30 April 2021 - many mansions

Today's Readings

(Audio)

In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places.

If there were not,

would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?

Augustine asked an interesting questions about this passage. He saw that there were already many mansions in the Father's house before Jesus went to prepare anything, mansions for which the elect were already predestined, and so he asked in what sense such mansions that already existed needed to be prepared? He answered his own question by noting that we ourselves are already the house of God, the temple of his presence (see First Corinthians 3:17). But then he goes on to ask:

"But why has He gone away to prepare it, if it is ourselves that He prepares: if He leaves us, how can He prepare us? The meaning is, that, in order that those mansions may be prepared, the just must live by faith"

- Saint Augustine

He withdrew from sight, according to Augustine, so that faith could make us more fit dwelling places for the most high, so that we could become more able to fully embody the promise of being living stones in God's building and temples of his Spirit, no longer limited by our own senses or understanding.

There is another sense in which mansions were prepared as well. In himself Jesus brought our own humanity, risen and glorified, into the divine life of heaven. We will dwell with God in heaven precisely to the degree that we are joined with that divine life by the sacrament of his human life. In this sense, he himself was the place he prepared for us.

"And thus God will be all in all; that is, since God is love, love will bring it to pass, that what each has, will be common to all. That which one loves in another is one’s own, though one have it not one’s self. And then there will be no envy at superior grace, for in all hearts will reign the unity of love."

- Saint Augustine

If all this talk of heavenly mansions seems too abstract, we can take comfort in knowing that it did to Thomas as well.

“Master, we do not know where you are going;

how can we know the way?” 

We too can take comfort in the answer of Jesus. We don't need to understand esoteric metaphysical principles of beatific union. Instead, we rely on our relationship with a person. We listen to and follow him by faith whether we fully understand or not, and so are assured of the promise of life.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. 

No one comes to the Father except through me.”

The resurrection of Jesus is our hope. In it all the promises of God found their answer. All of the hopes that seemed to have been dashed by history turned out to find a greater fulfillment than anyone would have dared to guess. 

We ourselves are proclaiming this good news to you

that what God promised our fathers

he has brought to fulfillment for us, their children, by raising up Jesus

The final fulfillment of the promise of the resurrection is when we shall all be united with him, sharing, as he does, in the life of the Father, when God himself will be all in all. We do not see this with our senses now, but by faith we already begin to live it. And the as we do live by faith more and more we can even begin to taste it here and now.

Ask of me and I will give you

the nations for an inheritance

and the ends of the earth for your possession.

Behold the Lamb (cover of a song by Paul Beckman)

MercyMe - I Can Only Imagine

29 April 2021 - dirty jobs

Today's Readings

(Audio)

When Jesus had washed the disciples’ feet, he said to them:

“Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master

nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him.

So much of what Jesus did had the potential to short-circuit the pride of those who saw it. Some individuals who saw these acts had their own hearts hardened. Others were willing to accept the call to humility contained therein. Jesus lived in such a way that his Father was first in his life and the lowest and least of the people around him had the greatest claim on his acts of mercy and compassion. Such actions chafed at those who desired to themselves be first. The prideful did not delight to see the healings of those whom they did not consider deserving. The elite were distressed that the unwashed masses were welcomed as disciples on equal footing with the others.

Jesus came to demonstrate the humility and self-giving that characterized his life with the Father and the Spirit from all eternity. He did not come to raise up deserving in an isolated state of self-congratulation and exultation over others. This was perhaps what men experiencing the freedom of having their own feet washed. But it was not the deepest truth of things. Being served, being master, having power seemed to promise we could be happy in finally being able to meet all of our desires. But Jesus knew this was false. He came to show us a better way, a way which we would not have found on our own.

If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it.

I am not speaking of all of you.

The washing of the disciples feet by Jesus was an obvious symbol, but the same truth characterized his saving death for humankind. The same truth is revealed to us everytime we receive him under the humble appearances of bread and wine.

Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send

receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”

Receiving Jesus means receiving him not only in his exaltation but also in especially in his humility. He is not a God after our own image, which would have doubtlessly been more of an invincible superman who never suffered. We receive a servant to be our master. This truth helps us to also receive those he sent in spite of their human foibles. Even though the hierarchy of the Church is often flawed we are called to receive them as well, even if they are not living as washers of feet, not for their own sake, but because of the one whom they represent.

We won't solve the problem of the lack of humility in others by our own skill and effort. It is only by becoming like the master in his self-emptying that we will be able to truly connect with others and have something to offer them. When we realize the deep truth of humility that is the very heart of reality, when we lose the need to protect and provide for all the demands of our selfish egos, it is then that we will become really communicate the truth of Jesus to others.

Behold, one is coming after me;

I am not worthy to unfasten the sandals of his feet.

Matt Maher - Come to the Water

ILP Chorale - At the Name of Jesus

28 April 2021 - to save the world

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Christianity in the popular imagination is often misunderstood to describe an angry God who is interested primarily in condemnation, but who, if we are very careful, we might appease enough to escape his wrath. Christians are seen as trying to stay under the wrath radar sufficiently to escape condemnation and make a safe landing at the end of life. Nothing could be more of a mischaracterization. Jesus was did not come to condemn but to offer salvation.

for I did not come to condemn the world but to save the world. 

