31 August 2021 - what is it about his words?

Today's Readings

(Audio)

 The Synagogue at Capernaum

Jesus rebuked him and said, “Be quiet! Come out of him!”

Not a complex ritual, nor a litany of endless prayer, but rather with a simple and direct word of command he cast out the demon.

The crowd could not help but be amazed. They sensed something different about his words than the words of others. He spoke with authority that could command both storms and spirits, who had no choice but to obey. When he responded to the officers who came to arrest him saying, "I am He," the officers fell to the ground at the sound of that voice (see John 18:6). It was this voice that could say "little girl, arise!" (see Mark 5:41), and "Lazarus, come out!" (see John 11:43). Even those who slept in death were able to hear that voice and were compelled to obey.

In Jesus we saw the utter difference between the divine word and the words of those who were merely human beings. This was not, however, a story of merely historical interest, as though the Word who spoke these words had merely come and gone. It is rather now that his Church possesses this same word, and speaks with this same power. That is why we read earlier in the week that Paul gave thanks that the Thessalonians "received not a human word but, as it truly is, the word of God, which is now at work in you who believe" (see First Thessalonians 2:13). 

Is it easier to accept that this Word is present in the Church than that the power contained in the Word is also present? Do we think, 'Oh sure, revelation is in the heart of the Church', but also 'The Church seems ineffective and powerless in the world'? Yet there is a perfect coinherence between the Word and his power. 

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you (see Romans 8:11).

If, as is often the case, we do not witness the power of the Word calming storms and casting out demons in our own day it is most likely because we receiving it poorly, as a merely human word. It is often true that those who speak it speak it as if that were so, raising the difficulty for us to hear it well. Yet the word cannot be fully covered over or contained even by the weak human vessels meant to convey it to the world. We are always free, and the Spirit is always ready to help us, to listen well, and receive it as a Word of truth and power.

They were all amazed and said to one another,

“What is there about his word?

For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits,

and they come out.”

We are not in darkness, for the day of the Lord to overtake us like a thief, to the degree that the Word of God as a lamp for our feet and a light for our paths (see Psalm 119:105). The animating life force of the Word is the Spirit whom we ourselves have been given, a gift that we should constantly seek to fan into flames (see Second Timothy 1:6). Then we will be like the wise virgins (see Matthew 25:1-13), with peace during the hours of darkness, and confidence at the appearing of the bridegroom (see First John 2:28).

For God did not destine us for wrath,

but to gain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep

we may live together with him.

We are not meant to go alone on this pilgrimage. It is only by other Spirit filled disciples that our own insufficiencies can be made good, and we in turn have much to offer. To the degree that all of us have received a share of the anointing and a share of the Word we are called to share it with others, to use it to build them up.

Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up,

as indeed you do.

Worship Central - The Same Power

30 August 2021 - fulfilled in your hearing

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.

When we hear the Scriptures proclaimed and respond with faith we experience what Jesus meant when he said "fulfilled in your hearing." Jesus, the one anointed by the Spirit is in our our midst. He proclaims the way to true wealth for the poor, the pearl of great price and the treasure in the field. He himself is the one who will make us rich with heavenly treasure if we will only let go of greed and selfishness. 

When the Spirit in us helps us to recognize the Spirit anointing the speech Jesus it is then that the power of his words gives us true freedom. His words can bring us freedom from sin, freedom for excellence, freedom to live as sons and daughters of God were meant to live. We become able to stand in freedom, to walk by the Spirit, no longer stuck in our lives. 

The Spirit of the Lord shows us the places of our lives where we are blind to the action of God or to the needs of our neighbors. There is always more that God is doing than we can see. But he wants to open our eyes more and more, as we are able to adjust to the light. He wants to take us from a halting and stumbling walk with him to one illuminated by he himself who is the light of the world.

The year acceptable to the Lord begins within us by faith, and only afterward will transform the visible realities of our world. If we do not discover true riches in Christ we will never adequately address the very real poverty in our world. If we ourselves are not free in Christ we will never be able to see that the captives and the oppressed finally receive justice. Faith comes from what is heard, so we must listen to Jesus, and experience the fulfillment of his words as he speaks them to each of us individually.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

    because he has anointed me

        to bring glad tidings to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives

    and recovery of sight to the blind,

        to let the oppressed go free,

and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.

The people at Nazareth seemed to desire the external realities before the internal change. They heard of miracles in the surrounding regions and thought that they themselves deserved at least as much since Nazareth was the hometown of Jesus himself. When they didn't immediately receive those things they suggested that he might just be another one like themselves after all, that his words about Scripture were just lofty words with nothing practical behind them. 

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

Yet Jesus did not respond to this provocation by proving himself. Rather, he taught them that mighty deeds were received by those with faith, and were meant to elicit that faith from others, perhaps many others, who themselves did not receive the signs but who would have to choose whether to be offended by them or moved to awe.

The Thessalonians needed to take the word of God more fully to heart. Paul called them to realize that in the dying and rising of Jesus they could also discover hope for their brothers and sisters who had fallen asleep. Those who died and those who were alive to witness the judgment of Jesus in 70 AD shared one hope, that all who believed would eventually be made one in Christ.

Before the LORD, for he comes;

for he comes to rule the earth.

He shall rule the world with justice

and the peoples with his constancy.

