31 July 2013 - ad majorem dei gloriam

31 July 2013 - ad majorem dei gloriam

“The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field,
which a person finds and hides again,
and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

Do we realize how valuable this kingdom is?  Do we realize that it is worth more than the sum total of all else we have?  Do we tacitly acknowledge this and slowly and unhappily go about selling all we have that we may afford it?  Or do divest ourselves of this world joyfully?  If we realize the truth of what Jesus is saying we realize that we're getting such a good deal that we assume that the seller of the field must not fully realize the treasure they are including.

The kingdom is such a great treasure that it ought to transform us, often without our even realizing it.

As Moses came down from Mount Sinai
with the two tablets of the commandments in his hands,
he did not know that the skin of his face had become radiant
while he conversed with the LORD.

We need the LORD to reveal to us the vital importance of the kingdom he establishes.  We need to realize how without it nothing has value and nothing lasts.  Let us not be transfixed by faux pearls when there is a pearl of great price offered to us at such a bargain.  When we prize this treasure and this pearl over all else the LORD will shine through us.  He will be able to use us to enlighten his people.

What are the things we are reluctant to sell?  What comforts and pleasures are preventing us from receiving that which, in the final analysis, is the only thing that matters?

If we don't realize fully the immense worth of the treasure he offers, let us worship him.  For in worshipping, we acknowledge him as he is in his greatness and splendor.

Extol the LORD, our God,
and worship at his holy mountain;
for holy is the LORD, our God.

Let us worship with full hearts until we can truly surrender all that we are "out of joy" to so great a God.  Then our faces to may be radient with the light which our darkened world so desperately needs (cf. Psa. 34:5).

30 July 2013 - care instructions

30 July 2013 - care instructions

One of the challenges we face in this life is that we never find goodness in it's purity.  We always find it tainted and intermixed with evil.  In ourselves and in the world the weeds always grow with the wheat.  This is tough because it means we can't use the absence of evil as a criteria for judging anything, even the Church.

We want to see the good seed flourish.  We would prefer if the weeds could be uprooted at once.  But everything is growing together, roots tangled and straining for nourishment.  We must wait for the "harvest" at the "the end of the age" to separate the weeds and the wheat.  To try to separate them sooner does violence to free will.

What are we supposed to take from this?  Patience.  We should desire to see the good seed flourish.  We should cultivate the wheat where we see it grow.  And we should be reassured that there will come a day when we will see "the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father."  Though we do not delight in the destruction of sinners we are comforted that there will come a day when evil is finally destroyed.

We have been given precious instructions from the LORD to ensure the survival and fruitfulness of this field.  This is just one more way that we realize how good the law is.  It is not oppressive or restrictive.  It is for life and growth!  They are so important that Moses spends forty days fasting to write them down.

So Moses stayed there with the LORD for forty days and forty nights,
without eating any food or drinking any water,
and he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant,
the ten commandments.

With Moses we see God being consistent with the Son of Man in the Gospel reading today.  He is full of mercy and patience but his justice is also absolute.

“The LORD, the LORD, a merciful and gracious God,
slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity,
continuing his kindness for a thousand generations,
and forgiving wickedness and crime and sin;
yet not declaring the guilty guiltless,
but punishing children and grandchildren
to the third and fourth generation for their fathers’ wickedness!”

We are not to long to see anyone burned as weeds.  The LORD does not long for that!  At the end of the age they will be good for nothing else but for now we plead for them, that they may be saved, and for ourselves, that we may continue in the LORD's grace.

This is indeed a stiff-necked people; 
yet pardon our wickedness and sins,
and receive us as your own.”

All of the teachings of Jesus are trying to point us toward the merciful heart of God.  When we are told that the weeds are not to be burned immediately it isn't so that we may count the days until they are.  We are instead to rejoice in the mercy and patience of God which gives them time to repent.

As far as the east is from the west,
so far has he put our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.

29 July 2013 - active participation

29 July 2013 - active participation

When Martha heard that Jesus was coming,
she went to meet him;
but Mary sat at home.