The world was already well down the path leading to condemnation. This was not God's doing, but rather came from our readiness to stubbornly persist in sin and our willingness to refuse help at each stage along the way. It was our tendency to believe the devil and his lies that led us to throw off the protection of God and merit the only destiny available other than the life that is found in him.

but through the devil’s envy death entered the world,

and those who belong to his party experience it (see Wisdom 2:24).

The devil's lies have been persuasive. We see the truth of this not only in the great evils of history, such the atrocities of the Nazis and the Communists, but also in our own hearts when we sin. This is because every sin that we deliberately commit is at the same time a decision to believe the lies of the devil.

You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies (see John 8:44).

Jesus came so that we could believe in him. This belief itself would be the antidote to the lies of the devil, and freedom from our slavery to sin.

I came into the world as light,

so that everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness. 

The light of Christ truly has the power to cast out the darkness from our lives. It reveals the truth that the commandment of the Father is not repressive or mean but is in fact eternal life. Jesus himself reveals that the Father is not an angry or wrathful God, but rather a Father doing everything possible to draw back his prodigal children. As the light of Christ exposes lies that we have heretofore believed we experience freedom.

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed (see John 8:36).

The disciples about whom we read in Acts had themselves experienced the freedom that comes when the light of Christ illumines one's life. Because of that they were committed to the sharing of that light as the primary mission and the main objective of their lives.

While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said,

“Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul

for the work to which I have called them.” 

These disciples learned to turn down the volume on anything that might be a distraction to the light of Christ and so were open to hear his guidance. We too can come to live in the light more and more. In the light we will not fear to hear the voice of the Spirit because we will know in advance that whatever we hear will be ordered to flourishing, salvation, and life to the full.

So they, sent forth by the Holy Spirit,

went down to Seleucia

and from there sailed to Cyprus. 

Newsboys - I Am Free

dc Talk - In the Light

27 April 2021 - one flock, one shepherd

Today's Readings

(Audio)

My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all,

and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand. 

We often treat the spiritual life as if it all depends on us. We do this in spite of the fact that we have the intellectual knowledge that spiritual life is only possible by grace. Further, we know in our minds that God will provided the grace to face any challenge we meet. But in our hearts we are still anxious as though if we don't do everything right it won't be enough, that God will be displeased, that we won't finally make it home. 

Jesus wants us to have a spiritual life that stems from confidence in the Father even in spite of our flaws and failings. He wants us to believe that an abundant life is possible for us not because we will be perfect, but because the Father has a plan that will continue to work even as we are being perfected, as long as we persevere. 

Our confidence in the Father's love grows concretely when we experience the providential care of the great shepherd of the sheep, Jesus Christ. It is not that we as sheep suddenly become highly competent and praiseworthy. It is not as though we ever completely remove the tendency to wander away. But even though we remain flawed we continue to experience his love, even in spite of ourselves, when our shepherd keeps speaking to us, leading us, and calling us to be and remain near him. 

My sheep hear my voice;

I know them, and they follow me. 

I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. 

For sheep, safety is about the identity of the shepherd far more than the individual members of the flock. Sheep have to stubbornly persist to prevent the shepherd from reaching them in time. They may indeed stumble, become injured and sickly because they stay too close to the peripheries of the fold. But even then the shepherd will continue to seek them. He is more than able to nurse them to health and bind their wounds.

The hand of the Lord was with them

and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. 

The early Church knew what it was to live under the close watch and care of the good shepherd. They did not despair when humanly the circumstances seemed difficult. They were scattered, but saw in it only opportunity. 

Those who had been scattered by the persecution

that arose because of Stephen

went as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch,

preaching the word to no one but Jews.

At first most disciples did not preach the word to anyone but Jews. Yet this was no longer an appropriate or necessary means to protect the integrity of the flock. They now had a shepherd whom they could trust to call other sheep as well, so that their could be one flock, one shepherd. We too need to trust that the shepherd knows what he is doing when he calls others, even if they don't look like good candidates to join the flock in our eyes. Concretely this means a willingness to be close to and involved with others with whom we might otherwise have nothing in common, who might not seem to be our sort of people. In Christ such divisions lose their meaning. By his Spirit they can be overcome.

I tell of Egypt and Babylon

    among those who know the LORD;

Of Philistia, Tyre, Ethiopia:

    “This man was born there.”

And of Zion they shall say:

    “One and all were born in her;

And he who has established her

    is the Most High LORD.”

Matt Maher - Your Love Defends Me

26 April 2021 - the Paschal gate

Today's Readings

(Audio)

But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.

