30 June 2022 - moving forward

Today's Readings

(Audio)

And there people brought to him a paralytic lying on a stretcher.

We too are paralyzed, at least in some measure. We have hearts that do not love as readily or strongly as they ought. We face situations where temptations come at us like strong stormy winds and rather than stand strong we collapse. We have numerous opportunities to stand up for others, to use our gifts to assist them and make their lives better. But we feel too weak and incapable. Paralysis, is, perhaps, what happens when comfort becomes too central a focus for too long. Once we did have strength, but now we can't seem to rise from our couches.

When Jesus saw their faith

It was important for the paralytic that he had friends who were willing to bring him to Jesus. He could not come to Jesus under his own power. He might have even made excuses for why it was better for him to stay as he was. Perhaps he was not deserving of help, or publicly exposing his condition was embarrassing, or it was not worth wasting the time of Jesus, or some other reason. But his friends cared about him too much for any potential excuses he might have made, cared enough about him to use their own time and strength to help.

he said to the paralytic,

“Courage, child, your sins are forgiven.”

His friends helped to bring him up to the doorway to faith. They brought him to this place he could not and probably would not have come on his own. He was exposed and vulnerable before Jesus because his friends loved him enough to get him there. Then Jesus did what only he could do. He saw into the problem more deeply than the superficial manifestation of physical symptoms. He targeted the heart and restored it, for without that a healthy body wouldn't matter much.

“Rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home.”

The order of healing is the same for us. Baptism and Confession cleanse our souls of sin. But our bodies too will rise on the last day. We will rise and go to the only place that is truly home, a place we have never been but have somehow always known.

“This man is blaspheming.”

The scribes correctly inferred that Jesus was taking upon himself a divine prerogative. He was making a claim that would not make sense if he was anything less than God. Mere humans were not involved in the sins of this man and had nothing to say one way or the other about forgiving them. They were a debt against God that only God could release. And he had. And he proved it. But rather than rejoice, the scribes were jealous and angry. The crowds, who weren't so rigid in their views chose a better response.

When the crowds saw this they were struck with awe

and glorified God who had given such authority to men.

This authority was not given only to Jesus, the Son of Man, but to the men he would consecrate as his priests, with whom he would share this authority to forgive sins (see John 20:23). This same power is available to us in confessionals of churches throughout the world. May we be so fortunate as to have friends who keep us accountable, who lift us up in prayer, so that complacency never keeps us from the healing that is available and the freedom it can bring.

I was no prophet,

nor have I belonged to a company of prophets;

I was a shepherd and a dresser of sycamores.

The LORD took me from following the flock, and said to me,

‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’

Receiving forgiveness is one option. Hardening our hearts is unfortunately also a possibility. Let us listen to the prophetic voices calling us back to full fellowship with the Lord. Let us be especially careful not to silence any such voices in our lives. These are friends that are trying to help, prophets who are not prophesying for the sake of the retirement plan, but for us. They demonstrate love for us when we need it most. May the Lord bless them and make them effective.

Bryan & Katie Torwalt - When You Walk Into The Room

29 June 2022 - rock solid revelation

Today's Readings

(Audio)

“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

Asking to the world who the Son of Man is will always more or less miss the mark. They may not be entirely wrong, for he was a prophet like John the Baptist, Elijah, or Jeremiah, but he was also much more than that. The best the world could do in explaining Jesus was to put him in an existing category. But no existing category was sufficient for Jesus. The Old Testament had signs, types, and prophecies that pointed forwarded to him. But even those prophets like Isaiah who came the closest to describing his life did not spell out the answer for the disciples.

He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

Simon Peter said in reply,

“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

The answer of Peter was not something he drew from Scriptures or reasoned out with his intellect. Yet it didn't come completely out of the blue. He reflected on what he knew of Scriptures and the promise of the Messiah as well as on his own experiences following Jesus. But if he had only looked at these from a perspective of flesh and blood he would not have given the answer he did. It was only because he was open to the Spirit and not merely the letter that he received the revelation of the truth about the identity of Jesus.

Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah.

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

Peter was the first to be open to revelation of the heavenly Father about the identity of Jesus. Jesus wanted his Church to have the assurance of access to this truth as the rock on which it would be built. He didn't want the Church to face all the myriad opinions of the world alone, or be blown about by every wind of doctrine (see Ephesians 4:14). He gave assurance to Peter and his successors that they would always have access to this revelation from the Father in order to keep them free from error when they formally defined the doctrines of the faith.

And so I say to you, you are Peter,

and upon this rock I will build my Church,

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

This is the Church to which we are privileged to belong. We have access to the true testimony about the identity of Jesus, the meaning of his mission, and the meaning, therefore, of our lives as well. But it is not supposed to be merely the answer of others that we parrot and pretend is our own. It is meant to be a revelation that we receive as Peter did. The Church is not meant simply to be a place where true doctrine is taught. Having true doctrine is part of her role. But the other part is being animated by the Spirit. This means that she can be for us the place of genuine revelation about Jesus Christ. We can move beyond what we have heard and what others have said to what we ourselves have experienced. Jesus is asking us again this morning "But who do you say that I am?" It is not a trick question. The Father stands ready to infuse our hearts with the truth of the answer.

It was precisely an experience of the answer to this question on the road to Damascus that drove everything that Paul did afterward.

Who are you, lord?” Saul asked.

And the voice replied, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! (see Acts 9:5).

Why is important that we too receive this revelation? Why not accept it on the word of others and move on? One reason is that if we don't receive it for ourselves we won't have the strength and the power that it brings to motivate us in the way that it did for Paul and for Peter. It was their experience of Jesus himself that kept them faithful even in difficult circumstances.

The Lord stood by me and gave me strength,

so that through me the proclamation might be completed

and all the Gentiles might hear it.