Matt Maher - Isaiah 61

29 August 2021 - merely human tradition

James Tissot (French, 1836-1902). Curses Against the Pharisees (Imprécations contre les pharisiens), 1886-1896.
Opaque watercolor over graphite on gray wove paper, Image: 6 3/8 x 9 3/8 in. (16.2 x 23.8 cm).
Brooklyn Museum, Purchased by public subscription, 00.159.142 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 00.159.142_PS2.jpg)

Today's Readings

(Audio)

"You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition."

He went on to say, "How well you have set aside the commandment of God in order to uphold your tradition!"

We often behave like the Pharisees, clinging to human tradition, going so far as to set aside the commandment of God. This happens when traditions, which may once have had a good, useful, and even noble purpose, have become mere criteria for judgment of ourselves as righteous, and bludgeons with which to condemn others who don't observe them. The desire of the Pharisees to expand purifications beyond the priestly class to bring more involvement to the laity was at least understandable as an impulse that was initially good. But it had metastasized into something else, an elaborate system whereby the Pharisees could show that they were better than others.

“Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders

but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?” 

We tend to like these sorts of traditions because they are things we can control without the need for conversion. They are therefore distinct from following law. They can be practiced even while our hearts are far from God. To avoid the risk such traditions pose, we need to understand and to be able to separate the merely human traditions from the Sacred Tradition of the Church. We do have some need for even merely human traditions to keep us tethered, connected, and integrated. But with the merely human we must be flexible. Sacred Tradition, on the other hand, is part of the deposit of faith, which, while can always be better and more clearly understood, can never be set aside.

Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle (see Second Thessalonians 2:15).

Our Scriptures can provide an example. Do we follow the human teaching of only counting sixty-six books as canon, or do we hold to the Sacred Tradition and include all seventy-three? We would clearly have a dilemma if the options were merely set one alongside the other and we were forced to choose arbitrarily. But this was not the way God designed his Church. He gave us the authority of Peter (see Matthew 16:18), his successors, and the bishops in union with them in order to provide a living voice to assure us what is divine revelation and what is merely human accretion over and above that revelation.

In your observance of the commandments of the LORD, your God,

which I enjoin upon you,

you shall not add to what I command you nor subtract from it. 

It is of the greatest urgency so that we keep ourselves from the temptation to add or to subtract to the word of God. We are accountable to it, not it to us. If we freely embrace a cafeteria Catholicism, where we can improve on God's revelation with changes that seem good to us, we will change it in such a way as to empty it both of its demands, and, as a consequence also of its power to transform us. We may begin to think that the use of guitars in mass is a problem of greater urgency than service of the poor. A beautiful mass and love of neighbor ought not need to conflict. Yet we will know from our words and actions the actual content of our priorities.

Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person;

but the things that come out from within are what defile.

We don't want our beliefs to become a mishmash of human and divine tradition in which it is difficult to discern which is which. To that end we must make a conscious attempt to begin well, to welcome God's word actively and consciously as the word of God, above any human word, and to keep it sanctified in our hearts and separated in our minds from the merely human words about that word.

Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you

and is able to save your souls.

The test of whether we have truly welcomed the word, invited it within, and asked it to make its home in us, is whether or not we become doers of the word. If we only hear the word it passes through us, but does not take up residence. To welcome the word means to invite it to makes its home in both and minds and wills. 

We are not abandoned and alone, forced to fend for ourselves with disparate sources of truth and revelation. God has given us his Church precisely to mark off the definitive boundaries of what is contained in revelation and what is not. The Church has no role as innovator. Her task is not to add or subtract. As to doctrine, she merely describes what is the field of play and what is out of bounds. Of all of the things the Church has done to help the laity to be rooted in this essential truth, perhaps nothing is of greater importance than the universal Catechism of the Catholic Church, promulgated in 1992 by Saint John Paul the Great, who described it as "a sure norm for teaching the faith".

When we embrace the truth of revelation we give evidence to the nations of our wisdom. We become people who seem to know a secret set of rules or blueprints that help us live as we are meant to live. Other people may observe a coherence between our lifestyles and reality which they don't see in themselves or understand, and may desire to ask us about it. For us to live otherwise is folly. If we ignore the spiritual laws of God they will nevertheless continue to be true. We ignore the law of gravity and other scientific laws at our peril. Even more so, then, the laws of God.

John B Miller - Speak Lord I'm Listening

Matt Maher - The Heart of Worship

28 August 2021 - talent show

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Immediately the one who received five talents went and traded with them,

and made another five.

What we have been given by the Lord contains within itself the power to multiply. The servants who return to the Lord with more did not earn more by simply doing more work. Rather they used the talents they have been give to be generative source of the additional talents they brought to the Lord. For our part, we must not be afraid to put the talents we have been given to use, even to have faith that they will in fact do what they are meant to do when do so choose.

But the man who received one went off and dug a hole in the ground

and buried his master’s money.

It would seem that many of us often feel like the servant the received only one talent. Perhaps this servant was someone who did not already have robust confidence. When he only received one talent according to his ability he may have taken it personally, as confirmation of everything he had suspected was true about his own inadequacies. And maybe for that reason he felt that the best thing he could do would be to bury his master's money. In the hole, he thought, it would be safe from any mismanagement on his part. In the hole, there would be no action of his to tarnish the talent, nothing of which he could be accused on his master's return. Or so he thought.

