and true God

and to await his Son from heaven,

whom he raised from the dead,

Jesus, who delivers us from the coming wrath.

Serving the living God, the God of the living, sets our whole lives in order. It is what is meant by seeking first the Kingdom. We need not fear that we will be miserable if we do this. For we will receive all else besides. We will discover the fulfillment that only living for God's purpose for us can give.

My God, my rock of refuge,

my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold!

Praised be the LORD, I exclaim,

and I am safe from my enemies.

tobyMac - Made to Love

Audio Adrenaline - Kings and Queens

Newsboys - Love One Another

24 October 2020 - now and at the hour of our death

Today's Readings

(Audio)

do you think they were more guilty 

than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem?

In our day we know it is not the case that this who die of the pandemic are necessarily more guilty than anyone else. Yet the pandemic can be a wake up call for us just as much as the people killed by Pilate, or the people on whom the tower at Siloam fell.

But I tell you, if you do not repent,

you will all perish as they did!

The circumstances of this world should awaken in us a desire to repent so that we don't perish unprepared. We want to be ready to meet our own end when it comes. This is why every Hail Mary includes 'now and at the hour of our death.' Without the aid of grace, when we hear of war, disease, and natural disaster we tend to become either become overly fearful or overly bold. We become fearful, forgetting that no matter what, this life must eventually give way to the life to come. We go beyond mere prudence and cling to this life as if it is all we have. Fear and prudence may look similar in terms of the actions taken, but only prudence can come from a heart at peace. Or we become overly bold, ignoring even the consequences of our actions here and now because we don't want to come to terms with those, much less their eternal consequences. We need grace both now and at the hour of our death. We need to see how the circumstances, including the great catastrophes, of this world point beyond this world to that which is eternal, and the implications this has for how we act day to day.

In what way were these groups not ready to meet their end? What is Jesus asking of us in our own lives that we might be ready to meet him when the time comes?

‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree 

but have found none.

Jesus is asking us to bear fruit worthy of repentance, just as John the Baptist insisted (see Matthew 3:8). We ourselves are the fig tree that has been barren. Yet here, as with those killed by Pilate, and those on whom the tower fell, a warning is meant to be the occasion for repentance, for change, for mercy given by Christ to be received.

‘Sir, leave it for this year also, 

and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; 

it may bear fruit in the future.

If not you can cut it down.’”

We can only bear good fruit when we are connected to Christ who is the vine. And we can only continue bearing fruit as he takes away every dead brunch and prunes those which are bearing fruit to bear still more (see John 15:1-3). Ultimately, we must be willing to be like the grain of wheat which bears fruit only by falling to the ground and dying (see John 12:23-35). Only by making a gift our own lives, in whatever shape that takes for us, do we fulfill the purpose for which we were made.

The circumstances of the world call us to number our days that we may gain wisdom of heart (see Psalm 90:12). When we have this wisdom we are not content to be barren fig trees. Fig trees are defined by the fruit they bear.  Yet barren we remain apart from the assistance of the gardener.  Jesus spared no effort on to ensure that the fig tree might flourish. He fertilized the ground with his own blood. He himself descended into the depths of the earth to cultivate the soil. Christ is the one who enables us to bear fruit. He rose on high that he might fill all things with gifts that would empower us to bear fruit in abundance.

And he gave some as Apostles, others as prophets,

others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers,

to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry,

for building up the Body of Christ,

until we all attain to the unity of faith

and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood

to the extent of the full stature of Christ,

At first the call to repentance might seem stark and even unsympathetic. But Jesus himself embodied every aspect of the transformation for us. He himself chose to be the fig tree cut down in our place. And in being cut down he himself fertilized the soil of this world. He himself was the grain of wheat that died so that he could bear much fruit in us. He ascended so that we could have a source of life that was not dependent on the passing things of this world, but that could grow no matter the adversity we face.