If we receive the revelation from the Father telling us who Jesus is we will not believe even a prison, sixteen soldiers, and double chains are absolute in their power over us. If we find ourselves bound we won't read about Peter in prison and assume it was only a nice story about the past. We will assume it is meant to teach us something about the power of the Lord, the potential for his action in our own lives, since we, together with Peter and Paul, follow him who is Christ, the Son of God.

I sought the LORD, and he answered me

and delivered me from all my fears.

Songs In His Presence - The Angel Of The Lord

Newsboys - I Am Free

28 June 2022 - calm in the storm

Today's Readings

(Audio)

As Jesus got into a boat, his disciples followed him.

We would guess that the boat of Jesus would be a safe and protected space. But it was not so protected to prevent a violent storm from shaking the faith of the disciples, nor so safe as to avoid the danger of the waves entirely. 

but he was asleep.

Impressively, the one with nowhere to lay his head was able to sleep in this situation. Maybe it was a brief respite from the demands of the crowds which he didn't want to waste. 

They came and woke him, saying,

“Lord, save us!  We are perishing!”

The disciples saw Jesus sleeping and assumed that he was either indifferent to the danger or ignorant of it. From a human perspective it seemed that an overworked teacher finally succumbed to the need to rest. It felt like he was ignoring them to fulfill his own needs. But this was not what they were meant to see in the figure of the sleeping Jesus. Even if he was asleep he was not ignorant or unconcerned about them.

Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep (see Psalm 121:4).

Jesus awoke in order to tend the storms within the disciples more so than those that surrounded them. He calmed the external storms to show them he was the Lord even over the winds and the sea, or any other difficult circumstances that might arise, and therefore put deeper inner doubts to rest.

He said to them, “Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?”

Then he got up, rebuked the winds and the sea,

and there was great calm.

We can experience "great calm" no matter the forecast if we receive this revelation that was given that amazed the disciples and made them say, "What sort of man is this, whom even the winds and the sea obey?" When we receive this revelation we recognize how Jesus uses storms to bring a greater good, revealing his divine nature to his disciples.

You rule over the surging sea;

when its waves mount up, you still them (see Psalm 89:9).

When we experience storms in the future and find Jesus apparently asleep we no longer need fear that he does not care that we are perishing. It is precisely so that we learn to trust in his power over the elements that he permits these storms. We may still awaken him because in the midst of storms we do need his divine assistance. We are not meant to face the storms alone. But even before we wake him, the sleeping Jesus in our boats can allow our spirits to have peace in him. His power can calm the storm within even while it yet rages around us. We need this sort of peace in the world to persevere during the apparent slumber of Jesus during his three days in death. We need this peace in the boat of the Church as she is tossed by the waves of this world. It only seems like Jesus is not in control. But by this theophany of his power over the wind and the waves we are able to trust that he is in fact making all things work for the good of those who love him (see Romans 8:28), even during the most threatening of storms.

Let us not waste the storms in our lives. Let us not try to face them as though Jesus was not in our boat, nor as though he were a mere human being who was with us. Let us learn to see his power over all things, and therefore learn to trust him. 

I brought upon you such upheaval

as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah:

you were like a brand plucked from the fire;

Yet you returned not to me,

says the LORD.

It is unwise to waste the grace of theophany, but it is possible, so we join with the psalmist in pleading, "Lead me in your justice, Lord."

Hillsong UNITED - Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)

27 June 2022 - wherever?

Today's Readings

(Audio)

“Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”

We tell Jesus that we will follow him and we do so sincerely, believing ourselves to mean what we say. But Jesus knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows that when we say "wherever" it still comes heavily laden with a set of expectations.

Jesus answered him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.”

We know that Jesus does indeed call us to come to him, to take his yoke upon us and learn from him, to find rest for our souls (see Matthew 11:28). So we legitimately seek Jesus for the rest he promises. But this rest is not ever going to be anything outside of Jesus himself. It is not a place to which he can lead us and then depart. There is not a den of a fox or nest of a bird for Jesus or those who follow him. Those in the world may try to find rest in the structures of the world. But followers of Jesus only find rest in him. This means that, paradoxically, it is only by continuing to move when Jesus moves that we are able to remain at rest in him. It is not the sort of static inactivity that feels safer to imagine but rather a dynamic rest within activity that is available to us. It is precisely for this reason that it is durable no matter the circumstances. Dens of foxes might be found out by predators, nests of birds might be burned in fires, but those who remain in Jesus, who stand fast in him, are safe, and can therefore be at peace.

but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.

We want to be the places where the Son of Man can rest his head. He himself said he desired to dwell in our hearts, that he does dwell in our hearts by faith, together with the Father and their Spirit. But do we allow our hearts to be a place of rest for him, our hearts which are so very often like boats in a storm? Can we allow him to rest his head within us even when the circumstances look desperate? When he is present within us that should be enough to set our hearts at ease even when he appears asleep. If we need to wake him to ask for help, we are meant to be able to do so calmly and confidently, and not out of fear that we are perishing.

Another of his disciples said to him,

“Lord, let me go first and bury my father.”

But Jesus answered him, “Follow me,

and let the dead bury their dead.”

Putting Jesus first is something more than fitting him into the matrix of our existing priorities. Even family must take second place and could potentially become a hindrance if they would prevent us from listening to the call of Jesus. Jesus is the only path to life. Without him even the living are not alive in the way they are meant to be. We simply can't allow ourselves to try to balance any temporal good against the life which lasts forever. Rather than leaving Jesus to bury the dead we can follow Jesus and cooperate with him to bring them to everlasting life.