His master said to him in reply, ‘You wicked, lazy servant!

So you knew that I harvest where I did not plant

and gather where I did not scatter?

Should you not then have put my money in the bank

so that I could have got it back with interest on my return?

The servant given one coin need not have felt inadequate for only receiving one coin. What if the judgment of his ability was just the reverse of what we assume? What if the other were given more because the man given one coin could do more with less? If the servant hadn't been concerned with comparing himself with others he need not lost what confidence he may have had. 

Perhaps the servant given one coin also had a negative view of his master. The man given five went immediately to put the talents to work, no doubt convinced of the potential of the power his master placed in his hands, and excited about the possibilities. By contrast, the servant given one coin seemed convinced that his master was greedy and demanding, to the point of looking for excuses to condemn others. None of this, it is important to emphasize, was inherent in the master's act of generosity. It was all part of the perspective that the man brought to the interaction. If he had thought instead that his master was actually giving out of his abundance, for the sake of those to whom he gave his gifts rather than for himself, that servant may well have gone out with confidence and returned with more than mere bank interest. That one talent might well have brought a much greater return than he would have guessed. If we think of ourselves as having only one or a few talents let us reframe how we think of them. Let it no longer be only one or a few. Let it be instead, amazingly this one or these few. Let us be excited to see what happens when we put them to work.

For to everyone who has,

more will be given and he will grow rich;

but from the one who has not,

even what he has will be taken away.

By all accounts, we are to be numbered among those who have. Let us lose the scarcity mindset, so that we can receive more and grow rich. When the Lord takes away from those who have not in this context it is only so that they can learn that they must not think of what they have as only their own, must not rely on solely themselves. He takes what they cannot keep so they can receive what cannot be lost or squandered.

There is a difference between planting a seed and burying a talent. When we bury a talent we do so in order to keep it hidden even from ourselves and God. We are asking the universe to look the other way, and would prefer if it weren't there at all, so that we would not be accountable. When we are giving seeds room to grow in us it is rather than we are keeping them central, close to our the deepest parts of our heart where God himself dwells with us. We are not keeping the seeds from him in this case, but rather relying on him for the growth. We could think of this as more like a strategic investment, bearing the initial interest so that, to mix metaphors, when the seed breaks through the soil, we will have enough to put it to work in the world.

Becoming fruitful, or earning talents for the master, takes as many forms as there are people. Paul's urged the Thessalonians to seek that growth in a particular way.

Nevertheless we urge you, brothers and sisters, to progress even more,

and to aspire to live a tranquil life,

to mind your own affairs,

and to work with your own hands,

as we instructed you.

He called to be a quiet, peaceful life, in many ways like seeds planted beneath the soil. But he did not call them a life of idleness, because he envisioned that they would be constantly engaged and growing, doing, not necessarily great works of heroism, but at least the simple work, perhaps very much the one talent tasks, set before them. Such a life really does bear just the sort of fruit that the Lord himself desires.

Sing to the LORD a new song,

    for he has done wondrous deeds;

His right hand has won victory for him,

    his holy arm.

Audrey Assad - Good To Me

27 August 2021 - can I get a light?

Today's Readings

(Audio)

‘Give us some of your oil,

for our lamps are going out.’ 

The foolish virgins were not totally unprepared. Their lamps were lit. The problem for them was that they hadn't anticipated and prepared for the long haul.

Since the bridegroom was long delayed,

they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

Everyone, both wise and foolish, felt this drowsiness, and all succumbed to it. During their sleep further preparations could not be made and they were thrown back on whatever precautions they had or had not already taken. 

The foolish ones said to the wise,

‘Give us some of your oil,

for our lamps are going out.’ 

The wise virgins could not empty out their supply of oil. They were rightly unwilling to cast themselves into darkness. They had and could only have that which they had prepared for themselves, and splitting it, trying to do for others what only the Spirit could do, might well leave them both in darkness.

Go instead to the merchants and buy some for yourselves.

The foolish virgins went to seek the oil to make them again lights for the world, but they did this too late. Had they not fallen asleep they might have noticed the problem and had time to correct it. But it is clear that they were wrong to take for granted that they could in fact stay awake. They ought to have recognized that their might well be prolonged darkness in the future, that it might well be difficult to stay or wake or make provisions for oneself during that time. The wise virgins showed a better approach, bringing not only lit lamps, but extra oil. They did this because they knew they had no guarantees as to when the bridegroom would come, much less as to whether they could stay entirely alert for that period.

but the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps. 

How do we prepare in advance for times of darkness and desolation? There are several complementary approaches to suggest. The first is one of the rules for discernment taught by Saint Ignatius of Loyola.

“let the one who is in consolation think how he will conduct himself in the desolation which will come after, taking new strength for that time” - Rule #10 for Discernment of Spirits, by Saint Ignatius of Loyola 

Another recommendation is to do what Mary did when she received blessings, when she "kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often" (see Luke 2:19).

Still another way we can prepare is to imitate the one leper who returned to Jesus with thanksgiving. Then, in the darker times, the enemy will not be able to make us forget all that the Lord has done for us.

One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan (see Luke 17:11-19).