The way of the Messiah, prepared by the Father, prophesied in Scripture, culminating in suffering, and vindicated by the resurrection passed through a gate which Jesus alone could enter. The gate was made specifically for the Messiah. Scriptures were about Jesus, for, as he said, Moses wrote about him (see John 5:46). The whole story of revelation was a preparation for his arrival, with John the Baptist being the last and most direct part of that revelation. False prophets could perhaps cherry pick a verse of Scripture here or there, but they could not make sense of the whole of it in the way that Jesus did. To them the Father did not testify. They were not free to suffer for their followers. Indeed it was more often the case that their followers were made to suffer for them. 

We might say more specifically that the door was the Paschal mystery, a door through which only Jesus could pass, a door finally opened by the Father in his resurrection and ascension from the dead. The shepherd was at first the only one who could go through that door. But having done so, he is now able to lead us through the same Paschal mystery.

When he has driven out all his own,

he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him,

because they recognize his voice.

The Father draws us, the Shepherd guides us, and the Spirit teaches us. This dark valley is not one in which we would dare to walk without the rod and the staff of the Shepherd to give us courage. But with him close at hand and guiding us by his words we have the courage and protection we need to follow him.

Whoever enters through me will be saved,

and will come in and go out and find pasture.

We enter in when we let our old and pre-Christian ways of viewing the world and living die. We go out when we walk by faith, exercising the gifts we have been given and bearing fruit for the Kingdom. We enter in finally at our death, finding the same Shepherd there waiting to guide us to everlasting pastures.

Thieves and robbers may make promises but they are ultimately out to serve only their own interests. Jesus could pass through the gate, and was thereby revealed as the true Shepherd, because he had no concern for himself and was filled to overflowing with love for others.

I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.

This verse is a principle of discernment. In our thought life there are thieves and robbers as well. We often take them extremely seriously and sacrifice ourselves and others to obey them. But let us instead learn to agree with thoughts that agree with the shepherd, thoughts that open us more to the abundant life Jesus desires for us. We often need help with this renewal of the mind because we tend to cling to old ways of thinking. We need help because we need to die a little more to self in order to live more the life we are meant to live.

‘What God has made clean, you are not to call profane.’ 

This happened three times

Jesus wants to open us up so that we can more freely go in and come out, so that obstacles to the establishment of the Kingdom can be removed from us. His Spirit leads us along this path one step at a time, as we saw with Peter. First he saw the vision, then he met the representatives of the Gentiles, then he spoke and saw the Spirit fall upon them. One step at a time his mind was opened and he was able to set aside his former way of thinking, able to choose and believe in the more life-giving belief God proposed.

When they heard this,

they stopped objecting and glorified God, saying,

“God has then granted life-giving repentance to the Gentiles too.”

Gonzalo L. Gonzalez - The King of Love My Shepherd Is

25 April 2021 - above every name

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Peter was utterly clear in his teaching that Jesus was the one who made the salvation of the human race possible and that it was a normative necessity to come to him to receive that salvation. 

There is no salvation through anyone else,

nor is there any other name under heaven

given to the human race by which we are to be saved.”

The Father gave the Son to us so that we could be saved through him (see John 3:16). He offered Jesus to us so that our decision for him could possible an escape from the condemnation that was our lot in Adam, a condition to which the love and mercy of the Father would not allow him to abandon us. He is the one who desires all to be saved and come to knowledge of the truth (see First Timothy 2:4) and so he provides for those who "who through no fault of their own do not know the Gospel of Christ or His Church", provided that they do in fact "strive by their deeds to do His will as it is known to them through the dictates of conscience" (see Lumen Gentium 16). This, however, does not give evangelists a pass if it looks like our acquaintances who do not know Christ are leaving decent lives. On the one hand, most people really have been exposed to the Gospel on some level, and they have a responsibility to respond to the degree that said exposure was authentic. 

He is the stone rejected by you, the builders,

    which has become the cornerstone.

Christ is the Father's plan of salvation for the human race. He wants all to consciously realize that he is the cornerstone so that our lives can be built as firmly upon that rock as possible. Rejecting that cornerstone through no fault of our own is one thing. Refusing to accept it is another, even if we otherwise live good lives. 

We may then ask: should we, like Peter be so quick to proclaim the Gospel, if doing so will make those who hear accountable to it? We must, and this for two reasons. First, because the fullness of life possible fully and consciously united to Christ is so good. We should be convinced of this ourselves, convinced enough that we desire it for others, believing that there is in fact no greater thing that we could wish for them. Second, because the position of those who are unaware of Jesus even through no fault of their own is a far more precarious thing than the situation of those who do know him. While we are invited to hope that such ones do ultimately find and fall into the mercy of God we are not permitted to assume it. We must read the entire paragraph of Lumen Gentium in order that we realize that what we have in it is not an excuse for indifferentism, but instead a call to greater confidence in our mission to spread that name alone by which we are to be saved

But often men, deceived by the Evil One, have become vain in their reasonings and have exchanged the truth of God for a lie, serving the creature rather than the Creator. Or some there are who, living and dying in this world without God, are exposed to final despair. Wherefore to promote the glory of God and procure the salvation of all of these, and mindful of the command of the Lord, "Preach the Gospel to every creature", the Church fosters the missions with care and attention (see Lumen Gentium 16).

