31 March 2013 - risen indeed

31 March 2013 - risen indeed

This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.

The LORD makes this day new by the new life revealed in Jesus.  The old creation stalls out with the sin of Adam and Eve.  The seventh day Sabbath rest of God is corrupted by selfishness and becomes the sleep of death which afflicts all men until Jesus.  Jesus starts the new creation by his act of selfless obedience to the Father.  Because of this act, his seventh day rest in the tomb is transformed and rewarded with eternal life.  This act of selflessness is ever new.  It is an act which can't be constrained by death.  Death only has power over the proud.  Where can death strike the truly selfless?  This is why Pope Francis calls Jesus the "today" of God.  And this is why Scripture tells us it is impossible that the grave should him.


I shall not die, but live,
and declare the works of the LORD.”

This indestructible life of Jesus Christ can now transform us all.  


The stone which the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.

His work isn't simply a monument to stand on its own.  It is not simply a stone but a cornerstone. It is meant to be the solid ground on which everything that lasts is to be built.  All that is not built upon it is built instead of the shifting sands of this temporary world.  Nothing else will endure.  The only thing sufficiently pure to pass through death is the heart of Christ.  Only in him will we see that distant shore.  We begin to glimpse it now for Scripture says that "we were raised with Christ" in baptism.


If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, 
where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

We must fix our minds on the permanent.  We are not told here to distract ourselves from our surroundings by imagining some distant heaven.  Instead we are to build on the rock of Christ in our own lives within this world.  We have already died to the fading things which used to hold us captive.

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ your life appears,
then you too will appear with him in glory.

Rather than ourselves appearing where Christ already is, he instead will appear here in our midst.  Then all that is truly built on him as the cornerstone will be revealed.  The passing things will pass and the permanent will "appear in glory" and abide.  

But we are slow to believe.  The temporary things are the immediate things.  But now that the power of the resurrection is already breaking forth and transforming the world his words can begin to make sense.


Remember what he said to you while he was still in Galilee, 
that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners
and be crucified, and rise on the third day.”


At first this seems like nonsense.  But the tomb is empty.  The power of the resurrection is already at work.  As this knowledge takes hold, let us rejoice:


“The right hand of the LORD has struck with power;
the right hand of the LORD is exalted.

30 March 2013 - Meditation for Holy Saturday from the Divine Office.

30 March 2013 - Meditation for Holy Saturday from the Divine Office.

"Something strange is happening - there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear.

He has gone to search for our first parent, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, he who is both God and the son of Eve. The Lord approached them bearing the cross, the weapon that had won him the victory. At the sight of him Adam, the first man he had created, struck his breast in terror and cried out to everyone: “My Lord be with you all”. Christ answered him: “And with your spirit”. He took him by the hand and raised him up, saying: “Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light”.

I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. Out of love for you and for your descendants I now by my own authority command all who are held in bondage to come forth, all who are in darkness to be enlightened, all who are sleeping to arise. I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be held a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead. Rise up, work of my hands, you who were created in my image. Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in me and I am in you; together we form only one person and we cannot be separated. For your sake I, your God, became your son; I, the Lord, took the form of a slave; I, whose home is above the heavens, descended to the earth and beneath the earth. For your sake, for the sake of man, I became like a man without help, free among the dead. For the sake of you, who left a garden, I was betrayed to the Jews in a garden, and I was crucified in a garden.

See on my face the spittle I received in order to restore to you the life I once breathed into you. See there the marks of the blows I received in order to refashion your warped nature in my image. On my back see the marks of the scourging I endured to remove the burden of sin that weighs upon your back. See my hands, nailed firmly to a tree, for you who once wickedly stretched out your hand to a tree.

I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side for you who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side has healed the pain in yours. My sleep will rouse you from your sleep in hell. The sword that pierced me has sheathed the sword that was turned against you.

Rise, let us leave this place. The enemy led you out of the earthly paradise. I will not restore you to that paradise, but I will enthrone you in heaven. I forbade you the tree that was only a symbol of life, but see, I who am life itself am now one with you. I appointed cherubim to guard you as slaves are guarded, but now I make them worship you as God. The throne formed by cherubim awaits you, its bearers swift and eager. The bridal chamber is adorned, the banquet is ready, the eternal dwelling places are prepared, the treasure houses of all good things lie open. The kingdom of heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity. "

29 March 2013 - good friday

29 March 2013 - good friday

Yet it was our infirmities that he bore,
our sufferings that he endured,
while we thought of him as stricken,
as one smitten by God and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our offenses,
crushed for our sins;
upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole,
by his stripes we were healed.