The Lord himself provides the Spirit by which we make ready to endure through hard times and await his coming faithfully. We only need to let ourselves be filled, not being content with just enough to get by for the day, but taking advantage of all that he has to offer. It would be difficult, for instance, to have going to weekly mass as one's only practice of devotion and still be ready when the time comes to meet the Lord. 

Afterwards the other virgins came and said,

‘Lord, Lord, open the door for us!’ 

But he said in reply,

‘Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.’ 

If we do not avail ourselves of the light provided by Jesus through his Spirit the darkness will make us unrecognizable. We will lack something important and fundamental about who we are meant to be. Therefore, let us stay awake so that as much as possible we can notice when the fuel is running low. Let us prepare for those times when sleep overwhelms, doing all we can in times of consolation to store up the light so that we can make it through the night until we too hear the cry:

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

Paul was, in effect, saying the same thing to the Thessalonians. What you are doing, he suggested, is good. More will only be better! More will make you more future proof than you are now. Not necessarily more devotions or good works, though perhaps those things as well, secondarily. First and foremost, "conduct yourselves to please God". Before we start getting out our works righteousness checklists we should realize that this first means spending time with him so that the fruits of his Spirit can take hold more fully in our hearts.

Brothers and sisters,

we earnestly ask and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that,

as you received from us

how you should conduct yourselves to please God– 

and as you are conducting yourselves– 

you do so even more.

Matt Maher - Maranatha

David Ruis - We Will Dance

26 August 2021 - like a thief

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Stay awake!

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

The coming of the Lord may be an occasion for fear if we have fallen asleep. He may come like a thief to reclaim the gifts we were supposed to put in the services of our brothers and sisters, to take away the gifts we had been using selfishly that were always meant to be used for others.

Be sure of this: if the master of the house

had known the hour of night when the thief was coming,

he would have stayed awake

and not let his house be broken into.

This coming will happen definitively at the end of time, but it also happens throughout history, as with the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD. The stewards of that house were unfaithful and the gifts were taken away and given to those who would be fruit (see Matthew 21:43). It can happen to us if we fall asleep, that is, if we become complacent. But even this fearful coming of the Lord in our lives is an act of mercy, a call to wake up and remember that we have a destiny greater than this world, a call to live as people who believe the Lord will truly come again.

Yet the coming of the Lord need not be an occasion for fear for those who don't backslide into complacency. Indeed, it can be a cause for joy, something to which we truly look forward with rapt anticipation. If we wait for his coming with fear it is probably because we know we are holding on to that which is not truly ours, the gifts of God, in a way that is causing harm to ourselves and others. We fear rightly then that we won't be permitted to persist in sin forever. We know that the days of such enjoyment are numbered. We know that we will experience the removal of such pleasures as a punishment. But this fear is better than nothing, if it motivates us to move beyond such attachments, and therefore beyond the fear itself.

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love (see First John 4:18).

The more we live lives of fidelity to our call, each according to our station in life, "to distribute to them their food at the proper time", the less the coming of the Lord will be a cause for fear and the more we ourselves will desire it. It will not be a contradiction of the secret lives of sinners, but rather the confirmation and completion of the lives of saints in the making.

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

Those who follow Jesus, who do not succumb to the temptation to believe and live as though the here and now is all there is, can greet him when he comes, not as a thief, but as a bridegroom. His coming will not be a disaster but rather the beginning of a wedding feast.

Paul desired for the Thessalonians that their faith in Jesus was strong and that their love would abound. His coming to them would therefore be a cause for joy for both him and them. It was different for the Corinthians whom he warned that he might be forced to visit with discipline if they made it necessary. In this way his coming to was an image of the coming of the Lord, in fact an occasion in which the Lord, through Paul, did return to them.

But I will come to you soon, if the Lord is willing, and I shall ascertain not the talk of these inflated people but their power.

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.

Which do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love and a gentle spirit? 

(see First Corinthians 4:19-21)

Our relationship with the Lord can be joyous or fearful based on how ourselves respond. "His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness" (see Second Peter 1:3). He has given us all that we need by his grace, food to enjoy ourselves and to distribute to others. If we remember he is coming to bring completion to the feast we won't need to gorge ourselves or turn to abusing our fellow servants to try to get more now than now is meant to offer. May his coming be good and welcome news for us.

Teach us to number our days aright,

that we may gain wisdom of heart.

Return, O LORD! How long?

Have pity on your servants!

Robin Mark - Days of Elijah

25 August 2021 - what do you want on your tombstone?

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.

You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside,

but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of filth.

It doesn't matter if we appear perfect on the outside if we are lifeless on the inside. But there is a real risk that we might content ourselves with externals since it is possible that everything can look beautiful even when we are spiritually dead within. It is always tempting to focus on form over substance because form wins us praise and validation whereas substance typically goes unseen. We can deceive not only others but even ourselves if we are concerned about appearance rather than on being "obedient from the heart" (see Romans 6:17). 

Even so, on the outside you appear righteous,

but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing.

If we are too concerned about appearing righteous we tend to neglect those aspects of our inner lives that are invisible. And the parts that are visible tend to put us at a greater risk of pride. This is why we are to be concerned with loving God and neighbor in a secret and hidden way. We are called to pray in our inner room. We are called keep our left hand ignorant when we give alms with our right (see Matthew 6:3-6).