Rather, living the truth in love,

we should grow in every way into him who is the head, Christ,

from whom the whole Body,

joined and held together by every supporting ligament,

with the proper functioning of each part,

brings about the Body’s growth and builds itself up in love.

Huron Hills Church - Mea Culpa

23 October 2020 - forecasting peace

Saint John of Capistrano

Today's Readings

(Audio)

You hypocrites!

You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky;

why do you not know how to interpret the present time?

We spend a lot of time trying to predict the future. With global pandemics and hotly contested elections we're constant refactoring and reevaluating to try to know the future in advance. We do this too with the lives of those we know, considering their struggles and challenges, and trying to calculate their outcomes. We are especially interested to know our own future. Of course our calculations are wrong more often than they are correct. And even when they are correct, knowing seems to make little difference in our lives. Our need to know stems from a need to be in charge. We feel like knowing is controlling in a way that it really isn't. 

Jesus wants us to be more interested in reading the signs of the times that point toward him than in predicting the future. He wants us to get good at finding him at work in the circumstances of the world and to understand more and more how everything is moving toward him as its culmination. Our predictions paralyze us and make us fearful. They narrow our horizons and constrain our vision. Seeing Jesus at work in the world motivates and empowers us because we are then able to focus on what really matters.

make an effort to settle the matter on the way;

We begin from the call we have received. We are called to follow Jesus, to be holy as God himself is holy, and to lay down our lives in love for one another. This is not usually so dramatic as it may first sound. It is mostly about "humility and gentleness, with patience". We are called to invest our effort in "bearing with one another through love". Love gives us the power to bear all things (see First Corinthians 13:7). But we must see the larger horizon of God's plan and the presence of Jesus moment to moment or we will reject the patient love we are called to manifest. 

striving to preserve the unity of the spirit

through the bond of peace;  

We experience the presence of Jesus and his Spirit as he himself empowers his people to find unity in spite of the bumps in the road along the way, allowing us to transcend our human failings which grate on one another. The failings don't go away first. The grace is for bearing with. And we need to make our peace with this grace now. We need to let the Lord teach us this skill sooner rather than later. If we don't learn the lesson the tests will keep reappearing There is no better time than now for holiness.

I say to you, you will not be released

until you have paid the last penny.

The unity of Spirit is a supernatural reality that will be a cause of joy when we learn to walk by his power. We'll discover relationships that could not exist otherwise, that would long ago have crashed and burned. And yet, these very relationships will be ones that we have learned to treasure. The psalmist wrote of this when he said, "how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!" (see Psalm 133:1) 

He shall receive a blessing from the LORD,

a reward from God his savior.

Such is the race that seeks for him,

that seeks the face of the God of Jacob.

Mosaic MSC - Tremble

22 October 2020 - courage under fire

Saint John Paul the Great, pray for us!

Today's Readings

(Audio)

“I have come to set the earth on fire,

and how I wish it were already blazing!

With this fire Jesus did not intend to be "[c]onsumer of good men, but the Author of good will, who purifies the golden vessels of the Lord's house, but burns up the straw and the stubble" according to Saint Ambrose. Or as Chrysostom explained it, "the Lord pours out fire for the consuming of sins, and the renewing of souls." 

Jesus came to bring the fire of the Holy Spirit. But he made it clear that this was not just the warm and fuzzy fire that one can keep tamed within a fireplace. This fire was one that had an element of danger to it.

each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. (see First Corinthians 3:15).

We read in Hebrews that our God himself is a consuming fire (see Hebrews 12:29). This we have known since he revealed himself to Moses in the burning bush. He revealed it again when the fire fell on the altar to consume the sacrifice of Elijah. This same reality, this dangerous and powerful reality, is present in the lives of Christians as well.

For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands (see Second Timothy 1:6).