Our Gospel passage this morning gives us a different view of this when we see the different situations of sheep with a good shepherd and those with a shepherd who is merely a hireling. The good shepherd has so identified himself with his flock that he will go to such lengths for it as would seem excessive or unreasonable to an outside observer.

A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Jesus is the good shepherd, the one who knows each of his sheep, who calls us each by name, who will go to whatever lengths are necessary to prevent us from being food for wolves. But we see that this isn't meant to be a relationship which is unidirectional. 

I am the good shepherd,

and I know mine and mine know me,

just as the Father knows me and I know the Father;

and I will lay down my life for the sheep.

We are meant to know the voice of the shepherd. When we do know his voice we will not follow strangers. But to the degree that we do not know his voice we are at risk. Strangers with much less noble designs for the sheep might seduce us and lead us away. Certainly our shepherd will pursue us even then. But we must not live flippantly and imprudently because of that, like children skipping and running near the edge of a sheer cliff. We must not presume upon his mercy. 

There was only one shepherd who was able to freely lay down his life for the sheep. Without this offering we emphatically all would have been the prey of wolves. It is through this one offering that the Father pours out his love, that his plan of salvation is actualized. 

We may cringe at first when we hear the apparent exclusivism of Peter. It may seem unenlightened or old-fashioned to insist upon the unique truth of Christianity.

nor is there any other name under heaven

given to the human race by which we are to be saved.

But Peter knew that there was not and could not be another shepherd like Jesus. He insisted that we should accept no substitutes. We don't insist on this centrality so much out of fear of condemnation but rather as a response to the mercy and love of God. It is not so much an obligation as a great privilege and treasure beyond price.

See what love the Father has bestowed on us

that we may be called the children of God.

Yet so we are.

We are meant to become "like him" but this happens precisely to the degree that we "see him" and so finds perfection only when we "shall see him as he is." This is the good news that we have been given. We can't allow others to be content with shadows and the limited potential for transformation that such a limited vision can provide, not when we know where the substance is found.

And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit (see Second Corinthians 3:18)

ILP Chorale - At the Name of Jesus

Natalie Grant - Your Great Name

MercyMe - Lord I Lift Your Name On High

Peter Furler - Psalm 23

24 April 2021 - Spirit and life

Today's Readings

(Audio)

“This saying is hard; who can accept it?”

We need faith, a gift of the Holy Spirit to believe the words of Jesus.

It is the Spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail.

The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life.

Together with the Father, from all eternity, Jesus breathed forth the Spirit. We saw this symbolized in his mission in time when living water flowed from his wounded side and when he breathed on the disciples after his resurrection. It makes sense that the Word of God would never be without the Breath of God. The words of Jesus, and the words about him, recorded in Sacred Scripture, are not the same kind of words as the words of men. They are words of God, breathed by God.

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (see Second Timothy 3:16-17)

The "word of God is living and active" (see Hebrews 4:12) because God is truly present therein. The words themselves are Spirit and life because the Spirit inhabits them. The words themselves contain more truth than we will ever be able to access in our lifetimes, probably even in eternity. But the Spirit who guides us into all truth (see John 16:13) also wants to guide us as we read the Word, making it ever new, applying it to the times in which we live and the challenges we face.

We have a choice, as did the crowds, as to how we will receive the word. Will we let the Spirit speak, or we will try to do it without his help and inspiration, relying only on our flesh? May we accept it "not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers" (see First Thessalonians 2:13).

We receive an invitation in every of Christ, but to accept that invitation we must humble ourselves enough to let ourselves be drawn by the Father.

And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me

unless it is granted him by my Father.”

It is this being drawn by the Father that we desire when we try to practice Lectio Divina. We pay attention to the word, looking for the specific movements of its living vitality as we do, listening, as it were, for the nuances of breath of the Father as he speaks specifically to us in that moment. 

As we read and accept more and more of the Scriptures we do grow in understanding. But at the same time we grow in something else, something even more important. We grow in a trust which lets us take God at his word even when we don't fully understand.

Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go?

You have the words of eternal life.

We have come to believe

and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”

The first work of the Spirit in us through the Word is an invitation to believe. But together with this we are invited to realize more and more the hope of our call, and to become ever more rooted and grounded in love as we are conformed to Christ himself.

that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (See Ephesians 3:16-19).

The vital starting point is that we say with Peter, "You have the words of eternal life." This is the posture that will open us to the same transformation that Peter himself experienced. In his healing of Aeneas and Lydda we see Peter operating at a level impossible to those limited to human modes of understanding. But such a level is not meant to be impossible to us. To grow toward it we need to welcome the Spirit as Peter did. Let us remember that every time we open the Sacred Scriptures it is always an occasion to receive this grace. It is a perfect way to prepare for the Church's celebration of Pentecost. 

O LORD, I am your servant;

    I am your servant, the son of your handmaid;

    you have loosed my bonds.