Does the hiddenness of the spiritual life conflict with the need to evangelize? It might seem that way as there is certainly an apparent tension between to the two goals. But spiritual hiddenness and humility only conflicts with a prideful evangelism that stems more from hubris than true humble desire to share Jesus with others. The fundamental hiddenness of our life with God is the deep soil from which true evangelism can emerge. We will be able to say the things that the Spirit prompts us to say without considering the potential risk to our own egos and avoid the temptation of merely saying those things which merely make us sound smarter or more spiritual than others.

As you know, we treated each one of you as a father treats his children,

exhorting and encouraging you and insisting

that you walk in a manner worthy of the God

who calls you into his Kingdom and glory.

The Pharisees performed acts that appeared righteous and praiseworthy, that appeared to show their allegiance to the God's revelation to Israel's prophets. But when they who were tombs themselves built tombs it could never be to in praise of God. Rather, they would welcome any who were spiritually dead like themselves, metaphorically speaking, into these tombs, allowing them to share in the spiritual pride of making them. Any who were not they would even try to drag down to this level by force, even to the point of killing the Messiah. Dead men build tombs to make space for more death, no matter how beautiful they make them seem.

Thus you bear witness against yourselves

that you are the children of those who murdered the prophets;

now fill up what your ancestors measured out!

The Pharisees received the word of God in some sense, but they received it as like unto any other words of men. They chose just how they would receive those words and used and manipulated as they sought fit to achieve their own goals. We must rather receive it as it truly is "the word of God, which is now at work in you who believe." This is dangerous, because it is not a static word with which we can ever be fully comfortable. It is always in motion to change us and make us better, always at work to transform us to more perfectly reflect the image of the Word of God himself. But this is a good kind of danger, like Aslan from Narnia, worthy of our full and wholehearted embrace.

"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver."Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you."

Mr. Tumnus also says, "He's wild, you know. Not a tame lion."

- The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis

Sonicflood - In the Secret

 

24 August 2021 - fig-ured out

Today's Readings

(Audio)

But Nathanael said to him,

“Can anything good come from Nazareth?”

The Church in her tradition associates Saint Bartholomew with Nathanael in the Gospel of John. Nathanael is a reassuring character, a bit jaded perhaps, not overly credulous, nor susceptible to manipulation by flattery. In short, he seems much like ourselves or people we know.

“Here is a true child of Israel.

There is no duplicity in him.”

Whether or not Nathanael saw this in himself we can recognize in him this lack of duplicity about which Jesus spoke. In this brief portrait we see someone who said what he meant in a fashion that was almost a little too direct. Nathanael himself might not have viewed this as an entirely positive trait as it may well have been off putting to others at times. But Jesus praised it. Confoundingly, he praised it even though he had not apparently had occasion to observe it. Hence the question, “How do you know me?” 

Jesus gave an answer Nathanael's question that sounded simple on the surface, but which apparently meant much more.

Jesus answered and said to him,

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

Nathanael answered him,

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

Jesus had seen and known Nathanael before he had the opportunity to meet him and learn about him in the usual human way. He had a knowledge of him that transcended human limitations. Nathanael for his part may well have been someone accustomed to being misunderstood and accustomed to disappointment. Being known by Jesus in this way would have been an utterly unique experience in which being exposed did not lead to being hurt or manipulated. When we see others revealed at a more than superficial level our tendency is often to condemn, to criticize, and to use what we learn in such a way is to build up our own pride and pursue our own goals. In knowing Nathanael Jesus was nothing like this. It was rather a knowledge that held him in love before anything was asked or stated. Anything that happened on the basis of this knowledge happened precisely because of the love from which it was inseparable.

For you formed my inward parts;

you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. (see Psalm 139:13-14).

Jesus knew that Nathanael still did not know entirely what to make of this experience. But rather than entering into a detailed explanation or even allowing him to calm down much before continuing he only pointed toward still greater things he was yet to see. Now that this jaded individual's heart was opened Jesus desired to stuff it brimful of hope.

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

you will see heaven opened and the angels of God

ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

Even if we are not people like Nathanael we certainly know people like him. We know people who may seem too world worn and cynical to accept the Messiah about whom Moses wrote. But we see in today's Gospel that we shouldn't write them off immediately. Our own part in their story need not be that of the grand convincer, which is the job of the Spirit. Instead we are to be like Philip:

Philip said to him, “Come and see.”

Nathanael may well have been the last person to think that he would one day have his name inscribed on the foundation stones of the heavenly Jerusalem. But it turned out that he didn't know himself as well as Jesus knew him. He didn't realize what of what he was capable as much as Jesus did. Jesus worked through Philip to extend the initial invitation, but he himself took care of the rest.

The LORD is just in all his ways

    and holy in all his works.

The LORD is near to all who call upon him,

    to all who call upon him in truth.

Dan Schutte - You Are Near

Songs In His Presence - Psalm 139

23 August 2021 - the hypocritic oath

Today's Readings

(Audio)

“Woe to you, blind guides, who say,

‘If one swears by the temple, it means nothing,

but if one swears by the gold of the temple, one is obligated.’