And now that he has borne them, what of us?  Is life now free from suffering?  We ought to know better than that.  But now all suffering is rich with meaning.


Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered; 
and when he was made perfect,
he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.

He takes our broken wills which rebel and choose themselves at the slightest provocation and infuses the grace of his obedience.  In this way he can be said to be made perfect insofar as he is now perfectly suited to be our savior.  Now, in the midst of trials we are able to trust.  He has gone through the very trials we face but where we fail he triumphs and shares his victory with us.


For we do not have a high priest
who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, 
but one who has similarly been tested in every way,
yet without sin.

Let us, trust him, therefore, in the midst of the trials of our lives.



In your hands is my destiny; rescue me
from the clutches of my enemies and my persecutors.”

Because he shares his triumphant cross with us, our own sufferings can now bring the light and salvation of God into this world, insofar as they are united to the cross of Jesus.  The words of Scripture about him become true of us as well:




Because of his affliction
he shall see the light in fullness of days;
through his suffering, my servant shall justify many,
and their guilt he shall bear.

By obedience Jesus testifies to the truth that the selfless love of God is greater than selfishness.

For this I was born and for this I came into the world, 

to testify to the truth.

Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”

This is the truth of his kingdom so it is no wonder he is reluctant to insist of his own kingship.  Instead he draws it from the lips of those who meet him.

So Pilate said to him,

“Then you are a king?”

Jesus answered,

“You say I am a king.

His kingdom is not of this world.  It's paradigm is different.  It is a kingdom which somehow rules through service and love.  It does not send out armies to force obedience.  True life is found only in selfless love of others.  The king of this kingdom exemplifies this love and enables us all to live it.  Let us recognize our own voices as the world mocks this kingdom.  It cannot help but mock such a king.  Power, it secretly believes, means more than love.  It takes perverse delight in watching such love die on the cross.  It thinks that its point is thereby proven.  

And the world still thinks that.  But "[i]t is finished" and the third day draws near.  During this time he provides for us, not something abstract, but, in wondrous love, his own mother.

When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved

he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.”

Then he said to the disciple,

“Behold, your mother.”

And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.

Let us seek refuge in her mantle, guarded by her faith, protected by her "fiat," as we await the third day.

28 March 2013 - feet of humility

28 March 2013 - feet of humility

“Master, are you going to wash my feet?”

Surrendering to Jesus means accepting the humility and intimacy which he shows us.  We don't have a problem surrendering to a mighty king as much as we do to a loving servent.  Why is that?  Surrendering to a mighty king allows us to imagine that we are still mighty.  Surrendering to humility and love means laying down such illusions.  

We are called to surrender to a humility which knows no bounds.

I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, 

that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, 

took bread, and, after he had given thanks,

broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you.

Do this in remembrance of me.”

What love is this?  He becomes food, apparently inert, to be chewed, dissolved by saliva and stomach acid, and digested.  There has never been and will never be humility so great as this.  This ultimate humility of Jesus is what allows for his supernatural availability.  It allows him to be taken up as the source of life by each individual throughout the world. 

For on this same night I will go through Egypt, 

striking down every firstborn of the land, both man and beast,

and executing judgment on all the gods of Egypt—I, the LORD!

In his giving of the Eucharist and his washing our feet the LORD executes judgment on the false god of pride.  Our acceptance of these gifts marks the doorposts of our souls.  Just as the bood of the sheep represented a sacrifice of self that the Israelites were unable to make, so to does accepting these gifts open the door to a humility we could not have any other way.  He draws us to accept his humility as our own by the very love he shows us.

He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end.

So, during supper, 

fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power 

and that he had come from God and was returning to God, 

he rose from supper and took off his outer garments.

There is no humility so great as for God to not insist on his own glory and honor.  Any human act pails by comparison.  For him to remove the outer garments of divine prerogatives is an inimitable act.  Yet it is by the love he shows us in this act itself that he calls us to appropriate his own humility and thereby to follow him.

The world is flipped now.  Power and honor don't mean what the world tells us they mean.  But the path is being opened.  The way that we must follow is being made clear.  The love and the grace that enable us to walk it are being poured out.

You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am.

If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, 

you ought to wash one another’s feet.

And in response to all this love we have nothing of our own to give.  We can only offer back the gifts he gives us.

How shall I make a return to the LORD

for all the good he has done for me?

The cup of salvation I will take up,

and I will call upon the name of the LORD.

27 March 2013 - zeal commitment

27 March 2013 - zeal commitment

I have become an outcast to my brothers,
a stranger to my mother’s sons,
because zeal for your house consumes me,
and the insults of those who blaspheme you fall upon me.