May we allow Jesus to dwell more fully in our hearts so that  we can receive all of the life and the rest that Jesus desires for us. He shows us the ways in which we are not yet fully committed to his mission precisely so we can see that those worldly commitments fail to satisfy us, and then resolve to follow him more completely.

I will correct you by drawing them up before your eyes.

Brian Doerksen - Resting Place

26 June 2022 - mission central

Today's Readings

(Audio)

When the days for Jesus’ being taken up were fulfilled,

he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem

This was the culmination of the mission of Jesus, the core of what it was all about. Jesus himself knew what was coming: opposition, hardship, and suffering, and so mentally prepared to face it when it came. As Isaiah prophesied, "I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame" (see Isaiah 50:7).

But most did not understood the plans of Jesus, and so were not braced to expect opposition and challenge. Rather, they were surprised, and took it personally.

Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven

to consume them?

We too are often surprised by the ways that people reject the mission of the Savior, the ways that they refuse to accept the call to act with justice, and to love, and to walk humbly before God. And like James and John we sometimes take this personally, as though we were affronted for Jesus's sake. But Jesus himself expected such situations and was therefore able to move on without getting flustered, leaving the door open to future mercy and understanding.

“I will follow you wherever you go.”

Just as Jesus realistically understood his destination he desired his followers also entertain no illusions about it. He was not going to a palace, such as the one in which "that fox" (see Luke 13:32) Herod dwelt (see Matthew 11:8). He was going not to a place to rest his head, but rather to the cross, where he would desire to rest but be unable to do so. His followers were called to take up their own crosses in turn. Following Jesus would not be a quick path to prosperity and ease, and to hope for that was to miss the point.

And to another he said, “Follow me.”

But he replied, “Lord, let me go first and bury my father.”

Even a genuinely good priority like family, a genuinely good work like burial, must be able to take second place to the mission of the Messiah. Every potential follower must eventually reach the point where he realizes it is not all about him, that he is no longer the center of his own story. Jesus must take that place of priority, and his mission, that sense of urgency. 

And another said, “I will follow you, Lord,

but first let me say farewell to my family at home.”

Elisha was permitted to go and tend to his family before following Elijah. But Jesus himself was one greater even than Elijah, and his mission, culminating in his journey to Jerusalem, now had an absolute urgency. Jesus was focused on Jerusalem, and those who could not get on board with that priority would be left by the wayside. Left by the wayside, but not condemned or destroyed. Fire was not called down upon them. When he was finally lifted up on the cross, all people, even those who had not followed him there as his disciples would be drawn to him (see John 12:32). The door to mercy remained open.

For ourselves we can ask, what is central in our lives? Are we in the orbit Jesus or do we expect him to revolve around us? Who reigns on the throne of our hearts? Even good priorities can come into conflict with the pressing urgency of the Kingdom of God. Only with Jesus himself on the throne, living in the freedom of the Spirit, will all of our other duties, obligations, and aspirations fit into their proper places.

The only way to fulfill the law of love is to be Spirit filled followers of Jesus himself. Although it is a path of service to our brothers and sisters it is only by this path that we discover true freedom. The cross always sounds to our flesh like dying, because to our flesh it is dying, but only so that the life of the Spirit can be fully unleashed.

I say, then: live by the Spirit

and you will certainly not gratify the desire of the flesh.

Chris Tomlin - I Will Follow

Brenton Brown - Lord Reign In Me

25 June 2022 - the mother's heart and the Father's house

Today's Readings

(Audio)

the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem,

but his parents did not know it.

When Jesus wished to be unhindered he would pass freely through the midst of crowds whether those crowds desired to put him to death or make him their king. Simple attentiveness was not enough for even the best of parents to keep track of such a child, especially when there were many places he might legitimately have been. It was only after some period of too much time that passed without his return that his parents were able to suspect a problem.

Thinking that he was in the caravan,

they journeyed for a day

and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances,

but not finding him

They had assumed a natural explanation for the absence of Jesus, befitting any normal child. Thus they looked for him in expected places among those familiar relatives and acquaintances, but found him not. Only after exhausting these possibilities did they realize they did not have an explanation for his absence, and made a more significant modification of their plans, an entire about face in order to look for him.

they returned to Jerusalem to look for him.

His parents had an affection for Jesus similar to that of any parents for their child. He was a good and faithful child and they had expectations that he would continue to act accordingly. They were not able to guess or predict the sudden inspiration of a supernatural motivation on the heart of their son.

“Son, why have you done this to us?

Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.”

It was as though Jesus was preparing them and purifying their natural affections and expectations to demonstrate the way in which a higher and supernatural reality must begin to more and more take precedent in his action. 

“Why were you looking for me?

Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

It took three days of anxiety-filled searching for Jesus to be found, just as he would be three days in the tomb before his resurrection would be made manifest. His parents found him in the temple, his Father's house. In his resurrection was rebuilt the true temple of his body, even more truly the house of his Father.

But they did not understand what he said to them.

They did not understand, perhaps, with their minds. But they did experience being acclimated by degrees to the primacy of the heavenly Father in the life of Jesus. They learned to let go of natural presuppositions about him and learned to trust (not that they doubted) that his behavior was not reckless or malicious or careless, but issuing from the same goodness that they recognized when they saw it on a more natural level.

He went down with them and came to Nazareth,

and was obedient to them;

and his mother kept all these things in her heart.

The contemplative heart of Mary was able to hold these mysteries about her son in her heart even before she could fully understand them. Her fiat to the declaration of the angel was reaffirmed here, and again and again through her life. Her heart was prepared by this searching for Jesus for that most difficult affirmation of her consent that was still to come as she witnessed his execution and death.