Jesus criticized the Pharisees because they put strict adherence to the letter of the law above the purpose of the law. In their oath formulas they used verbal sleight of hand to justify a whole category of meaningless, non-obligatory oaths. They were not concerned with the purpose of oaths, but merely compliance with laws. In wanting to look good, however, they actually became foolish.

Blind fools, which is greater, the gold,

or the temple that made the gold sacred?

Oaths were and are sacred promises, invoking divine help, and accepting divine punishment when one didn't live up to their part of the bargain. The Pharisees thought they could enjoy the divine assistance and the credibility gained by making oaths but dodge the human obligations and divine punishment. But in so doing they inverted their whole hierarchy of value without even realizing it. Thinking in a human way, they placed the gold of the temple as of more value than the temple itself. They saw the gift given on the altar as of more value than the altar, although the altar was the place that allowed the gift to be offered to God. This confusion of heart came about because of the way they sought wiggle room so that they could look good before others without truly being so.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.

You traverse sea and land to make one convert,

and when that happens you make him a child of Gehenna

twice as much as yourselves.

The Pharisees sought converts, not to bring them to the service of the living God, but rather as a notch on their belts, as people that they could parade around the cities a signs of their achievement, and of the supposed superiority of their teaching.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.

You lock the Kingdom of heaven before men.

You do not enter yourselves,

nor do you allow entrance to those trying to enter.

Lest we think that the spirit that corrupted the Pharisees was unique to their age we should remember that we face similar temptations to hypocrisy. We too want to appear righteous in the eyes of others, to the degree that we will use our words inauthentically in service of that goal. We too are often more interested in seeing our own beliefs validated when another converts than in the salvation of the convert himself. We too sometimes place the shiny things before the truly sacred, and the gifts we give and the actions we ourselves take above the God who in his mercy accepts our offerings. 

What the Pharisees did not have, and that of which we ourselves could always use more, is the gift of faith experienced by Thessalonians for which Paul gave thanks.

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

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

Word alone was not going to be enough to enable them to make a break from their past. If they were to be truly changed, to become obedient from the heart rather than mere pretenders, they would need the help of the Holy Spirit to bring them sufficient conviction to motivate the change and sufficient power to make it possible.

We have been given the Holy Spirit in baptism and confirmation. He always waits to help us when we ask, so that we too can be a people who "turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God" and whose lives are now directed by our blessed hope, as we "await his Son from heaven,whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, who delivers us from the coming wrath."

Let the faithful exult in glory;

    let them sing for joy upon their couches;

Let the high praises of God be in their throats.

    This is the glory of all his faithful. Alleluia.

Matt Maher - Alive Again

Shane Barnard - May the Words of My Mouth

22 August 2021 - Spirit and life

Today's Readings

(Audio)

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

Those accustomed to the preaching of Jesus were used to difficult metaphors that they didn't fully understand. The disciples were known to ask Jesus to explain his parables when they were unsure of the meaning. They didn't feel the need to leave him when he said that he was a vine or a gate. They sensed those things could have meaning as metaphors even if they didn't fully understand them. They knew that the different types of soil in the parable of the sower could be explained even if they themselves did not immediately know to what they referred. This teaching was different. They correctly understood that Jesus was not speaking metaphorically, that no metaphor would fully do justice to the teaching.

I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (see John 6:51).

When the crowds grumbled he did not simply explain himself away. He might have said he meant that his life would be a sacrifice for sins and that everyone would need to own that sacrifice for themselves, taking it into their heart, and therefore be united with other believers who did the same. This is perhaps the best metaphorically interpretation that can be put forward. But Jesus did not do this, even though people who were previously following him as disciples left him because of exactly this point. Instead, he doubled down on the realism of his teaching. The crowd interpreted him in one way, and rather than clarifying, he pushed further into precisely that interpretation. He spoke with graphic realism of the need to gnaw on his flesh, not as taking something into oneself symbolically, but even as an animal would gnaw on its feed.

Does this shock you?

We are meant to be shocked. We are meant to have our faith tested. What Jesus was here revealing was something that would be of massive importance to those who would receive it but which would be, as with he himself, a stumbling block to those who wouldn't approach the teaching with faith.

as it is written, "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame" (see Romans 9:33).

What Jesus meant when he said that his words were Spirit and life was not that he was speaking symbolically. He meant that his words could only be understood in the light of faith that is a gift of the Holy Spirit. This was true when he was speaking symbolically, as with parables, but all the more so when he was revealing the deepest mysteries, as with his teaching here on the Eucharist.

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

Let us repeat, there was no reason to shock the crowds and drive them away as Jesus did except to make the obvious point, that his flesh was true food and his blood was true drink, that he himself would be present, body, blood, soul, and divinity, in the Eucharistic feast. But that mystery remains concealed from the senses of all, even those who believe. In order to approach it at all we must allow the Father to draw us.

“For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me

unless it is granted him by my Father.”

We must be willing, even we who hold the orthodox teaching, and can use words like transubstantiation, to not fully understand every aspect of this mystery. It is too deeply entwined with the incarnation of the Word as flesh, and the mystery of the Triune nature of God for us to every fully fathom it. In our daily lives we are presented again and again with the accidents of bread and wine. Each time we see, touch, and taste these we are called to make a new act of faith that pushes past our human limits in a way not dissimilar to the faith act made by Peter.

Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?” 

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.”