With our culture and our nation moving in the direction that they are this is a reality for which we need to be more and more prepared.  We must be so zealous for the house of the LORD that we don't care how the world sees us.  As the world becomes more darkened it will understand us less and less.  It will prejudge and condemn us with less and less basis.

Insult has broken my heart, and I am weak,
I looked for sympathy, but there was none;
for consolers, not one could I find.

But we shouldn't be empty at such times. We shouldn't feel as if we are relying on our own strength or that it is us versus the world. The LORD wants to fill us with zeal to give us the strength to make it through such times.  Zeal holds fast to the knowledge the God is righteous even when the whole world is moving in the wrong direction.

The Lord GOD is my help,
therefore I am not disgraced;
I have set my face like flint,
knowing that I shall not be put to shame.

How do we relate to the world in such times?  Should we wall ourselves off from them in self-imposed ghettos?  No.  We should follow the example of Jesus who bears all the insults of those who blaspheme God more profoundly than anyone.  He extends intimate table fellowship with even the most egregious of the offenders up until the very last.  He is always ready to extend forgiveness:

“He who has dipped his hand into the dish with me
is the one who will betray me.

He doesn't push sinners away even when they trample his rights.  He prefers closeness to the sinner to insisting on justice.

I gave my back to those who beat me,
my cheeks to those who plucked my beard;
My face I did not shield
from buffets and spitting.

As for ourselves, we often aren't as innocent as we'd like to think.  We can't consider ourselves solidly on the side of the zealous and the righteous.  For example, if we try to use Jesus as a convenience, a way to improve our own lives, this can be the same as selling him for silver.  In the end our motives are always mixed.  We maintain fellowship with him at his table, but without the purity he desires.  He hungers and thirsts for us but we don't respond in the way he truly desires.

Rather they put gall in my food,
and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

Fortunately, the LORD has the same heart for us that his does for all sinners.  Let us not be like Judas, unrepentant  but instead turn to him for mercy.  We will then see that he does not spurn the poverty of our broken human nature or the bonds of our own sinfulness.  He will hear us.  He will deliver us.  Let us praise him in song!

I will praise the name of God in song,
and I will glorify him with thanksgiving:
“See, you lowly ones, and be glad;
you who seek God, may your hearts revive!
For the LORD hears the poor,
and his own who are in bonds he spurns not.”

26 March 2013 - kingdom architecture

26 March 2013 - kingdom architecture

Though I thought I had toiled in vain,
and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength,
Yet my reward is with the LORD,
my recompense is with my God.

The LORD wants to teach us not to judge our success or failure by human standards.  We usually judge our efforts successful when we build sandcastles that manage to last for a little while.  The LORD is interested in seeing the kingdom built, which only happens on foundations of rock.  He is interested in the ways in which eternity can break into this temporal order in which we live.  Jesus knows this.  His cross seems to be the ultimate human failure.  Yet it is the ultimate divine triumph.  

Jesus says he is glorified now, in the midst of his passion, not just at the resurrection, because he knows how to regard success and failure:

“Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.
If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself,
and he will glorify him at once.

This lacks all the marks by which we normally judge something successful.  There is no happiness.  It is not comfortable.  There is pain and emotional turmoil.  But Jesus knows that the kingdom is being established once and for all.  He can see the kingdom success amid the temporal failures.


And I am made glorious in the sight of the LORD,
and my God is now my strength!

He can see the plan the underlies the pain.

I will make you a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.

He is able to keep sight of this because he knows who he is and from where he comes.

The LORD called me from birth,
from my mother’s womb he gave me my name.
He made of me a sharp-edged sword
and concealed me in the shadow of his arm.

His Father's purpose and will for him allow him to see past all the obstacles in his path.  His vision beholds not just the cross.  It beholds not just the days in the tomb.  It sees those, yes, but as vitally necessary preludes to the resurrection.

On you I depend from birth;
from my mother’s womb you are my strength.

His obedience to his Father's plan and purpose for him brings him eventually to the kingdom's success, a victory more glorious and permanent than anything the world can propose.

I will sing of your salvation.

25 March 2013 - reeding the signs

25 March 2013 - reeding the signs

Not crying out, not shouting,
not making his voice heard in the street.
A bruised reed he shall not break,
and a smoldering wick he shall not quench,
Until he establishes justice on the earth;
the coastlands will wait for his teaching.