There is a time to be active.  When we are with Jesus we should take the opportunity to sit at his feet and be taught by him.  But when we need to go somewhere to see him we should go "to meet him".  If we go to him in faith my may "see the glory of God[.]"  If we sit at home we may still see the results.  But this won't have the transformative effect on our faith that Jesus intends.

Jesus brings Martha from a faith that is distant...

Martha said to him,
“I know he will rise,
in the resurrection on the last day.”  

...to a faith that is immediate and transformative:

She said to him, “Yes, Lord.
I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God,
the one who is coming into the world.”

With each encounter with Jesus she comes to grasp more and more the one thing that is necessary.  Even though the LORD is not always with Martha she nevertheless always displays zeal although  she doesn't always show it in the best way.   But we are not always so zealous.

As he drew near the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing.

If we go too long without his guidance we will be increasingly subjected to the temptation to fall back on our own resources and into our old ways.  Even though such failings leave a bitter taste in our mouths...

Taking the calf they had made, he fused it in the fire
and then ground it down to powder,
which he scattered on the water and made the children of Israel drink.

 ...Jesus does not abandon us.  Even more so than Moses, Jesus stands in the breach for us.

 Then he spoke of exterminating them,
 but Moses, his chosen one,
 Withstood him in the breach
 to turn back his destructive wrath.

 Because he never stops interceding for the zealous, the lukewarm, and even the coldhearted, let us thank him.

 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.

28 July 2013 - unceasing intercession

28 July 2013 - unceasing intercession

Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.

The LORD is trying to help us to have hearts for his people like his heart for his people.  He is teaching us to take responsibility for them in our prayers.  We acknowledge that salvation, for others and for ourselves, all comes from the LORD.  But if we listen today we have the sobering realization that he pours out that salvation to the degree that we ask him for it.

“See how I am presuming to speak to my Lord,
though I am but dust and ashes! 

The LORD only bothers to make Abraham aware of the plight of Sodom and Gomorrah because he wants this response from him.  Note how patient he is no matter how many times Abraham petitions him.

“Please, let not my Lord grow angry if I speak up this last time. 
What if there are at least ten there?” 

And indeed he does not grow angry.  Humanly, it seems like a pretty frustrating conversation.  But we may imagine that God is actually growing happier and happier each time Abraham petitions him.  What happens if Abraham goes further?  We cannot know.  Perhaps Sodom and Gomorrah would still exist today.  The LORD truly desires a level of persistence in prayer that humanly would be very annoying.

he will get up to give him whatever he needs
because of his persistence.

We begin to realize why he wants us to be so persistent when we see in the Our Father the magnitude of our responsibility in prayer.

Father, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.

If Jesus tells us to pray these things it must be because God's name won't be hallowed and his kingdom won't come to the same degree if we don't ask him for these things.

In the center of the Our Father, and indeed of all prayer, we find the transforming mercy of God.

and forgive us our sins
for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us,

We ourselves experience the saving power of God and so are responsible for spreading that mercy to all we encounter.  He is trying to give us hearts which long for God's mercy on those like ourselves who actually deserve his judgment.  This heart of mercy is something we share only imperfectly.  Only Jesus shows it to us in its purity.

having forgiven us all our transgressions;
obliterating the bond against us, with its legal claims,
which was opposed to us,
he also removed it from our midst, nailing it to the cross.

The Father longs to pour out his Spirit upon us when we ask.  Let us pray without ceasing (cf. 1 The 5:17) that we may have hearts full of mercy.  Let us join in the thanksgiving of the psalmist.

I will give thanks to you, O LORD, with all my heart,
for you have heard the words of my mouth;
in the presence of the angels I will sing your praise;

27 July 2013 - seeds of doubt

27 July 2013 - seeds of doubt

‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?’

There is an undercurrent of mistrust in the tone of this question.  If this is truly the master's field why is it not only the wheat he has planted?

He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’

And is this reassuring?  It's may be even more frightening.  An enemy also has access to this field which is the source of the slaves livelihood.

While everyone was asleep his enemy came

But it isn't as though God sleeps.  Psalm 12 reminds us that "he who keeps you will not slumber."  Even after the creation of the world it isn't as though he rests on the Sabbath because he is tired.  He rests because there are things which are more important than work.  He rests from all else to make a day focused on our relationship with him.