It is when we make an act of faith, like that of Peter, in Jesus revealed in the Eucharist, that the blessings concealed from sight begin to be revealed to us. It is not as though we achieve it through figuring out the precise theological science of it, though that helps to keep us pointed in the right direction. It is always surrender that is the most essential thing, not blindly, but in the direction the Father is guiding us, into the arms of the savior.

There is much that can draw us away from faith in the Eucharist. May we be like Joshua, willing to make a break of our own modern idols so that we can embrace the living God.

For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God (see First Thessalonians 1:9).

What are the vain delights that charm us most? What are the idols that pull our attention away from complete trust in the words of Spirit and life that Jesus spoke? Is it money, media, or pleasure? Is it pride, or perhaps fear? Even smaller sins are potentially the beginning stages of idolatry, which is where we become addicted to sin in such a way as to be mastered by it. Sin makes it difficult to approach Jesus in the Eucharist because the freedom of selfless love found there is so contrary to the it. When we really place such sins before God they become true idols and make it impossible for us to approach the Eucharistic throne without prior sacramental confession. Let's not let it come to that, but declare with Joshua:

As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.

There is a powerful unity that can be built in the Church around faith in the Eucharist. It is the unity of the bride and the bridegroom, the head and the body, and therefore of all of the members of the body with one another. Because of this we can learn about the meaning of marriage from the Eucharist, and in turn we can learn about the meaning of the Eucharist from observing the unity of love present in holy marriages.

This is a great mystery,

but I speak in reference to Christ and the church.

Today we are called to declare our faith in Jesus and his words, even when they go beyond our ability to fully understand them. We are called to let his Father draw us more deeply into the mystery, and therefore into the union with himself which has always been his plan for us.

Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

Ron Kenoly - As For Me And My House

Matt Maher - The End and the Beginning

Matt Maher - Adoration

21 August 2021 - servant leadership

Today's Readings

(Audio)

The scribes and the Pharisees

have taken their seat on the chair of Moses.

The Pharisees had valid authority but used it in a way that was self-serving to the point of being destructive. Abuse of religious authority in that way made them shepherds with no concern for the sheep against whom Ezekiel prophesied.

Thus says the Lord God: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? (see Ezekiel 34:2).

The Pharisees did preached a message, often, perhaps, even a true one. But it was not one that they practiced, nor one which had transformed their own lives. How was such a message to be received as anything other than a difficult burden, hard to cary, if even the Pharisees themselves had better things to do than carry it? If for them the pride of their office, the fancy clothes, and the titles of honor, were what truly mattered, how would those who saw them internalize a different message than that of the primacy of pride?

For they preach but they do not practice.

They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry

and lay them on people’s shoulders,

but they will not lift a finger to move them.

All their works are performed to be seen.

Jesus was a different sort of shepherd, one who put the well-being of the sheep first. He saw them troubled and abandoned and was moved with compassion for them (see Matthew 9:36). He was like the shepherd in the parable, not content to rest with the ninety-nine when there was still one missing (see Matthew 18:11-13). He himself would feed his sheep. As the Ezekiel wrote: 

I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the crippled, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will watch over; I will feed them in justice (see Ezekiel 34:15-16).

He made his sheep lie down in green pastures (see Psalm 23) and fed them with bread from heaven because he himself was the shepherd who was truly Good. 

Because Jesus always planned to put his Apostles in positions of hierarchical authority in his Church he warned them that they must not be like the Pharisees, since they would face an analogous risk. They must first seek to allow the message of Jesus to transform their own hearts and minds so that his concern for the sheep would be their own. He taught them by his own servant leadership, not demanding anything that he himself did not demonstrate. If his disciples were truly transformed they would be empowered to help people bear the burden of their teaching. The teaching of the Gospel was not meant to be a heavy burden, but a light one (see Matthew 11:28-30). This would be true in no small part because Christians were called to "[b]ear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ" (see Galatians 6:2). They were called to share the yoke that Christ had first shared with them and rise together in mutual love.

Do not be called ‘Master’;

you have but one master, the Christ.

The greatest among you must be your servant.

Whoever exalts himself will be humbled;

but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

What motivates us? A real risk facing Christians is that we care more how others see us than how things really are. Are we so concerned with our own image that we are unwilling to be of service to others? Or can we instead embrace true humility, trusting in our one teacher, our Father, and our Master, to be able to use us in spite of our flaws? For it is true that we will never be so perfectly converted as to always practice what we preach perfectly. It can nevertheless still always be the case, if we are careful, that we only preach from pure motives, always desiring to lift the burdens of those to whom we speak.

“I have had a complete account of what you have done

for your mother-in-law after your husband’s death;

you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth,

and have come to a people whom you did not know previously.”

When we act with integrity and a concern for others we will make an impression in a world that thinks that it is necessary to put self first, and image before substance. May we never be said to tie up burdens for others, unwilling to bear them ourselves. May we rather be motivated by a love that draws us beyond ourselves, beyond our routines and comfort, unto God's specific path for us into his Kingdom.

Blessed are you who fear the LORD,

who walk in his ways!

For you shall eat the fruit of your handiwork;

blessed shall you be, and favored.