Because the Spirit is dangerous we have to be reminded not to "quench" or to "extinguish" him (see First Thessalonians 5:19). We tend to like the motivation, purpose, and power that the Spirit gives to us. But we don't like it as much when he leads us in directions we would not go. He can create divisions within our own hearts as he leads us away from sin and toward holiness. This is the same sort of division Jesus spoke of when called us branches that would be pruned (see John 15:2). Following Jesus creates division between us and others, as a matter of course, when others take a stand for personal autonomy against the claim of God on their lives. This is not something that we as believers have to work to achieve. Simply by being Christian others will take their stand against those beliefs of ours which they find unfair or restrictive or hateful. 

Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth?

No, I tell you, but rather division.

Jesus came to make all things one in himself. But the only way to create a union that was meaningful and lasting was to base that union on truth. It was a truth that could only be revealed by letting the fire of the holiness of his Spirit burn in his people and reveal itself in the world. When we encounter the destructive aspect of this fire we need to remember to not be afraid. It is not meant to destroy us or the world but rather to purify us for holiness, to remove from us what is not love.

When we learn to agree with and welcome God's plan for us, to fan into flame the gift of the Spirit rather than quench it, we are "strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner self" and Christ himself dwells in our hearts through faith. The world may consider God's absolute claim on us to be unfair or hateful but we will actually be more and more "rooted and grounded in love". We will have strength to "know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge", but only if we have the courage to play with fire.

May we have the courage to welcome the fire of God, because he is the one who is able to do in us what we could not do on our own, what we could not even think to ask.

Now to him who is able to accomplish far more than all we ask or imagine,

by the power at work within us,

to him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus

to all generations, forever and ever.  Amen.

Let the Fire Fall

Paul Wilbur - Let Your Fire Fall

21 October 2020 - the gift of waiting

Today's Readings

(Audio)

But if that servant says to himself,

‘My master is delayed in coming,’

We are called to be prepared and ready for the Lord. But this means that we must wait for him. The psalmist often encourages us, as when he writes, "Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!" (see Psalm 27:14)

Yet there is a way in which waiting is the hardest part of Christianity. It is the middle ground that we tread between our faith and hope and the fulfillment of that hope. We make our prayers to God but do not immediately see results. We have to persist like the importunate widow and neighbor. We have to keep believing for our breakthrough. But we tend to become suspicious when an all powerful God doesn't meet our desires immediately and entirely, no matter how just and right those desires seem to us. We must even wait on our own sanctification and growth and holiness much more than we would like. We must be content to be patient even with our own weaknesses and failings as we try to grow near to God. The fallen nature in us, our concupiscence, rebels against such waiting. If we are not cautious this rebellion will begin to take shape in our actions as we find ourselves making compromises and trying to attain what we want in ways that we know to be wrong.

and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants,

to eat and drink and get drunk,

We are called to walk by faith and not by sight (see Second Corinthians 5:7). We are called to trust that there is a meaning even in the waiting.

The Lord does not delay His promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance (see Second Peter 3:9).

Knowing that the Lord has reasons for making us wait is different from knowing those reasons. In fact, we usually can't know them. They usually can only make sense to us in hindsight once the growth the waiting brings about comes to pass. In other words, if we could know it right away we probably wouldn't need the waiting. But it is something that teaches its lessons to us when we live it. From this we can learn to see the waiting itself as a gift, one to which we could only respond well by the power of the Holy Spirit who gives us the fruit of patient perseverance.

“Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward

whom the master will put in charge of his servants

to distribute the food allowance at the proper time?

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

Those who wait well are the ones who can make good use of the Lord's gifts. They do not need to hide their talents in the ground out of fear, nor put their light under a bushel basket, nor squander their inheritance on dissipation. They have sufficient trust in the Lord, even without seeing or understanding his plan perfectly, to use their gifts for the sake of the giver.

The world had to wait thousands of years for the mystery that Paul finally revealed, "that the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same Body, and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel." Even now the mystery of God's timing is obscure to us. But we do see the evidence of the beauty of that plan as it unfolds in history. We learn to trust him as we celebrate his faithfulness in the past, knowing that he will be faithful again.