Emu Music - the Breath of God

Marie Barnett - Breathe

23 April 2021 - I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting

Today's Readings

(Audio)

I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 

Jesus appeared to Saul on the road to Damascus and revealed himself to him. When we think of abrupt and entire changes of life, Saul's experience is often considered archetypal. But even Saul's conversion wasn't exactly immediate. We might have expected Jesus to stay with him and explain everything with no need for anyone else to get involved. We might have thought the initial knockdown and blinding special effects would be all or most of the story. But even Saul's conversion happened by degrees, even if the degrees where each admittedly more impressive than many of our own stories.

Now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do.

Why didn't Jesus simply tell him what he must do? We can only speculate. But the key is probably that it was Saul's persecution of Christians, his "breathing murderous threats", his plans to "bring them back to Jerusalem in chains" that he was persecuting Jesus himself.

The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ (see Matthew 25:40).

The appearance of Jesus himself was the pivot point or the lever that made change possible for Saul. But this illumination left Saul unable to see, still without understanding of the meaning of what he had just experienced. Certain things could be inferred. He knew something of the Christians, enough to persecute them. He now knew that they were correct and not he. But as to the specifics, he was likely still in the dark. And Jesus did not give him the answer in this special revelation. Instead, he made Saul depend on the same group he had persecuted for the completion of this conversion. The Lord was very specific that it would only through Ananias that his eyes would be opened. It was finally through Ananias that he would receive the Holy Spirit.

“Saul, my brother, the Lord has sent me,

Jesus who appeared to you on the way by which you came,

that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 

Saul had persecuted Jesus by persecuting his Mystical Body. It was fitting then, that his reconciliation Jesus would not happen apart from that Body. Previously he had been one who claimed to see but was in fact blind to the presence of Jesus in his followers. 

Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains. (see John 9:41).

Jesus took from Saul his ability to imagine that he saw when he in fact did not see. But he did this so that his sight could be restored and healed.

Immediately things like scales fell from his eyes

and he regained his sight. 

The degree to which Jesus is present in his Body, the degree to which he identifies with his Church, should give us pause. We too are often blind to his presence even in our brothers and sisters, seeing only the superficial and the human. This blindness can make us casual about the holiness within and around us when we should instead live as though we are all temples of the Holy Spirit (see First Corinthians 6:19) and living stones in God's building (see First Peter 2:5). The Lord has plans for us, just as he did for Saul. Just as he was "a chosen instrument of mine" so too are we meant to be. As with Saul, this may require several or even many degrees of transformation. It will require us finding ways to be more conformed to Christ, more united to his Body, at peace and in fellowship with other believers. But Jesus is still meant to be the center of everything. It is was finally in a meal that Saul found strength for the task ahead.

and when he had eaten, he recovered his strength.

So too for us. We are united by the Holy Spirit, and this is especially and even uniquely the case when we receive Jesus himself in the Eucharist. By receiving his Body we become his Body, united, and empowered to offer ourselves also to a hungry world.

Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread (see First Corinthians 10:17).

One place, probably the best place where our unconsidered habits can be interrupted, where our imagined ability to see can give way to true vision, is in Holy Communion. It is here that a blast of the true light who enlightens all men (see John 1:9) can fill us, revealing Jesus to us even as we are joined more closely to him.

For my Flesh is true food,

and my Blood is true drink. 

Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood

remains in me and I in him.

Matt Maher - Hold Us Together

22 April 2021 - taught by God

Today's Reading 

(Audio)

They shall all be taught by God.

Flesh and blood cannot teach us what we need to know. If we ask the crowds, they will say Jesus is John the Baptist, Elijah, or some other prophet. If we ask the moderns, they will say he was a myth, or a good man, or a spiritual leader like Buddha or Muhammad. There are varying degrees of truth in these answers but none of them get to the deepest truth of the identity of Jesus. 

Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me.

We are called to learn to listen to the Father as Peter listened so that we too can come to believe what Peter came to believe, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (see Matthew 16:16). Perhaps one of the reasons Jesus initially charged his disciples not to reveal this identity was so that they could gradually learn that it was not something they themselves could communicate. Only with time and experience would they learn that they too could invite people to hear the voice of the Father and be taught be God the truth about his Son.

Not that anyone has seen the Father

except the one who is from God;

he has seen the Father. 

We are called to be drawn by the Father and listen to him, yet this can only happen in and through his Son who is himself the revelation of the Father.

Whoever has seen me has seen the Father (see John 14:9).

We are not supposed to go away and disengage from the Son in order to hear the Father and be drawn by him. It is rather precisely in the Son that the we experience the Father calling us. When we look to the Son we feel the pull of deepest desire which the Father himself has implanted in our hearts. Just as the Father spoke over the Son at his baptism, so too does he want to speak the truth of his identity into our hearts.

But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him (see First John 2:27).

We are called receive the anointed knowledge of faith. This anointing teaches us things which, while understandable, we might never understand on our own, or at least, not without many errors. But it also teaches us things we could never understand on our own, things that reveal the inner life of the Triune God. And God wants to be known. Therefore we should try to let the Father draw us beyond our limited and human ways of understanding to the more comprehensive mode of faith.