The lessons Mary took to heart are lessons she wants to convey to us. She wants to show us how to seek and to find her son when we lose sight of him. If even the best of parents could experience this, how much more might we who are often careless and preoccupied lose sight of him. She can teach us to trust and pursue Jesus in the face of anxiety, even in spite of suffering that we do not understand. She now knows well what it means to Jesus that his Father comes first and she can help us understand and orient our own lives toward the primacy of his Kingdom.

Mary poured out her own heart like water in the presence of the Lord. She lifted up her hands for the life of her little one, but was made to wait three days to receive him back. She now pours out that same heart for her other children who are lost and not in dwelling fully in the Father's house. She pours out her heart that we too would come through that three day journey from death to life that baptism inaugurates, but that takes a lifetime to finish, which only hindsight fully comprehends. But she is with us, and her love and compassion are powerful forces before the throne of God that help us as we strive to persevere and trust her son.

Lord, forget not the souls of your poor ones.

Matt Maher - Run To The Father

24 June 2022 - the heart of a shepherd

Today's Readings

(Audio)

What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them

would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert

and go after the lost one until he finds it?

Would we go after the one lost sheep? Would we value a single individual as much as the heart of the Good Shepherd values each of us, or would we settle for that which seems easy and safe? Jesus himself had a heart that was unable to rest while a sheep remained lost. He summarized he mission saying, "the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost" (see Luke 19:10). Jesus knew that sheep were scattered in places that were cloudy and dark and in foreign lands. He had compassion on those who could not find their way, on the injured in need of healing, and on the tired in need of rest in good pastures. 

For Christ, while we were still helpless,

died at the appointed time for the ungodly.

Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person,

though perhaps for a good person

one might even find courage to die.

The heart of Christ was revealed in the degree to which he loved each individual beyond what they had or could ever deserve.  "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all" (see Isaiah 53:6). He did not hold a grudge, nor insist on counting our sins against us. We were lost and he loved us too much to leave us that way. Those who knew they were lost we were open to being found by him, open to receiving his salvation. They did not imagine ourselves to be of a group "who have no need of repentance" for their existential experience of being lost stripped them of those illusions. They could no longer believe themselves "sleek and strong" and therefore be at risk because of hubris and pride. Furthermore, however many are the lost sheep Jesus will not abandon any of them. Nor will any be lost because of negligence on his part.

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand (see John 10:28).

There is something so good about a lost sheep coming home that it is more worthy of joy than the status quo continuing for all of the rest combined. There is a genuine joy that is not only nor even primarily that of the single returned sheep, but rather, primarily the joy of the shepherd himself, a joy that can be shared by the entire flock. With the return of the lost one the flock attains the completeness of the one hundred. All together they become more perfectly what they were meant to be.

The love of God has been poured out into our hearts

through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

We are called, insofar as we ourselves are still lost, troubled, or abandoned, to let Jesus show us compassion and love, to find us, to bring us home on his shoulders. Insofar as we dwell with the ninety-nine we are called to let Jesus make our hearts more compassionate toward those who remain lost, just as he himself is compassionate. Then life in his flock won't be boring, for the adventure of finding the lost and the joy in their return will be ours as well.

The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.

"He placed the sheep upon his shoulders, for taking man’s nature upon Him he bore our sins. But having found the sheep, he returns home; for our Shepherd having restored man, returns to his heavenly kingdom."

- Gregory the Great

Peter Furler - Psalm 23

23 June 2022 - the voice of faith

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Zechariah had been silenced because he failed to respond to the angel with faith. He represented the voice of all of Israel, which had in some sense reached its limits, and found itself unable to speak a new word of hope or of promise. 

they were going to call him Zechariah after his father

In both cases it was because they didn't know how to get beyond the past they were content to repeat it. Zechariah might have been an example only of imperfect faith. Well enough. But they could not imagine anything greater so they were satisfied to perpetuate his partial response and incomplete fidelity.

but his mother said in reply,

“No. He will be called John.”

The silence experienced by Zechariah, and the period of waiting, was not mere punishment, but preparation. It was a space like a womb where a response of faith could grow within him, where the word of the angel could gestate until Zechariah could take hold of that word by his response. He did this together with Elizabeth who nurtured him and helped to speak for him until his own faith was sufficiently clarified that he himself was able to speak. The silence bore fruit that was durable even against the critiques of the world, which was afraid of anything that it couldn't recognize or categorize according to paradigms of the past.

“There is no one among your relatives who has this name.”

Have we too reached the limits of what we know how to say, the words of hope we know how to give? Are we looking for something new, some genuine hope that the world is unable to provide, but find ourselves coming up short? Even if we get angelic hints of it do we doubt like Zechariah, or insist that it doesn't fit any existing models as do his relatives? If we are in this period of silence it can be a sacred silence. It can be the place where a response of faith is nourished within us. For Zechariah, the seed of the word of the angel was planted in the soil of the silence of his heart. For us too the word can bear immense fruit if we ourselves don't rush to speak too soon. Speaking too soon causes us to rely on what we know, to lapse into the doubts with which we are familiar rather than the confront the newness of hope.

He asked for a tablet and wrote, “John is his name,”

and all were amazed.

Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed,

and he spoke blessing God.

It is faith that opens our mouths and frees our tongues to bless God. It is faith that makes a new way appear when all of the old options appear used up, worn out, and hopeless. But it is so very new as to provoke a response of holy fear.

Then fear came upon all their neighbors

This fear is not the fear of doubt that makes us silent. It is rather the fear that is the beginning of wisdom, the reverence in the presence of a living God whom we recognize to be present and acting in our midst.

“What, then, will this child be?”

For surely the hand of the Lord was with him.

John the Baptist himself was sanctified when his inmost being was formed and he was knit together in his mother's womb. Throughout his life he was able to be a voice crying, even from deep in the normally silent desert, because he represented a response of faith to the word of God. It was as though he leaped for joy at the presence of Jesus and then never stopped dancing or rejoicing throughout his life. He knew it wasn't all about him, and for that very reason didn't insist on fitting the mold of any that had gone before him.

‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he.

Behold, one is coming after me;

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

John knew a gift was coming that he himself would not receive, that being the baptism with the Holy Spirit and fire. We who are the least in the Kingdom have received this gift. But do we still put forth the silence of doubt rather than give voice to the assent of faith? The Holy Spirit wants to speak in us an identity that is new, wants to make the reality that we are new creations in Christ manifest in us. May John the Baptist pray that we receive the grace to allow him to do so.

Leeland - Way Maker

Casting Crowns - The Voice Of Truth

22 June 2022 - costumes

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing,

but underneath are ravenous wolves.

We put ourselves at risk if we are too credulous toward teachers and too undiscerning towards supposed prophets. There is a way in which conformity of external appearance is easy. One can superficially act like a Christian in order to blend in and gain acceptance. We know this because we ourselves have probably done so to some degree. We've probably felt compelled to act a part we have not yet achieved by conversion of life, not for the sake of the conversion, but simply to fit in. And if we have done this with motives that aren't really so bad, imagine what those with fewer scruples might do. 

What is in it for the wolves? They find a flock that is well trained in obedience, ready to follow even when they do not fully understand. Jesus told his flock that they would need to become like little children in terms of their trust in the Father. But if the wolves can appropriate this obedience and this trust to themselves they will have a constant supply for their ravenous appetites. In a less bad scenario they prey on the sheep merely by using them to assert their own superiority. But we know it can be much worse than this. For this reason it is necessary that we not confuse the promises we have about the guidance of the Church by the Holy Spirit with any individual.

By their fruits you will know them.

The sheep costumes that wolves wear have seams. There will be bad fruit they refuse to acknowledge, a lack of true repentance coupled with excuses for why this must be so. Above all they will insist that the costume is perfect, that there is nothing that needs to change about them, and that it is rather the attitude of the flock that is problematic. Real prophets and teachers wear no costumes. They don't present a false face to the world. They bear good fruit that comes from the heart. But to the degree that they aren't yet converted they are humble about it, unsurprised by their own sinfulness, always transparent about their own limitations lest they become in some way a snare to the flock.

Just so, every good tree bears good fruit,

and a rotten tree bears bad fruit.

It is the case that no one is as all good or all bad as these trees. But to what are our lives tending? Is Jesus at work within us helping us to bear fruits of repentance? Is the Holy Spirit manifesting his fruits within us? Without help our fruit always ends up imperfect and finally rotten. Rather than cover over our faults with costumes the invitation to us is to be more and more open to the life of Jesus within us, making us genuinely good. When we do detect bad fruit it is a call for us to seek repentance and conversion, to change while there is time to change.

Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down

and thrown into the fire.

In order for Jesus to abide in us we need to abide in his word. If we become forgetful of it by our own negligence we will not find ourselves excused for our ignorance.

Go, consult the LORD for me, for the people, for all Judah,

about the stipulations of this book that has been found,

for the anger of the LORD has been set furiously ablaze against us,

because our fathers did not obey the stipulations of this book,

nor fulfill our written obligations.

But again, if the word of God is calling us to bear better fruit than we yet have, this should not be seen as a condemnation, but an opportunity to bear fruit worthy of repentance. He himself desires to help us to know what is expected, in a way that false teachers cannot confound, and he himself will give us the power to carry it out.

Standing by the column, the king made a covenant before the LORD

that they would follow him

and observe his ordinances, statutes and decrees

with their whole hearts and souls

May the Lord himself turn our eyes from what is vain, incline our heart to his decrees, and by his way give us life.

Kutless - Word Of God Speak

Matt Maher - The Heart Of Worship

21 June 2022 - choose only one

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Do not give what is holy to dogs, or throw your pearls before swine,

lest they trample them underfoot, and turn and tear you to pieces.

We must not be overly casual with that which is meant to be sacred. Dogs and pigs aren't in a position to show due reverence to what is holy or to have any kind of appreciate for the value of pearls. In such a condition it places both them and ourselves at risk to try too aggressively to share the treasure we have found. Much better to progress by degrees and let the grace of the mystery gradually make dogs and swine more and more human and capable of understanding. No wonder that the Church reserves reception of the Eucharist her members, to those who ought to be less likely to profane it. No wonder the early Church kept the entire liturgy of the Eucharist as reserved for the baptized and had the catechumens leave the worship space after the liturgy of the Word. We do want the world to join us around the altar of the Lord. But we don't want to place sacred things in the hands of those who will most likely scoff at them. 

There is a certain sense in which the pearl of great price must be found be each individual. It is somehow a part of this process of discovery that the value becomes truly evident. This does not mean that we conceal everything from outsiders. We are meant to share what we have been given precisely to the degree that others seem ready to value and treasure it. If they are not receptive we can remain at the level they understand, and try to engage them with aspects of the faith that they recognize as valuable, for instance, by leading with beauty. After all, there is still some degree to which we ourselves are like dogs and swine before the pearl of great price, still a vast degree to which we underestimate the value of the treasure we have found. We would not wish ourselves to be left in this condition. And God will continue to draw us. So too must we draw one another as we are able, and as they are able to respond.

Do to others whatever you would have them do to you.

This is the Law and the Prophets.

The golden rule contains within it all possible spiritual and corporeal works of mercy. We are meant to address ourselves to all the needs and hungers of the world especially in the ways we have been uniquely gifted to do so. Chief among these priorities is finding a way to communicate the deep value of the pearl of great price to the world. It is important precisely because it is not obvious and the opposite path appears so natural and easy.

Enter through the narrow gate;

for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction,

and those who enter through it are many.