Sing praise to the LORD for his glorious achievement;

let this be known throughout all the earth.

Shout with exultation, O city of Zion,

for great in your midst

is the Holy One of Israel!

We have been entrusted with much. We have been given good grounds for hope. Let us lean into the waiting, into living faith and hope with the patience the Holy Spirit provides.

Vertical Worship - Faithful Now

Mikeschair - Let the Waters Rise

20 October 2020 - wait, wait

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? (see Luke 17:7).

How shocking are the promises that await those who are vigilant for the Lord's return.

Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself,

have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them.

We are called to be vigilant. But it is as not as though we thereby put the master in our debt. He incurs no obligation toward us. How surprising then that it seems as though he wants us to stay up and wait for him, not simply to keep working, but precisely so that he can show this unearned and unguessed generosity toward us. It is as though the purpose of the oil in the lamp of the five wise virgins was for no efficient, productive, or utilitarian goal, but instead so that they could share the joy and the exhilaration of the midnight cry, "Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!" (see Matthew 25:6).

We must remain ready to move and to serve and to love. We must remain in the light, discerning the good and avoiding evil. Otherwise we risk complacency. We risk slipping into a mode, a sense of entitlement, where we begin to use others for our own ends. We begin, at least metaphorically, to beat the male and female servants, and become so involved in our own enjoyments (see Luke 12:45) as to be dull to the true and eternal consolations the bridegroom's presence brings.

The union between bride and bridegroom makes it possible for there to be peace and harmony between all the peoples who make up the body of the bride. The promises of this wedding celebration were made from the cross itself. 

For he is our peace, he made both one

and broke down the dividing wall of enmity, through his Flesh,

abolishing the law with its commandments and legal claims,

that he might create in himself one new person in place of the two,

thus establishing peace,

and might reconcile both with God,

in one Body, through the cross,

putting that enmity to death by it.

We must stay awake, alert, and attentive, to welcome the messengers of this celebration, to open the door to the bridegroom when he comes. He himself is the one who gives peace and rest to his people. He himself is their very source of unity. We risk missing opportunities to deepen this unity when we are unprepared for them. We quickly give up on peace which we can not achieve ourselves while the bridegroom stands outside, knocking but unheard.

The Lord is building a Church based on the blueprint of the unity he has with the Father, with the model of the love and obedience he showed on the cross. Let us listen for when he knocks, because he wants to begin building from within. And it is precisely here, as he proceeds to wait on his people, that we find rest.

Bob Baker - Bring Your Kingdom

19 October 2020 - but God

Today's Readings

(Audio)

one’s life does not consist of possessions.

What happens to us when life provides a bountiful harvest? Do we, like this rich man, immediately see it as "my harvest"?  We delight in imagining to ourselves, "Now as for you, you have so many good things stored up" and planning all of the pleasures we will acquire with them. 

But if thou confessest that those things have come to thee from God, is God then unjust in distributing to us unequally. Why dost thou abound while another begs? 

- Saint Basil

The rich man did not know how to live well with riches. He neglected to receive them thankfully and after receiving them he treated them as more valuable than they really were.

But in this he errs, that he thinks those things good which are indifferent. 

- Saint John Chrysostom

The rich man succumbed to the temptation to believe that this life would keep going on forever. Blessings lulled him into a complacency that made him lose a sense of the purpose of his life in the larger picture of God's plan. He did not repeat the psalmist's prayer to teach us to number our days (see Psalm 90:12). As a result his last day came unexpectedly, and the things he valued were of no avail.

Virtue alone is the companion of the dead, mercy alone follows us, which gains for the dead an everlasting habitation. 