Bub Dufford - Like a Shepherd

Peter Furler - Psalm 23

20 August 2021 - God and neighbor

Today's Readings

(Audio)

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

He said to him,

The wrong answer to the question can be a disaster. If we don't recognize what is most important we will run the risk of playing lesser things against each others, serving, not finally the good, but ourselves. But, unfortunately for us, we tend to be more willing to take any principle but God and make it absolute, for all other rules remain lifeless, and to that extent less challenging, apart from him. Are lifeless rules so bad? They are in that they don't have a voice to convict us when we put them into the service of our evil desires and selfish pride. And there is nothing in this world that is truly absolute, nothing that can bear the weight of being made the final good toward which all things are directed. This can only be God himself.

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

with all your soul, and with all your mind.

It is of more than passing interest that Jesus adds our minds as faculties which ought to be given entirely to the Lord to the original reference from Deuteronomy which mentioned heart, soul, and strength (see Deuteronomy 6:5). In this world into which philosophy and science was beginning to emerge he wanted to make the point that even these impressive systems would be adrift without reference to the Holy One of Israel. 

What about us? How are our hearts, our souls, and our minds? Are we using the strength we have been given by God to direct ourselves back to God at every level of our being? The first commandment can admit of answers that are more imaginary than real. We can imagine ourselves to be God directed, but unless we also check ourselves against the second commandment, which is like the first, we can't be confident that we are actually fulfilling the first.

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.

We see again and again how God does not want us to separate our love of him from love of our neighbor. Jesus says that whatever we do to the lowest and least of our sisters and brothers we do also to him. He tells Saul that he is in fact persecuting he himself, not merely his followers. Yet we can love our neighbors apart from God in a way that harms them. Our love of neighbor too must be ordered and directed to God who is the goal and purpose of the life of all, their finally blessedness and hope.

If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother (see First John 4:20-21).

Ruth gives us a clue of how putting God first can be done, and how it can order our lives toward our greatest flourishing. She does not follow her sister back to their native land. So moved was she by the love she experienced in the household of Naomi that she desired to not only remain with her but to embrace her faith. This is the result that loving others unto God can have. Whereas Orpah was more of a daughter-in-law only, Ruth became true family, to both Naomi and to the God she served.

But Ruth said, “Do not ask me to abandon or forsake you!

For wherever you go, I will go, wherever you lodge I will lodge,

your people shall be my people, and your God my God.”

Wherever You Go, I Will Go

19 August 2021 - a welcome interruption

Today's Readings

(Audio)

He dispatched his servants to summon the invited guests to the feast,

but they refused to come.

We have been invited to a great feast, but often we respond with a lack of enthusiasm that is evidence of our greater interest in worldly affairs.

Some ignored the invitation and went away,

one to his farm, another to his business.

Perhaps we have received wedding invitations from someone to whom our relationship was very distant. In such a case, even a great celebration might seem more like a hassle to us because of the way it would interrupt our normal plans. We have probably politely declined in cases such as this. But if they continue to press us we might actually say something to more clearly pull away from any commitment on our part to our relationship with the one who invited us.

The rest laid hold of his servants,

mistreated them, and killed them.

If our relationship with the King isn't strong his invitation to us is going to seem like an unwelcome interruption. This danger was especially real for those who were on the guest list, who presumably knew the king, and were expected to attend. It was easier for those for whom attendance at the feast was meant to be a given to take it for granted.

Then the king said to his servants, ‘The feast is ready,

but those who were invited were not worthy to come.

Go out, therefore, into the main roads

and invite to the feast whomever you find.’

We need to rediscover the invitation to the feast as something new, generous, and entirely unmerited. In doing so, we discover the goodness of the king who invites us to partake at his table. When we realize what a great privilege it is to be invited at all our other worldly preoccupations will fade.

The servants went out into the streets

and gathered all they found, bad and good alike,

and the hall was filled with guests.

The Lord desires his halls to be filled with guests. He has prepared a feast so good that none of the distractions of this life, not even those things which seem the most essential, nor those that charm us most, can compete. If we believe that this invitation is one like any other we may be tempted to prefer business as usual. After all, only by coming to the feast can we truly taste and see how good it is. So how then should we receive this invitation to make sure we don't disregard it, to our lasting harm? We should see ourselves as those from the streets, good and bad alike, and allow ourselves to be startled and surprised that the king is calling out to us, is somehow inviting us. 

But when the king came in to meet the guests

he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment.

If think ourselves unworthy, this is true. We are, after all, no more than random people off the street, often with more bad than good in us. But the king himself can cover us with the grace of the gift of his own holiness. He himself is willing to clothe us with the wedding garment he requires.

I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels (see Isaiah 61:10).

If we take heed of the Lord's invitation above our own plans we won't run the risk of Jephthah who sensed that the Lord wanted to work through him for victory but then went ahead to specify the details himself.

“Alas, daughter, you have struck me down

and brought calamity upon me.

For I have made a vow to the LORD and I cannot retract.”

We don't want to commit ourselves to paths that might keep us from the banquet. The Lord may well want to work through us to defeat his enemies just as he did with Jephthah. But as to the celebration of that victory, we are called to leave that in his hands.

Sacrifice or oblation you wished not,

    but ears open to obedience you gave me.

Burnt offerings or sin-offerings you sought not;

    then said I, “Behold I come.”

Matt Maher - Isaiah 61