How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life.

And those who find it are few.

The gate is not narrow primarily because of the effort required, for in the truest sense, Jesus already paid our price of admission. It is rather as narrow as Jesus himself, in the sense that Jesus himself is the gate for the sheep (see John 10:9). It is as narrow as the historical specificity of Jesus himself, and what he did and taught. Which is the same as to say that there is no other name under heaven by which we may be saved (see Acts 4:12). It means that we don't get to set the terms and conditions ourselves. We are not to append or subtract anything from the core Gospel of Jesus himself. The gate cannot be Jesus plus that one sin which we are reluctant to release. It must finally be his will entirely or nothing at all. What we need to keep in our minds is the value of what is on the far side of that gate. The pearl of great price is worth selling all that we have and more. And it will finally cost nothing less. If we find ourselves still more fixated on the things on this world, the muck and mire of swine and of dogs, let us look to the pearl that can illuminate our hearts and humanize us. Let us listen to the word of God calling us home.

Let us pray that the Lord would fortify his Church to be a place where the glory of his name can be made known. Let us beg him to raise up a remnant from Mount Zion dedicated to his praise. The world values the Church so little that they would come against it with arrow and shield and siege-works. We who know the value of it must plead with the Lord to give it the help which he himself desires to give so that it may eventually reach even those now hostile to it with the Gospel of peace

I will shield and save this city for my own sake,

and for the sake of my servant David.

Dan Schutte - I Found The Treasure

20 June 2022 - mercy rather than judgment

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Stop judging, that you may not be judged.

Rather than stop judging we Christians tend to redefine the concept more and more narrowly until almost nothing actually qualifies as judgment. Perhaps if we heard someone say, "You're definitely going to hell for that" we would recognize an instance of something problematic. But even then, if they just added, "Objectively speaking", because they don't know the state of the heart, they would probably get a pass. It is of course absolutely true that we don't know the state of anyone's soul before God and that we ought not act like we do. But this command to stop judging goes further and we know it.

On the one hand we need some form of judgment to assess the morality of actions, especially to ensure that we ourselves act well. To a lesser extent we need this ability for those under our care, and even to assist those in our sphere of influence. We need it to help us when we must make our best guess about the character of another, for example, during an election.

On the other hand, judgment quickly becomes weaponized in our hands. Warning signs of this happening include when it becomes a basis of comparison between ourselves and others. When we find ourselves feeling smug or superior because of our thoughts about others we can be sure that we have gone astray.

You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first;

then you will see clearly

to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye.

We are meant to be able to help others with judgment that is truly sound. But the only way to do this is to first recognize all of the things in ourselves that are worthy of judgment, that we are in fact, like Paul, the chiefs of sinners (see First Timothy 1:15). When we realize the degree to which our own lives are utterly dependent on mercy we will be motivated to measure out the mercy we show to others lavishly. When we realize the generous way in which the Lord reads our own motives and actions, when we hear, "Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do", we will be more ready to imagine the motives of others as generously as possible. It is when we are able to show this sort of love to others that our own meager perceptions of right and wrong, our own finite and limited judgments, might have some value.

For as you judge, so will you be judged,

and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you.

If we want God to show mercy we must ourselves be willing to be merciful. We must really live as though we believe that mercy is the standard in which we believe, which we desire both for ourselves and others. We can do this, not because of a position of moral superiority, but because we ourselves have been shown mercy. It is a Gospel law that what we want for ourselves with must give away. What we desire to receive we must sow in the world. 

Do we desire that others discover the mercy of God? Or do we take a secret delight when we judge them worthy of condemnation? If we have taken comfort in the faults we impute to others the Lord wants to help with that particular beam in our own eye. Until that is gone all we are likely to find in others are problems that are actually in fact our own and not theirs. Once the beam is removed we will be able to help others cautiously, as fellow sinners who know our own liabilities, with the delicacy and compassion necessary for our help to actually be beneficial.

We often try to insulate ourselves from the demands of the Gospel by comparing ourselves to others, imagining that we are not so bad, compared to the evil ways and idolatry of the world around us. But if we remain fixated on the faults of others we will not be listening when God has words to speak to us about the ways in which we ourselves need to change. The moral high tower is a place only of rot and decay. Finding out all the ways in which the world is wrong will not spare us if we ourselves are worthy of judgment.

they did not listen, but were as stiff-necked as their fathers,

who had not believed in the LORD, their God.

The beauty of the command of Jesus not to judge is that when we finally learn to obey it we do not discover ourselves standing in judged and condemned but that we have instead opened ourselves to receive the mercy that Jesus was waiting to show us, but in which, until that moment, we had no interest. Let's let these barriers of judgment collapse, because they are not actually doing anything to protect us. May Jesus himself reveal the heart of mercy which always wills our good, so that we can then show that same mercy to others.

Help us with your right hand, O Lord, and answer us.

Vineyard - Help Us Our God

Davis Ruis - Mercy Is Falling

19 June 2022 - you are (not) dismissed

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Dismiss the crowd

so that they can go to the surrounding villages and farms

and find lodging and provisions;

for we are in a deserted place here.

The crowds had received teaching about the kingdom of God and those who needed it received healing. The disciples seemed to believe that was sufficient for them to call it a night, and to send the crowds away, to leave them as individuals to fend for themselves. This is often also as far as our modern churches manage to get. We fill people with teaching, we do our best to address their spiritual and physical needs with healing, and then send them out. But do people enter as isolated individuals and leave just as alienated and isolated? Do people enter hungry for something more and then leave still forced to search for that mysterious something alone?

He said to them, "Give them some food yourselves."