This is counterintuitive.  How can one who is so meek and humble command such attention?  The celebrities of the world are typically the ones who loudly flaunt and commoditize themselves.  Who then is this gentle one?  What is it about him that makes the world hold its collective breath to hear him teach.

Here is my servant whom I uphold,
my chosen one with whom I am pleased,
Upon whom I have put my Spirit;

The anointing of the Spirit is a draw and an appeal that is very different from the appeal of the world.  Let us pay attention to this difference to learn discernment  The subtle invitation of the Spirit respects our freedom in a profound way.  The world's attempts to draw us are more like manipulations.  Any means will do.  The Spirit is a still small voice but TV commercials prefer to have a louder volume than the surrounding programming to make themselves harder to ignore.

Our circumstances press upon us in a way that is consistent with the world.  They do not invite, they demand.  Their demeanor shows that if they could force us they would.  But even when they press in thus the Spirit still speaks, inviting us to trust.

Though an army encamp against me,
my heart will not fear;
Though war be waged upon me,
even then will I trust. 

We are called to trust the voice of the Spirit even when circumstances seem insurmountable   Even (especially) if we are just one man and they are an army we must trust.

When evildoers come at me
to devour my flesh,
My foes and my enemies
themselves stumble and fall.

The necessitates of the kingdom are different than the necessities of the world.

Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil
made from genuine aromatic nard
and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair;
the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. 

If we let the circumstances dictate to us their pressing concerns we might miss the wonderful fragrance of this oil.  Trusting the Spirit in how he wants the oil to be used we may thereby indicate the absolute primacy of Jesus over the circumstances of the world.  The Spirit's anointing, symbolized with this oil, may seem to fly in the face of due regard for the armies of circumstances such as poverty.  But it does not.  The battle is in the hands of the LORD and his resources are sufficient.  Let us not look to the armies that happen to be the loudest.  Teach us, LORD, to know your voice and to trust in you always. We believe your in your promise.

I believe that I shall see the bounty of the LORD
in the land of the living.
Wait for the LORD with courage;
be stouthearted, and wait for the LORD.

24 March 2013 - word to the weary

24 March 2013 - word to the weary

The Lord GOD has given me
a well-trained tongue,
that I might know how to speak to the weary
a word that will rouse them.

We are weary, so let us listen as the LORD speaks. Let us listen as he enables his people to minister to us with words that build us up. But it is hard to listen to anything when we feel abandoned.

My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?

It is important for us to realize that it is OK to have this feeling. It is just that in the midst of feelings like this we must always call to mind the truth which is true regardless of how we feel.

I will proclaim your name to my brethren;
in the midst of the assembly I will praise you

To hold fast to this truth we must hear him speak it. On our own we struggle to listen but we need to have ears open to hear him.

he opens my ear that I may hear;
and I have not rebelled,
have not turned back.

Even when we feel abandoned his truth is accessible to us. When we feel that we don't have any attention to give him due to our suffering he wants to open our ears. He wants to give us the grace to know his truth and so to follow him steadfastly with our faces like flint . The truth is that Jesus is the LORD of all, king of the universe.

Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

So even as we suffer let us hold fast to this truth. As we are emptied of ourselves let us cling to God with obedience. In doing so we know we walk the way of Jesus, who loves us more than he loves his own life. This inspires confidence that our suffering too will eventually reveal deep meaning.

The Lord GOD is my help,
therefore I am not disgraced;

And one day we too will experience the lasting and abiding joy of which we now only have a foretaste.

“I tell you, if they keep silent,
the stones will cry out!”

23 March 2013 - one shepherd

23 March 2013 - one shepherd

He who scattered Israel, now gathers them together,
he guards them as a shepherd his flock.

Without the LORD we can't live in harmony with one another. We seek our own interests, scarcely aware that there are other sheep in the pasture. This among the reasons it is so necessary to listen to the voice of the shepherd. Without him we have the tendency to scatter. We are prone to discord. True unity and harmony are not possible.

My servant David shall be prince over them,
and there shall be one shepherd for them all;

Jesus is our shepherd. If we listen to him we won't go astray. We will be able to live in harmony with our brothers and sisters. There is only one truth and that truth speaks with one voice. We can therefore have great confidence as we follow him.

Thus the nations shall know that it is I, the LORD,
who make Israel holy,
when my sanctuary shall be set up among them forever.

The world should be able to see that the LORD is amongst his flock. Even if they can't see the shepherd they should be able to tell by how peaceably and harmoniously the sheep live that there must be a shepherd. Sheep, after all, aren't smart enough to live this way on their own.