Then the eunuch said to Philip in reply,

“I beg you, about whom is the prophet saying this?

About himself, or about someone else?” 

The Ethiopian eunuch was trying to figure things out from the Scriptures, but his attempt revealed his human limitations.

“How can I, unless someone instructs me?” 

In truth, he could only understand if the Father instructed him. But Philip still had a role to play. That role was now like what Jesus did in his resurrection appearances, and no doubt this was how Philip came to understand it.

Then Philip opened his mouth and, beginning with this Scripture passage,

he proclaimed Jesus to him.

We may infer from the eunuch's immediate desire for baptism that his heart too burned within him when the Scriptures were opened for him. It was the revelation of Jesus within the Scriptures to which Philip pointed. This provided the eunuch with the opportunity to experience and respond to the draw of the Father toward his Son, to experience the confirmation of the Son's identity that only the gift of faith could give. 

It must be said that the Holy Spirit is the principal agent of evangelization (see Evangelii Nuntiandi 75)

We can see the work of the Spirit through Philip clearly, not only by how effectively he proclaimed the Scriptures, but also by how ready he was to be led. He heeded the angel at once when he heard, "Get up and head south". He did not tary when his particular mission was completed, but was immediately ready for the next thing to which God would call him.

When they came out of the water,

the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away,

and the eunuch saw him no more,

but continued on his way rejoicing. 

We first experience the Spirit teaching us. Then can become agents through whom the Spirit teaches others. And of course he will never finish teaching us in this life. This can become a virtuous cycle by which we become, more and more, the people we are meant to become.

Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.

Matt Maher - Come Holy Spirit (feat. Martin Smith)

21 April 2021 - although you have seen me

Today's Readings

(Audio)

But I told you that although you have seen me,

you do not believe.

God "desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (see First Timothy 2:4). He gave his Son so that every who sees "and believes in him may have eternal life". Jesus desired to increase the assurance of this promise, saying, "I will not reject anyone who comes to me", and even more, that he "should not lose anything of what he [the Father] gave me". 

The crowds in some sense came to Jesus, hadn't they? In some sense they did see him. But they did not believe. Jesus was given by the Father so that the crowds could see and believe. Was there some kind of shortcoming in this approach that allowed the majority of this particular crowd to eventually walk away when they found the teaching too difficult? (see John 6:60-6:66). 

Everything that the Father gives me will come to me,

Jesus explained, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him" (see John 6:44). We saw this happen in practice when Peter learned the identity of Jesus, not from flesh and blood, but from the Father (see Matthew 16:17). Was the Father not drawing the crowds? Did he not, after all, want to reveal himself to them so that they could be saved? 

We too can't come to Jesus unless the Father draws us. He is in fact always drawing us. But, emphatically, we can refuse to let ourselves by drawn. Rather than opening ourselves to the transformation of grace he offers, we can try to come to Jesus by our own will, in our own strength, and, in the end, on our own terms. But to truly come to Jesus means that we accept his posture toward the Father, that of not rejecting anyone or anything that the Father sends. It means that we decide, like Jesus, to prefer the will of the Father to our own will. This is something our own will cannot will. It is only by grace that can accept this invitation.

Jesus wants us to let ourselves be drawn, and so he promises that if we do so, if we come to him, we will find the complete acceptance for which we have always longed but only found imperfectly in the world. He promises to satisfy our hunger and thirst in ways the world never could.

If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.  

- CS Lewis

There will always be those who reject Jesus, who refuse to come to him on his terms rather than their own. But God can bring greater good even from this. We ourselves don't always come to Jesus immediately when he leads us somewhere new or difficult. But even our own failures and weakness can be made to work out for our good. Even if someone seems to reject Jesus at one time, nothing is final while they live. Even if we ourselves seem stuck at a certain and probably low level of sanctity, we may just need to wait on God's timing as he finds a new way to draw us higher in the upward call of Christ (see Philippians 3:14). The very persecutions that seem to scatter and dissipate the Church and even our own integrity as Christians can be made into opportunities to see Jesus with fresh eyes.

Now those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.

Let us listen to the word of God with one accord, just as the disciples in the upper room prayed with one accord, just as did the crowds listening to Philip. In listening, let us be drawn. In being drawn, let us come to Jesus. Let us see him and believe.

All Sons and Daughters - Called Me Higher

Songs In His Presence - The House of God

20 April 2021 - what can you do?

Today's Readings

(Audio)

What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you?

What can you do?

The crowds had already seen signs Jesus had performed on the sick. They followed him because of them and thus were present to experience the multiplication of the loaves. Yet the crowd proved insatiable. One sign only increased there appetite for an even greater one. Humanly speaking, they probably had their reasons for this. Jesus had said that he was the one of whom Moses had written, the one about whom he said a "prophet like me will the LORD, your God, raise up for you from among your own kindred; that is the one to whom you shall listen" (see Deuteronomy 18:15). While Jesus did not come to abolish the law (see Matthew 5:17) the way in which he fulfilled it revealed him taken upon himself a greater authority than that of Moses, an authority equal, in fact, to the one from whom Moses received the law.