Jesus desired to gather people around him, to make a space where there could be true fellowship, a place where strangers could become sisters and brothers. To do so he would set a banquet before the people, but it couldn't be any ordinary meal. Mere table fellowship itself would not be enough to bridge the deep divides between people, the deep brokenness at the center of their hearts. 

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures (see Psalm 23:1-2)

Jesus was the good shepherd who could truly answer the deepest hunger of the human heart. Only he himself could command the crowds to sit and truly address them at the deepest level of their being. Yes, there was literal bread and fish shared, but also something more, something deeper, the connection to a lifeline from heaven. This was foreshadowed by Melchizedek who was the king of Salem, that is the king of peace, and who brought out bread and wine which he offered in his capacity as priest. It was in this same capacity that whatever Jesus himself offered would avail for the peace of those who would receive it, primarily in the offering of the Eucharist, but also in these symbolic feedings in a foreshadowing that was still a participation. Why the centrality of the Eucharist? Because it was by the one offering of Jesus to the Father that the brokenness of sin could be healed, that relations between both man and man and man and God could be restored. Jesus himself offered a heart perfectly disposed and opened to communion. What he himself desired was to feed the crowds with this same heart. Then they too could experience communion, being united to the Father and Son in the power of the Spirit. Then they too could experience the peace that Melchizedek foreshadowed, but which Jesus actually conveyed after his resurrection with his word, "Shalom."

Are we content to go to our churches simply to learn and hopefully find crumbs to address our immediate concerns? Or do we truly go to avail ourselves of the great treasures of communion and peace? When we truly taste these realities we begin to experience the peace that David described when he spoke of the Lord as his shepherd. But the communion made available for us goes far beyond what any Old Testament saint could experience. Our shepherd is truly present in every mass, in countless tabernacles throughout the world. His sacrifice is made present again and again to advance our peace and salvation and that of the entire world.

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup,

you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.

Do we leave mass still looking for something else to satisfy our deepest hunger? We need not be too embarrassed to admit if this is sometimes true. Our faith in his presence is often present, but not as much of a powerful force of motivation in our lives as we would like. But he himself would like this faith to grow in us. He himself does not desire to send the crowds away, but rather to unite us in a feast of which only he can be the center.

On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined (see Isaiah 25:6).

Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles - Lauda Sion (Sequence)

Humbly We Adore Thee

Matt Maher - Adoration

18 June 2022 - the King of peace

Today's Readings

(Audio)

You cannot serve God and mammon.

Maybe if we realize the degree to which we are serving mammon rather than it serving us we will be motivated to free ourselves of its tyranny. If there is a empty vacuum where the true King and master is meant to be in our lives we will find mammon eager to fill that void. Earthly treasure, in whatever fashion it appeals to us, pride, comfort, excitement, and pleasure, among its forms, will have nothing to keep it in check and prevent it from running amok in our lives. We begin to imagine that it is such things that can fundamentally make us happy, and then, shortly, that we can't be happy without such things. Before long we are unwilling to compromise on them even if it seems God would have us do so. We discern by our base priorities that such a call couldn't be from God if it conflicts with what we ourselves desire.

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life,

what you will eat or drink,

or about your body, what you will wear.

Even the most fundamental of our desires, of concern for the most basic of necessities, will end up doing more harm than good if they exist without reference to God. If food and drink and clothing come first the only way to really ensure that we always have enough is for us to run the entire universe in its every aspect and control perfectly all events of history. By contrast, if God himself comes first we can know that the our "heavenly Father knows" that what we need, and not only knows, but cares. We can enter into a calm and a peace so great that from a selfish mammon-ruled paradigm it seems irresponsible.

Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span?

We are not told not to plan, nor not to take prudent actions to prepare. We are told rather not to worrying, which is a feeling that pretends to be planning but does nothing productive. It is actually a paralysis of analysis wherein we spend time in loops of thought that we pretend somehow of themselves can change our situation. When instead God is on the throne we use the gift of discernment, make decisions, and trust God. We are open to being redirected by him if things change. When the Kingdom comes first we are not only allowed but called to cast our cares on the God who cares for us (see First Peter 5:7). We are called to not allow our hearts to be troubled or afraid (see John 14:1). One reason for this is because we are more open and receptive to the voice of God when we can hear him over our own fears and doubts.

Learn from the way the wild flowers grow.

As Christians we can be content with a simplicity that seems naïve to a secular world. We can live in the confidence that our Father knows what we need. We do not have to act like it is all up, whereas there is nothing for the pagans but to do just that.

Is worry a problem for us? Let us lean more into seeking first the Kingdom. When we seek first the Kingdom trust in the King becomes more of a reality for us. He becomes for us someone who genuinely desires that we cast our cares upon him. We are then open to receive the gift of the word of peace that he himself gives, the gift that can finally conquer the fear in our hearts.

Aside from seeking the Kingdom and its King there is nothing else that works or even helps. The more we try taking things into our own hands, and attempt to perfectly guarantee our own futures, the more we will find that those things have become idols that rule us and eventually ruin us. The initial tribute they demand is worry. But they are not worthy of tribute. Let us throw off our idols and serve the true King.

God says, ‘Why are you transgressing the LORD’s commands,

so that you cannot prosper?

Oslo Gospel  Choir - You Are Holy (Prince Of Peace)

17 June 2022 - holy habits, batman

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Jesus said to his disciples:

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,

where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal.

Most of us aren't hoarding wealth or living on massive piles of gold like Smaug the dragon. We generally don't think of our lifestyles as excessive. And that may well be true. We may live what appear to be lives of moderation and yet still have hearts that are fixated inordinately on things that can only provide temporary satisfaction. There can be idolatry even without obvious excess. In proof of this we see that treasure is not always about literal wealth. Think of the Gospel we recently heard where people preferred to have their reward from how others saw them. This was where their treasure was, and it was doomed to fail eventually. We should ask ourselves, what is our treasure? What sorts of things do we imagine ourselves to be unable to live without?