Our shepherd goes to great lengths to make this unity possible. The real barrier to unity exists in our hearts before it manifests in the world. He takes this selfish and self-directed nature to the cross and puts it to death.

he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation,
and not only for the nation,
but also to gather into one the dispersed children of God.

As we open ourselves to the victory of the cross are able to experience the joy that he wants for us as our hearts are opened and transformed.

I will turn their mourning into joy,
I will console and gladden them after their sorrows.

22 March 2013 - stone deaf

22 March 2013 - stone deaf

“We are not stoning you for a good work but for blasphemy.
You, a man, are making yourself God.”

Because he is God his works are perfect and therefore the standard by which all works judged.  Human works can be dismissed fairly easily.  Circumstances and cause and effect can explain most of it.  People are fortunate or unfortunate based on the lives they've had thus far.  And we know that no matter what the appearance of perfection everyone struggles in his or her own way.  It prevents anything from being too lofty and therefore calling us onward and upward.  And it prevents anything from being too grotesque and revealing rebellion within.  But God does not afford us these options.  He acts with goodness because he is goodness and therefore wills goodness.  In every perfect action he reveals the standard of judgment.  Hence he says, "Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect" (cf Mat 5:48). And that is why works which should inspire joy and hope instead move the Pharisees to stone him.  

But let's be honest with ourselves.  Jesus isn't always so easy for us to accept either.  Stoning him is done to attempt to silence him and we ourselves aren't always quick to listen.  We make judgments about others.  We entertain anger.  We focus more on our needs than the needs of others, thereby using them as means instead of treating them as ends.  God asks us to love in our daily circumstances and yet we withdraw to an imagined neutrality like Pontius Pilate.  Yes, I'm afraid that we're guilty too.  And we're somewhat shielded from knowing our guilt because it isn't as direct as stoning.  But that can make it even harder to change and find repentance.  Find repentance we must, for the fate of those who pursue the path of silencing goodness is clear.

In their failure they will be put to utter shame,
to lasting, unforgettable confusion.

The only way to respond to Jesus other than this is by surrender.  A human effort to respond to him inevitably fails.  The very grace he gives us allows us to hear and answer his invitation.  Without it we find ourselves not much better than the Pharisees.  Trusting in him by the grace he gives us we stand fast and the enemies of sin will not overtake us (and since we are not overtaken they will not use us to attempt to silence Jesus).

My God, my rock of refuge,
my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold!
Praised be the LORD, I exclaim,
and I am safe from my enemies.

Let us take consolation in the disposition of Jesus toward those who would stone him.

If I do not perform my Father’s works, do not believe me;
but if I perform them, even if you do not believe me,
believe the works, so that you may realize and understand
that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”

He doesn't give up on them.  Even though they are closed to the truth of his words he is willing to go to extremes to get their attention.  He wants them to recognize that there is something here from outside their experience.  There is something here which defies their attempts at classification.  No worldly expectations are applicable.  Just understand, he pleads, that this is something new and unheard of.  Let it hit us with that revelation full force.  And when it does, the true gravity of the whole situation will be made manifest.  Seeing the invitation and its full implications we will be in the best position to respond fully to the grace he offers.  Then, with the Psalmist we will be able to say.

In my distress I called upon the LORD
and cried out to my God;
From his temple he heard my voice,
and my cry to him reached his ears. 

21 March 2013 - being, promised

21 March 2013 - being, promised

I will maintain my covenant with you
and your descendants after you
throughout the ages as an everlasting pact,
to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.

God wants us to trust in his promises.  He promises a personal relationship to each one of us.  He will be our God and we will be his people.  This is an everlasting pact.  He never for a moment forgets it.  Yet, in the midst of circumstances we do.  Hardship comes and we remember none of the great promises on which our hope is based.  We can't see past the short term to imagine how it could even fit in with such a grandiose picture.  And yet in those moments God has not forgotten his covenant.  He wants us remember his promises especially in those times.  Indeed, they are to be our strength in such times.  When a trial comes let us think, 'LORD, I don't know why I have to face this but I believe in your promises.  I know you are with me.  I know you are working all things for my good.   I know that your desire for me is to live forever with you.  And I know it no matter what is happening right now.  This will pass.  Your promise remains.'

I will give to you
and to your descendants after you
the land in which you are now staying,
the whole land of Canaan, as a permanent possession;
and I will be their God.”

For Abraham, the circumstances don't look immediately great.  The land is in the possession of Canaanites and his marriage is unfruitful.  But God calls him to look not to these circumstances and instead to his eternal everlasting promise.

He remembers forever his covenant

But we forget.  So how can we do better?  We should call to mind and rejoice in his past fidelity.