You have heard that it was said ...  But I tell you (see Matthew 5:21-48)

In fairness, belief in this one who spoke with the voice of the lawgiver, who not only healed disease but forgave sins, was not something that could be conceded lightly. To that end, the crowd wanted to test how Jesus compared to Moses. 

Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written:

    He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”

The crowd asked for bread from heaven and yet Jesus had in fact already given bread to the crowds and they did not believe. To validate a categorically different truth than the authority of Moses the sign itself would also need to be of a different kind.

Amen, amen, I say to you,

it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven;

my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 

There are signs of the sort which humans can devour, which titillate curiosity and play into argumentation, but which do not satisfy in a lasting way. They are consumed, motivate us for passing moments, but leave us fundamentally undecided, still wanting more. This is no slight to the signs themselves. It is rather we who desire to make more of the signs than they are meant to offer. We sometimes prefer to to focus on such signs when the one who is himself the revelation of the Father is in our midst.

“Sir, give us this bread always.” 

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life;

whoever comes to me will never hunger,

and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”

Jesus wanted to give a sign that could finally satisfy. This sign was his life, his crucifixion and resurrection, and especially his own flesh and blood given in the Eucharist. These events together comprised one sign, validated by the Father. It was a sign which was no longer something external to us, something that would simply pass through us. Instead, it was a sign we could receive into our very selves and so sate our desires on the one who alone could satisfy them. The other signs could only point to this sign. What else would healing mean if the recipient would die once more? What else would feeding the crowds mean if they would hunger again? Only with Jesus himself would they finally find rest.

Stephen was an example of one who was so sated with Jesus that the world have nothing to offer him, nothing that could dissuade his absolute fidelity to his call to follow him.

But Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit,

looked up intently to heaven and saw the glory of God

and Jesus standing at the right hand of God

Stephen may seem like an outlier, but we are all meant to be as conformed to Christ as he. We too can fix our gaze on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith (see Hebrews 12:2), and so have the strength we need to be faithful in the face of trials. We too can have within us the same power to forgive that Jesus, alive in Stephen, empowered.

“Lord, do not hold this sin against them”;

We too, sated on the bread of life, the bread which is the medicine of immortality and the antidote to death (see Letter of Ignatius of Antioch to the Ephesians, Chapter 20), can finally and confidently entrust everything into the hands of the one who loved us first.

“Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

Taizé - In Manus Tuas Pater

John Michael Talbot - I Am the Bread of Life

19 April 2021 - from faith to faith

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Jesus answered them and said,

"Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me

not because you saw signs

but because you ate the loaves and were filled."

Jesus gave signs in order to elevate our minds and our desires from changeable things to things that last. He told the crowd not to "work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life" which he himself would provide. 

Our preoccupation with the temporal is easily explained since we live in time. The temporal is precisely what presses in day to day, moment to moment, and from which we can never entirely escape while we live our mortal life. We realize that the temporal world is damaged and ultimately incapable of satisfying our deepest desires but we are still predisposed to choose it over and against an eternal perspective.  When we first encounter it, the heavenly perspective seems unknown and unknowable, demanding, and possibly misleading. If it is not openly hostile to the temporary it is not always clear in what way it treats temporary things as valuable. Even if it means choosing Barabbas we often do so just because he is a known and controllable entity. This is thinking "as human beings do" (see Matthew 16:23). On the one hand this is understandable. On the other hand it is not sustainable. All things bound by time and temporary will eventually terminate.

Do not work for food that perishes

but for the food that endures for eternal life,

which the Son of Man will give you. 

How do we work for that which truly satisfies? We must believe in the Son of Man. When we do so we believe in the one who has united time and eternity, earth and heaven, and a single person, the one on whom the Father has set his seal. The crowds were probably expecting something much more difficult than to simply believe. But belief was the foundation, the sine qua non that would allow them to live lives in right relation to eternity and yet remain good citizens of the earthly city.

It was fundamentally faith in the one sent by the Father that allowed Stephen to himself become conformed to the Son. He too became able to endure the hostility caused by the self-protection inherent in mortal men when the eternal perspective offered a challenge to their paradigm, just as Jesus first endured it. His belief in the Son caused him to be filled with wisdom and the Spirit. Guided by that Spirit he was given words that called these members of the Synagogue of Freedmen to repentance and forgiveness. He never indulged in hostility toward them, nor did he see them as enemies. Because he shared in the love of the Son for them he did not abandon them or run away from them just because they resisted his message. His final act toward them was one of forgiveness. It was not just his words of wisdom. Even his face was a sign of something more, a higher life of sanctity to which all are called.

All those who sat in the Sanhedrin looked intently at him

and saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

Our belief in the one sent by the Father is meant to color everything we experience and give direction to everything we do. It can be an anchor when the things that are temporary are shaken (see Hebrews 12:28) Faith is the beginning, yes, but it is also the middle and the end. Asking for more faith will allow God to open us up to everything that he desires to do for us and through us.