- Saint Ambrose

Paul reminded his readers that without Jesus it was the more or less inevitable course of human life to live "in the desires of our flesh, following the wishes of the flesh and the impulses" and to be "children of wrath, like the rest". He reminded them that this was their own condition apart from Christ. But he did not dwell there.  Thunderously, he turned from the bad news to the good news.

"But God,"

What we could not do God did for us. The traps of the allurements of this world that we could not break God broke for us. The transgressions of greed and covetousness we could not overcome God overcame for us in Christ.

But God, who is rich in mercy,

because of the great love he had for us,

even when we were dead in our transgressions,

brought us to life with Christ (by grace you have been saved)

True riches are those which come from God himself, which only he can provide.

[He] raised us up with him,

and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus,

that in the ages to come

he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace

in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

Because God has raised us up and made us to already share in his riches we don't need to claw and fight for our piece of a pie that cannot last or satisfy. For us as Christians this means that we need to realize and remember that we are in fact seated with Christ in heaven so that we aren't compelled to play the games of wealth and status. Without this reality as an anchor we feel the need to fend for ourselves. But like the rich man, will anything ever be enough? Will there ever be an amount in which we can finally rest and be satisfied? Riches of that sort, treasure which we obtain for ourselves, cannot provide lasting happiness. Only the things that matter to God can obtain that blessed rest.

What are the riches of God in us? We experience them when his grace refashions us to live for the purpose for which we were created. By God's gift we ourselves become gifts. True riches, then, are found in love.

For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for good works

that God has prepared in advance,

that we should live in them.

Songs in His Presence - the House of God

18 October 2020 - whose image?

Today's Readings

(Audio)

you are not concerned with anyone's opinion,

for you do not regard a person's status.

Tell us, then, what is your opinion

Do we come to Jesus looking for a mere opinion, for one more option in the marketplace of ideas? The Pharisees did not have room to hear anything more from Jesus. They did not ask him to speak anything but the sort of truth which did not concern he himself in others. It was as if they said, 'You know how opinions don't matter to you? What's yours?'

Jesus was not concerned with the opinions of others, not merely because he himself had a better opinion, but because he himself was the one who brought "grace and truth" to the world (see John 1:17). He himself was "the way and the truth and the life" (see John 14:6). The reason he "was born and came into the world" was "to testify to the truth" (see John 18:37). The Pharisees tried to flatter him by saying that he was truthful and taught the way of God in accordance with the truth. But in fact, their flattery, which they did not really believe, did not go far enough. An opinion, which was the only thing to which they were willing to listen was not something Jesus could have. There was no lack of certainty in him that could only resolve into the probability of an opinion. And it was no doubt this that chaffed the Pharisees so much.

Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?"

The Pharisees thought they had him with this question. There wasn't supposed to be a right answer. The Pharisees themselves would have resented the Roman tax. They wished they could have said that it was not within God's law to pay it. But they knew that to do so would be seditious and would turn the Roman authorities against them. So here, they thought, they would show that Jesus was no better than they. He would either say it was lawful to pay the taxes and thus show himself to be just as ready to compromise (as anyone who merely holds an opinion would be ready) as any Pharisee. Or he would say it was not lawful in which case the Roman authorities would make short work of him. However, whenever anyone tried to trap Jesus had not only escaped but turned the trap against those who set it.

He said to them, "Whose image is this and whose inscription?"

They replied, "Caesar's."

At that he said to them,

"Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar

and to God what belongs to God."

By saying that one must repay to Caesar what is his Jesus didn't mean that there were separate secular and sacred spheres of life and that taxes were, after all, the prerogative of the government, no use involving God after all. Rather by using the word "image" he reminded his listeners that they were all, including Caesar, made in the image and likeness of God  (see Genesis 1:27) and that there was no sphere that did not concern him. But the surprising thing was that this meant that God could work even through pagan rulers. The corollary was that it was not simply a concession but rather a sacred duty to support them in that work for the common good. The Pharisees could only see the possibility of God working in their own people and so an entity like Rome could only represent some evil outside of the sphere of providence. Jesus revealed that they weren't thinking big enough about the way God could work in the world. It was the same with the pagan Cyrus in the first reading.