Perhaps his sleep here is similar.  Working without sleep would imply that he is doing everything with no response on our part.  But he wants a relationship with us.  And he makes space for it by not forcing his will upon us.  Thus we may be either weeds or wheat.  We ourselves are the gateway of the enemy into the field.  It is reassuring then that the LORD waits until the harvest before separating the weeds and wheat. This is his patience, about which Pope Francis says:

God is always waiting for us, he never grows tired. Jesus shows us this merciful patience of God so that we can regain confidence, hope 

Let his patience move us to accept "all these words of his” as Moses puts it.  God brings us out from bondage in Egypt.  It isn't because we earn it.  He knows that if he tends to his field he will be able to reap a full harvest, no matter what weeds may spring up. Let us respond wholeheartedly:

“All that the LORD has said, we will heed and do.”

We must make this our intention.  Yet we know we fall short.  Jesus wants to reassure us that he won't pull up the weeds until the harvest.  He is patient and merciful.  All of our trials can move us to rely on him more and more completely.

Then call upon me in time of distress;
I will rescue you, and you shall glorify me.”

Amen, LORD.  Glory to you forever!

26 July 2013 - playing in the dirt

26 July 2013 - playing in the dirt

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Hear the parable of the sower.

The word of God is a precious seed which is sown in our hearts.  Without it there is, in a sense, just dirt.  But, that said, the seed itself is not the goal.  The goal is the nourishment and enjoyment from the fruit.

Receiving the seed is not enough.  We need to plant it deep in our soil.  If we do, it will be protected from theft by the Evil One.  It will have the nourishment it needs to endure through circumstantial changes in the world above.  And we need to keep other invasive species off of our soil.  So many worldly things can choke out the seed if we allow them room to grow in the gardens of our hearts.

Let us therefore do all we can to provide rich soil for the precious seed we've been given.  All of our hope is found in this seed- the word of God.  Only from this seed will we taste the fruit of everlasting life.

Lord, you have the words of everlasting life.

The seed itself contains all of the care instructions we need to make it grow.

The law of the LORD is perfect,
refreshing the soul;

The LORD gives us his law because in it we find the necessary preconditions for growth, life, and blessedness.  It is a law of freedom, given by the one who delivers his people from all slavery.

“I, the LORD, am your God, 
who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery.

When we know that his law is about life, freedom, and happiness we will come to love it, not just accept and obey it.

They are more precious than gold,
than a heap of purest gold;
Sweeter also than syrup
or honey from the comb.

Let us be zealous in caring for this garden.  May we bear fruit a hundredfold.

25 July 2013 - drinking problem

25 July 2013 - drinking problem

Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?”
They said to him, “We can.”

Of course, they are quick to respond because they don't know what chalice about which Jesus is speaking.  It isn't just some royal chalice to be used at a palace table.  The misunderstanding of James and John stems from their misunderstanding about what leadership in the kingdom truly is.  They want these positions for selfish reasons.  Jesus contrasts this with his motivation.

Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served
but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

The chalice Jesus drinks is diametrically opposed to the one James and John imagine.  It is a chalice of suffering and self-giving. Because Jesus it he empowers his followers to drink it as well.

“My chalice you will indeed drink,

James and John still imagine Jesus is building a mere earthly kingdom.  They just want the comfort that royal life offers.  But Jesus doesn't take up the chalice for it's own sake.  He doesn't establish his kingdom for any benefit to himself.  He drinks the chalice of the cross for James, for John, and for all of us.

The love which Jesus has for us when we are still selfish sinners has the power to wake us up from our own self-involved lives.  With it, all that we were once trying to avoid by building comfortable earthly kingdoms is transformed.

We are afflicted in every way, but not constrained;
perplexed, but not driven to despair;
persecuted, but not abandoned;
struck down, but not destroyed;
always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus,
so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body.

Initially the chalice we drink may taste bitter.  But Jesus transforms the chalice into the gateway to eternal life.

Those who sow in tears shall reap rejoicing.