Recall the wondrous deeds that he has wrought,
his portents, and the judgments he has uttered.

Dwelling in his word will let his eternal truth shape our worldview "so that we may no longer be infants, tossed by waves and swept along by every wind" (cf Eph 4:14)  of circumstance.  And he himself is the fulfillment of every promise.

For however many are the promises of God, their Yes is in him (cf. 2 Cor 1:20).

"Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever keeps my word will never see death.” 

Death is the ultimate champion of the temporary and the circumstantial.  He comes as if to say, 'See, none of your effort matters in the least.  It is more temporary than a sandcastle trampled on the beach of time.'  But Jesus overcomes death for us.    Trusting in his word will "free those who through fear of death had been subject to slavery all their life" (cf Heb 2:15).

This is intimately intertwined with the truth of who he is.  He is permanent.  He is "imperishable seed" (cf 1 Pet 1:23) whom God freed from death "because it was impossible for him to be held by it" (cf Acts 2:24).  

“Amen, amen, I say to you,
before Abraham came to be, I AM.”

Knowing his identity will transform us to be like him.  His own life will be the strength that allows us to rise above our circumstances.  His promise will be the very life of our souls.  May he be ever praised!

20 March 2013 - free to give everything

20 March 2013 - free to give everything

“If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples,
and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

He doesn't say when you know my word you will know the truth.  He says when you remain in my word you will know the truth.  We must spend time in his word.  We must make it our home.  Only by doing so will its full truth be revealed to us.  Only then will it have its full transformative power.  And only then will it make us free.

Part of the problem is that our sense of freedom is broken.

They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham
and have never been enslaved to anyone. 

We think of freedom in terms of whether we can do what we want to do when we want to do it.  This is without regard to what we should do.  We are drawn toward things we shouldn't do and say that it is not freedom unless we can do them.  We are pulled from things we should do and so it isn't freedom if we must do them.  

Even those of us who try to follow Jesus often do so grudgingly, secretly believing life would be better if we just kept our pet sin.  But Jesus shows us, if we remain in his word, what it means to be truly free.  It means to be perfectly obedient to the Father.  It means not to be served but to serve and to give ones life for others.  This is the freedom that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego know.

He ordered the furnace to be heated seven times more than usual
and had some of the strongest men in his army
bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
and cast them into the white-hot furnace.

The three youths seem to be completely deprived of freedom.  Even as Christians often understand freedom they do not seem to be free.  But they are free indeed, in spite of the bindings and the flames.

“But,” he replied, “I see four men unfettered and unhurt,
walking in the fire, and the fourth looks like a son of God.”

Because God is the center of their lives they don't need to cling to even the most basic "freedoms" of the world as long as they cling to God.

If our God, whom we serve,
can save us from the white-hot furnace
and from your hands, O king, may he save us!
But even if he will not, know, O king,
that we will not serve your god
or worship the golden statue that you set up.”

And trusting, the are brought through it to rejoice.

“Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our fathers,
praiseworthy and exalted above all forever;

We can't claim this truth by inheriting it.  

Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children,
you would be doing the works of Abraham. 

Only Jesus can bring it to us each individually because of his unique relationship to the Father.

I tell you what I have seen in the Father’s presence;
then do what you have heard from the Father.”

This is the truth that can make us free.  It will make us free if we abide in his word and let it change us.  We must cling to it and allow ourselves to surrender false truths about freedom as he shows us in what true freedom consists.

So if the Son frees you, then you will truly be free.

19 March 2013 - louder than words

19 March 2013 - louder than words

It was not through the law
that the promise was made to Abraham and his descendants
that he would inherit the world,
but through the righteousness that comes from faith.
For this reason, it depends on faith,
so that it may be a gift,

God wants us to inherit the world.  That is amazing.  He wants so much for us.  Why would we ever second guess an offer like that?  Yet we find ourselves to be like the prodigal son who wants his inheritance apart from God.  Living in the presence of God's awesome power is awe inspiring and perhaps sometimes terrifying.  Imperfect creatures are tempted to run from his presence.  That is normal.  But there is nothing good or worthwhile without him.  

Still, he honors our freedom and allows up to withdraw from his presence.  All the goodness we then think to enjoy vanishes in dissipation.  And this is why the only attitude befitting such an inheritance as he has planned for us is faith.  Faith depends on God for everything from moment to moment.  It never thinks itself to have attained something on its own.  All is gift.  All is blessing.  It needn't run away, therefore, because of its own imperfection and lack of attainment. 