For in it is revealed the righteousness of God from faith to faith; as it is written, “The one who is righteous by faith will live.” (see Romans 1:17).

Graham Kendrick - We Believe

Newsboys - We Believe (different song)

18 April 2021 - the author of life

Today's Readings

(Audio)

You denied the Holy and Righteous One

and asked that a murderer be released to you.

It was not just the crowd preferring Barabbas where a murderer was preferred to the source of life. In the story of the human family apart from God it took only a single generation to become, in Cain, the story of murder. And ever since, violence has been a part of that story. Even though we ourselves probably do not commit murder, this same violence is nevertheless within us. Our anger with others spills over into thoughts and words which we entertain about them. We wish we could deflate their smugness or inflict contrition on them for the wrongs we believe they have done.

You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire (see Matthew 5:21-22).

This unpleasant truth is the same thing about which James wrote, asking "What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?" (see James 4:1).  Jesus came to offer an alternative to this violence. He offered a way to put an end to the cycles of abuse and recrimination from which we could not seem to escape on our own. Yet in the heat of the moment, Barabbas was preferred. In the heat of our own passions, we often reject the solution offered by Jesus, and flea from the suggestion of forgiveness.

The murderer we prefer is our unredeemed humanity. We prefer it because we are used to it, comfortable with it, and our passions insist on it. The author of life came to offer us life but in order to receive him we insist that the murderer go free. If we insist on our so-called freedom, if we insist on releasing Barabbas, we will continue to reject the author of life and to prevent his forgiveness from availing for us. 

The author of life you put to death,

Jesus bore our rejection but was no ordinary scapegoat. Though he was willing to bear the consequences of our story of violence, he did so as one whose own heart was free from murder and violence. More to it, he was the author of life, God himself. Yet he was willing to let his own life be offered in order to expose and to halt the violence inherent in our sinful condition. He knew that humanity was acting out of a fundamental ignorance, and inability to come to terms with the consequences of our motives and actions. By exposing those things, he invited us to recognize them, to own them, so that the truth could set us free (see John 8:32).

Now I know, brothers,

that you acted out of ignorance, just as your leaders did;

but God has thus brought to fulfillment

God allowed us to act in ignorance so that through our misdeeds the roots of sin would be exposed and repentance, conversion, and forgiveness would become genuine possibilities, if only we would receive them. 

When we truly recognize the author of life as such we recognize also the one alone who is qualified to order and direct those lives which he has authored. 

The way we may be sure that we know him is to keep

his commandments.

Those who say, “I know him,” but do not keep his commandments

are liars, and the truth is not in them.

Jesus knows that no one save the Blessed Virgin can walk in complete holiness in this life. But he does suggest that when we fall into sin it stems from a life in which we have not yet allowed our knowledge of his identity as the author of life to transform every part of us. It is fundamentally a failure to live the faith we have been given, or, more precisely, a failure to receive the potential transformation, the power of which is already inchoately contained in our faith. It is obvious, brothers and sisters, that this can only be the case when we act in ignorance, and so we can have confidence that God will not hold this against us as long as we are willing to turn back to him.

Now I know, brothers,

that you acted out of ignorance, just as your leaders did;

It was this same mercy that Peter offered the people for which Jesus had first prayed when he asked, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (see Luke 23:34). We were included in those for whom he prayed. And so we can be confident, that even if we do sin, we "have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one." None who will receive his sacrifice of expiation are beyond forgiveness or the the possibility of redemption. We too can become agents of mercy to others.

While they were still speaking about this,

he stood in their midst and said to them,

“Peace be with you.”

If the scapegoat had died and not been risen we would still have cause to fear. It would seem then that the cycle of violence had not been fundamentally interrupted and broken. But, by the contradiction of the cross, it was broken. Yet there was still so much fear in the world, fear of the Jewish authorities, of the Romans, and of the disciples' own flawed human nature. Jesus rose to show them that they no longer lived in that world, that they no longer needed to fear.

Then he said to them, “Why are you troubled?

And why do questions arise in your hearts?

Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.

'Look,' we can imagine him saying, 'at the marks of the violence I bore for you, and receive, not my revenge, but my mercy. Receive my mercy and have peace. Recognize in me the author of life, the one whom violence could not destroy, and whom death could not hold. And in seeing your own failures met only with love, let yourselves be transformed.' He followed this revelation of his resurrection with a meal to show just how solid their confidence could now be, and to reestablish communion by table fellowship.

If we sometimes have trouble preferring the author of life to the murderer lurking in our old selves let us ask Jesus for the same gift he gave to these first disciples.

Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.

Allowing the author to reveal his meaning to us rather than trying to substitute our own is precisely the lever that will make change possible. We too will begin to be witnesses.

And he said to them,

“Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer

and rise from the dead on the third day

and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins,

would be preached in his name

to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

You are witnesses of these things.”

Matt Maher - Alive Again

Songs In His Presence - Prayer of Augustine