Thus says the LORD to his anointed, Cyrus,

whose right hand I grasp,

subduing nations before him,

and making kings run in his service

It is the same for all established authority insofar as it does not transgress God's law but rather is at the service of his image found in both those governed and those who govern.

Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God (see Romans 13:1).

It is nevertheless the case the the civil order often fails to respect the image in which its constituents were created. It is at such times that Caesar is asking for something that he cannot claim. Christians have always resisted authorities who do such things, who make idols of themselves or of the state.

We have a truth that is solid and not merely an opinion. We have something that helps us to navigate the world where others might be tempted to compromise. The whole sphere of the world is God's sphere. This conviction gives us strength.

For our gospel did not come to you in word alone,

but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with much conviction. 

We Belong to God

Newsboys - He Reigns

17 October 2020 - eyes wide open

Today's Readings

(Audio)

May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened,

that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call

We are called to receive knowledge of Jesus through a spirit of wisdom and revelation. It is when we know the hope of our call, the riches of our inheritance, and the surpassing power at work within us that we become witnesses to the Son of Man, able to acknowledge him before others. The Holy Spirit is the one who leads us into all truth (see John 16:13) and who reminds us of everything Jesus taught (see John 14:26). What we see in the reading from Ephesians is that this truth is not just data that is downloaded into us. The Holy Spirit gives us faith, which is more like a new program that runs in us, making us capable of experiencing, knowing, and doing things we could never do on our own, "the surpassing greatness of his power for us who believe".

or about what you are to say. 

For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you should say.

When we are grounded in the revelation of Jesus that the Holy Spirit brings to us we do not simply become people who acknowledge him with our lips but whose hearts remain far from him (see Isaiah 29:13). We become able to acknowledge him with our very lives. We see that the Holy Spirit does sometimes inspire lengthy discourses about the identity of Jesus, such as in the martyrdom of Stephen. For us too, the same Spirit sometimes gives the wisdom and knowledge to teach about Jesus in ways that transcend our own abilities. But even more beyond the message of his words,  the Spirit enabled Stephen to give his life as testimony to Jesus. That above all else, was what he was taught to say. The message was one of love.

but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit

will not be forgiven.

The reason that the sin against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven can be interpreted in many ways, most with a sense of truth. But let us consider that if we reject the Spirit we are rejecting God's ability to reveal himself to us. We are rejecting the very way he wants to make us able to acknowledge him, to live for him, and to become loving in a way that we can only become if we have our hearts enlightened. We should pray that we remain open to the Spirit even in difficult times, "before synagogues and before rulers and authorities". It is relatively easy welcome the Spirit in times of joy and consolation. But we are called to guard against closing ourselves to him when times are more difficult. The only way to make it through such times with the victory that God desires for us is for us is to learn from the Spirit how to speak with both word and life.

in accord with the exercise of his great might,

which he worked in Christ,

raising him from the dead

and seating him at his right hand in the heavens

What is the hope of our call? Is it hard for us to see right now in the midst of pandemics and political turmoil? The Spirit wants to reveal that hope to us today. He wants to teach us about the power that can work within us and make us confident, knowing that death has already been defeated. This doesn't make us less able to respond to the needs of the world but more able. He himself teaches us what to say.

We ourselves are seated in heavenly places with Jesus (see Ephesians 2:6). The point is not simply to sit and watch the world, still less to look away, but to become witnesses to a reality that is greater than the circumstances that surround us. May the Spirit of the Father and the Son open our hearts to know the full hope of our call, the full riches we have to offer to the world, and the power that is at work in us to enable us to offer them.

on the lips of children and of babes

you have found praise to foil your enemy,

to silence the foe and the rebel.

Shane and Shane - Open the Eyes of My Heart