But store up treasures in heaven,

where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal.

Storing up treasure in heaven means we must do more than pretending to care or tacitly acknowledge the primacy of heavenly things. We have to learn to actually care about them more than the merely earthly. We need holy habits to help make putting first things first possible and, eventually, easy. We only get holy habits with the help of the Holy Spirit, for they are his gifts and his fruit in our lives. 

For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.

We can assess where our treasure is stored and our hearts are dwelling simply enough. What place does the Kingdom have in determining how we spend our time, talent, and treasure? What priority do the sacraments have in our lives? Do we contribute regularly to the Church and good charities? Do we cultivate friendships that build us and others up in the Lord? Now, most of us will hear about time, talent, and treasure and immediately feel guilty that we aren't doing enough. And then we quickly realize we can't possibly do enough and start to despair. But it isn't about the quantity, it is about the quality. And the quality comes from the priority or primacy of what we place first and the way that informs our subsequent decisions and logic.

The lamp of the body is the eye.

If your eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with light;

We can train ourselves to grow accustomed to the light or we can remain in darkness. It is all a matter of the things to which we allow ourselves to be consistently exposed. We perform, as it were, behavioral conditioning on ourselves by our choice of those things to which we give attention. The light may seem harsh and jarring at first, but the more we come into it the more we will find it empowers us to live in greater freedom. By contrast the darkness seems easy but it leaves us constantly spiritually stumbling and, as it were, stubbing our toe. Jesus himself is our main source of light, and his word is a lamp to our feet. Let us learn to let him and his word illuminate our hearts. 

Thereupon all the people of the land went to the temple of Baal

and demolished it.

They shattered its altars and images completely,

and slew Mattan, the priest of Baal, before the altars.

If there is anything in our lives that is taking the place of God let us tear down the altars and images and idols and make space for God to reign. Then we can be like the people in the first reading, who, with the city quiet at last, rejoiced.

Brenton Brown - Lord Reign In Me

16 June 2022 - prayer posture

Today's Readings

(Audio)

In praying, do not babble like the pagans,

who think that they will be heard because of their many words.

The context of Christian prayer is not meant to be babbling or even bargain or negotiation. Forgetting this, we tend to feel the need to perform in some way, to be persuasive, to say or do things just so in order to win over a disinterested or perhaps hostile deity.

Do not be like them.

Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

We come before a Father who loves us and knows all of our needs. This might make us wonder, why pray at all? Why not just leave things up to God himself since he already knows what we want to ask? It is more for the sake of opening us to what God wants to give than for opening God to give what we want to receive.

The mental posture of prayer calms and purifies the soul, and makes it of more capacity to receive the divine gifts which are poured into it. For God does not hear us for the prevailing force of our pleadings; He is at all times ready to give us His light, but we are not ready to receive it, but prone to other things.

- Saint Augustine

God desires us to pray in order to strengthen our relationship with him, to increase our affection for him. He delights to give good gifts to his children. Many gifts he has already given without consulting us.  But he reserves some of these gifts until his children ask. He knows that these gifts he desires to give are for our good. But he wants to give his children some agency in receiving them, to help them to grow into maturity where they learn to will what he himself wills and so become more like him.

Our Father who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name,

We pray to a Father, not a distant deity or a tyrannical ruler. In order to really occupy the Our Father with our entire being we need the help of the Holy Spirit who makes the fact of the fatherhood of God a reality for us. The Spirit himself is the one who teaches us the holy fear that allows us to hallow God's name, to treat it as precious, to not risk offending against the one who is so deserving of our love.

thy Kingdom come

The coming of the Kingdom is phenomenon that occurs in two different dimensions. The first is the inner reality of the heart. It was in this sense that Jesus said, "The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you" (see Luke 17:20-21). But it would be inadequate to merely see the Kingdom as something internal and subjective, something that could be complete while the world continued in its ruinous ways. The priority of the Kingdom is the changing of hearts. But it is changed hearts that can change the world. When Jesus finally returns to restore his kingdom fully it will only be those whose hearts have changed that are fit to live within it. Hence, asking for the coming of the Kingdom asks also for all that is necessary for that complete restoration of the hearts of men and women and of the world itself.

thy will be done

We are called to prefer God's will to our own. Here, then is the heart of prayer, where are warped human nature is refashioned by God himself into the image of his Son. We learn to trust God in the midst of our own suffering, just as Jesus did in his agony in the garden. His will may contain many things which we would have preferred to avoid. But when it is truly his will for us it will also contain a resurrection which we could not otherwise attain. There may need to be a dying to our old self and our old ways. But this is only so we can live more fully the new birth of our baptism.

Give us this day our daily bread

We are meant to learn to trust God for our needs. When we internalize this we will be protected from the temptations of the evil one to make bread out of stones in the desert, or to grumble and put God to the test when we don't get something exactly to our preference. We need first the bread of his word to be in us, and then we will be able to trust in him to provide provisions enough for our needs.

There are several dangers to our relationship with God: unforgiveness of others, the temptations of the world and the flesh, and the lies of the devil. When we are protected from these there is nothing that the world can truly do to harm us. 

Let us go to the Father who is waiting, who is longing, to pour out his good gifts upon us. Let us open our hearts to receive what he wants to give so that we can become the people we are meant to be, children of the Father, and citizens of the kingdom.

We conclude with the humble suggestion that if someone was fully able to pray the Our Father with appropriate focus, desire, intention and surrender, that they might in virtue of that prayer do greater things in the world than Elijah or Elisha or even Jesus himself, for he said, "whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father" (see John 14:12).

Matt Maher - As It Is In Heaven