Following the law is insufficient, because we can and do follow the law in a superficial way that does not depend on God for strength and transformation.  This is a way we shield ourselves from the true radiance of divine light.  When we follow the law this way, relying on our own strength, we cannot receive the true inheritance of the Holy Spirit, and eventually we end up tired and empty.

Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man,
yet unwilling to expose her to shame,
decided to divorce her quietly.

Joseph is seen to be a righteous man, but his plan still doesn't coincide immediately with God's plan.  If he insists on his own agenda he will not be open to the blessings which God intends to give him.  But Joseph relies on God moment to moment.  He is ready for an about face when the angel intervenes.

When Joseph awoke,
he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him
and took his wife into his home.

Joseph is among the best examples in Scripture of the righteousness that comes by faith.  And for this reason he is blessed to be the adoptive father of the savior of the world.  In a unique way he is allowed to represent the eternal Father in the world.  He is privileged to uniquely speak these same words that the Father in heaven also speaks.  

I will be a father to him,
and he shall be a son to me.
Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me;
your throne shall stand firm forever.’”

And though he has no recorded words in Scripture he is content, through silence, to let Jesus be his one word just as he is the one Word of the Father.

Let us come to see the truth of the greatness of God's love for us just as St. Joseph sees it.  In so doing we will be able to trust him with reckless abandon and have all our hopes and dreams fulfilled.

For you have said, “My kindness is established forever”;
in heaven you have confirmed your faithfulness.

18 March 2013 - valley parking

18 March 2013 - valley parking

“Even if I do testify on my own behalf, my testimony can be verified, 
because I know where I came from and where I am going.

Jesus is the only one who can say with absolute certainty that he knows where he is from and where he is going.  We know these things about ourselves to the degree that his word is alive in us.  This is the faith and the hope that he wants us to possess.  He wants us to have great confidence that our origin and our destiny is the love of God.  We are often blinded to this great truth.  The world wants us to believe we are random, accidental, and without meaning.  But testimony from such a one cannot be verified, for it has no access to truth, it is simply random words.  It simply happened to arise, no more true or valuable than any other statement.  Who knows where one would end if if they followed it since they have no idea why it exists to begin with.

You judge by appearances

Yes we do.  Guilty as charged. We judge without reference to the plan and purpose of God.  We are looking for distractions from the meaninglessness which we perceive instead of turning to the source of meaning.  We settle for intensity instead of permanence.  Being grounded in the source of meaning enables us to judge justly.  Having a relationship with the Father and the Son allows us to know the true value of the passing circumstances of this world.

And even if I should judge, my judgment is valid,
because I am not alone,
but it is I and the Father who sent me.

But we are sheep.  We aren't good at keeping the big picture in mind.  We wander at the slightest provocation.  But the one who knows our source and destiny is our shepherd.  And when we can't keep those things in mind he calls to us.  All we need to do is cling to the sound of his voice in the midst of confusion and we will not be lost.  

He guides me in right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side
With your rod and your staff
that give me courage.

For sheep who don't know the shepherd the temptation is to forget that there is anything beyond the dark valley.  We don't see far enough to know better. Trusting in the shepherd will allow us to keep our true home in mind even when the way is obscured.

Only goodness and kindness follow me
all the days of my life;
And I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for years to come.

We will then be like Susanna, able to trust the eternal God who knows what is hidden.  Even when there are details that are hidden from us without which we feel lost and endangered we are able to trust in the eternal God who knows what is hidden.  And when the world calls us to judge in the baseless way it judges we will be like Daniel who, stirred up by the Holy Spirit says: “I will have no part in the death of this woman.”

O Good Shepherd, refresh our souls by the restful waters that flow from your side.  As we approach the table of the Eucharist let us drink deeply from this tranquil stream.

17 March 2013 - hope in the desert

17 March 2013 - hope in the desert

Remember not the events of the past,
the things of long ago consider not;
see, I am doing something new!
Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
In the desert I make a way,
in the wasteland, rivers.

The LORD doesn't want us to limit our view of him by what we have seen him do in the past.  He does want us to remember his works with gratitude but even more than that he wants us to hope in what he has in store for us.  It is more than we can ask for or even imagine (cf Ephesians 3:20).  

He knows that our lives have their deserts of suffering.  We become parched and quickly believe that there is just no water to be had.  We accept that fear of the wild beasts round about is the norm.  But the LORD is the one who makes rivers flow in the wasteland.  In the wasteland of sin and suffering the water of life flows from the side of Jesus.  This is something we wouldn't have dared to guess.  Our lives should therefore be marked by a hope which profoundly and supernaturally motivates us.

Just one thing: forgetting what lies behind 
but straining forward to what lies ahead, 
I continue my pursuit toward the goal, 
the prize of God’s upward calling, in Christ Jesus.

The sins of yesterday need not keep us bound today.  Perhaps our thoughts accuse us and tell us we cannot be free.  Jesus wants to give us victory over such thoughts just as he set the adulterous woman free from her accusers.  He will confound them.  And as they go he will unite us more deeply to himself.

And in response, they went away one by one,
beginning with the elders.

He is the one who makes all things new.  No matter where we are and no matter how we feel he has the power to fill our mouths with laughter and our tongues with rejoicing.  We can limit his ability to work if we insist that he is bound to our past patterns of experience.

Restore our fortunes, O LORD,
like the torrents in the southern desert.
Those that sow in tears
shall reap rejoicing.

He wants to free our hearts for rejoicing and to satisfy our thirst with the water of life.

The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.

16 March 2013 - word of power

16 March 2013 - word of power

“Never before has anyone spoken like this man.”

His words are like no other words which we hear.  And yet we treat them so cheaply.  We don't give them due attention.  We superficially acknowledge their importance, yet by how we dispose ourselves to them we implicitly deny their transformative power.  

A shield before me is God,
who saves the upright of heart;


We want to take refuge in him because our lives are not always easy.  There is pain, sometimes, and sorrow.  We know that he saves the upright of heart.  So we set ourselves to become upright and yet continue to fall.  But he invites us to let his word transform us so that he himself becomes our righteousness (wherein we will be up-right).  His life comes to us through his words, including the words he speaks through his sacraments.  It is his life in us that makes us just and no effort apart from him can help.  This is how we experience his saving help, not on our own, but as he becomes the center of our lives.

But, you, O LORD of hosts, O just Judge,


searcher of mind and heart,
Let me witness the vengeance you take on them,
for to you I have entrusted my cause!



With Jesus at the center of our lives we can experience the full vengeance of God against the enemies we really face: sin and death.  We can entrust our cause to him without reserve.  We will hold nothing back, trusting completely, not clinging to the false hope of this fading world.  With nothing held back we give God the freedom to move in power.

O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge.

There are many hardships, sufferings, and trials that may come in this life.  None of them have any power over us when our lives are given over to Jesus.  True, they often come even when Jesus is at the center.  But now they don't have the power to touch our truest self, to disturb our peace, or to limit our freedom.  In fact, they are now opportunities to love and to be transformed still more.

15 March 2013 - just in time

15 March 2013 - just in time

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted;
and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.

The LORD wants to draw near to us with his saving power.  He wants to touch us with his healing hand.  But oftentimes we cannot abide this presence.  For the nearness of the LORD necessarily calls us on to greater holiness.  It is necessarily a reproach for the sin in which we live. 

“Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us;
he sets himself against our doings,
Reproaches us for transgressions of the law
and charges us with violations of our training.

But the reason he comes is not to accuse.  He comes to seek and save the lost.  He comes for the sick who need a doctor.  He comes to set the captives free.  When Jesus tells us that we do not know him or the father this is what he means.  He see him as an accuser rather than a savior.

Yet I did not come on my own,
but the one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true.

We see accusation when Jesus holds out a healing hand.  Accused, we become defensive.  What does he presume to give us that we don't already have?  It is our nature as humans to fluctuate between feeling worthless and undeserving and feeling a defensiveness which asserts that we need nothing and no one.  We don't experience these emotions as strongly as the people in scripture.  We experience them just enough to prevent us from pressing in to God.  They can be the subtle feelings that keeps us from, say, spending time before the Blessed Sacrament or in personal unstructured prayer.

He judges us debased;
he holds aloof from our paths as from things impure.
He calls blest the destiny of the just
and boasts that God is his Father.

It feels like judgment to us because we don't really know him.  It is painful, but it is an invitation. The destiny of the just is indeed blessed.  He has come to share that destiny with us by bringing us into his family so that God can be our father as well.  His goal is not condemnation.  His goal is to give life.

When the just cry out, the LORD hears them,
and from all their distress he rescues them.

If we can only accept his love for us and let him draw near then all the promises of the just will be for us as well.  As we are more united to him we begin to experience the same types of persecution that he experienced.  We can  rely on the same promises on which he relied.

Let us condemn him to a shameful death;
for according to his own words, God will take care of him.”

We can now trust him unreservedly, come what may.

Many are the troubles of the just man,
but out of them all the LORD delivers him.

Jesus is trying to show us who he really is.  LORD, give us eyes to see and ears to hear.