30 November 2014 - active waiting

What is Jesus trying to say this morning?

Be watchful! Be alert!

Watch, therefore;

What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!’”

We are invited to be ready for unexpected encounters with Jesus. He warns us again about our tendency to fall asleep. The anxieties of life become genuine problems when we stop watching for Jesus because of them. We are tempted to protest:

Why do you let us wander, O LORD, from your ways,
and harden our hearts so that we fear you not?

But it isn't that he let's us wander. We are placed in charge in various ways and degrees, "each with his own work". But we must all be alert. God does not harden our hearts. But if we wander and lose ourselves our hearts do harden. Over and above the work which can consume us we must keep watch. 

We can let ourselves get so wrapped up that we forget the mission. We must not forget that Jesus is the master. He owns the vineyard. Our talents are gifts we use for him. Jesus "places his servants in charge" so that they may grow to be more like him. But just as Jesus never forgets that everything he has is from the Father so too must we remember that every blessing we have is from Jesus.

in him you were enriched in every way,
with all discourse and all knowledge,
as the testimony to Christ was confirmed among you,
so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift

He is helping us grow, "until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ" (cf. Eph. 4:13).

Jesus has much which, in human terms, the Father does not do for him. Yet not for one minute does he take the mission into his own hands. In every moment he is open to the Father's will. Because this is so he never misses the guidance and blessings that the Father always pours out upon him.

We need to move from a posture of passive waiting to one of active waiting. We need a spirit which cries out "Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down".  We need our prayer to be, "Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved." In other words, let us hasten his coming by fervent desire! Is our desire weak? We need to feed it with hope!

No ear has ever heard, no eye ever seen, any God but you
doing such deeds for those who wait for him.

Right when we are tempted to got lost and wander in our own work we need to remember that God is working within us. He is forming us into the people he wants us to be.

Yet, O LORD, you are our father;
we are the clay and you the potter:
we are all the work of your hands.

29 November 2014 - asleep at the wheel

“Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy

Are our hearts tired? We are called to wake up!

Paul exhorts us that "it is the hour now for you to awake from sleep. For our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed" (cf. Rom. 13:11).

We risk getting caught up in earthly things. The "anxieties of daily life" can make our hearts tired. From there, we often progress to "carousing and drunkenness". We typically try to self-medicate our daily anxieties in one way or another. We all do it to some degree.

If we are too caught up in daily anxieties we are unable to be "vigilant at all times". When we are tired we forget to pray that we "have the strength ... to stand before the Son of Man" because there are other things for which we desire strength even more. We are trying to stand before the idols that impose this anxiety on us rather before the Son of Man.

We are allowed to have other small things which are worthy of anxiety. But instead of actually having anxiety about them we must turn them all over to Jesus. This prevents them from becoming idols. "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God". When we do this our hearts do not grow weary because "the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (cf. Phi. 4:6-7).

We need to expose all of our concerns to the light of Jesus. We're afraid to do it. We don't even want to look at the concerns with a steady gaze ourselves. We don't want everyone else to see them. We don't have it all together. We aren't perfect Christians. We care about things way more than they merit. We serve idols. But Jesus cares about us enough to care about the things we care about. Honestly, "every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights" (cf. Jam. 1:17). They only become idols when they are separated from their source. They can only remain idols when we don't bring them to Jesus. "But everything exposed by the light becomes visible--and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. This is why it is said: "Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you"" (cf. Eph. 5:13-14).

How do we avoid the anxieties of daily life? Give them up to Jesus! "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares about you" (cf. 1 Pet. 5:7). He is the "life-giving water". He is therefore the source of our life. He is ths source of healing because "these trees serve as medicine". He is taking us to a place where "Nothing accursed will be found" and "his name will be written on their foreheads". Gazing upon his face we finally know the fullness of peace.

We long to come before the one who made the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. He is the LORD of all and he is big enough to manage it. Instead of keeping our anxieties to ourselves and letting them wear us down we pray, "Marana tha! Come, Lord Jesus!"

We can't wait to do this. If we wait we are constantly caught off guard by life "like a trap". The time is now: "the night is advanced, the day is at hand" (cf Rom. 13:12). Let us awaken! "Awake, my soul! Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn" (cf. Psa. 57:8).

28 November 2014 - opening to the light

When their buds burst open,
you see for yourselves and know that summer is now near;

We are called to be ready.  We are called to be prepared. For what? This world is radically subject to the powers of change and decay. We must be ready to let it change. We must have on loose grip on things down here. We must use the things of this world as though not using them. This world in its present form is passing away (cf. 1 Cor. 7:31). It is subjected to this futility because of a greater hope.  It is the hope of the blossom and of summer. Even now it is "groaning as in the pains of childbirth" (cf. Rom. 8:18-22). We need to be ready to leave the bud behind. This can be frightening. It feels like leaving a place of safety. But we are meant to blossom toward the light of Jesus. We are meant to leave the safety of the bud and exist and be beautiful for more than just our own sake. The bud is not meant to be our final home. Here we have no lasting city (cf. Heb. 13:14). It will pass away, along with the rest of earth. But we are flowers which are meant for heaven.

Heaven and earth will pass away, 
but my words will not pass away.

Jesus and his words are the source of our life. His words allow us to blossom even amidst the changing winds and stormy seas of a passing world.

Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them (cf. Eze. 47:12).

He is preparing a new and better world for us. He himself is the first flower of this new world in the resurrection. His cross sheds the bud of the old life of sin and death for all of us. His resurrection is the dawn that breaks from on high on a people who otherwise live in darkness and the shadow of death (cf. Luk. 1:78).

Peter also reminds us that the Word of God is the light that allows us to grow even in a dark world. He says, "you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts"

Even now we see and grow toward a light which will one day pervade all things.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth.
The former heaven and the former earth had passed away,
and the sea was no more.
I also saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem,
coming down out of heaven from God,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

It will be a place where we do not need light from lamps or the sun because Jesus himself will be our light (cf. Rev. 22:5). In his light we shall see light (cf. Psa. 36:9). The light is a lot to take in all at once. "There is nothing covered that will not be revealed or hidden that will not be known" (cf. Mat. 10:26). But God, in his mercy, strips us of the worldly bud gradually lest our delicate flowers be destroyed. Still, as he does so, let us humble ourselves under God's power so that in due time we may exult in the light of heaven (cf. 1 Pet. 5:6). Let's trust that he knows best. Let us trust that he is helping us to grow into flowers of the everlasting summer. With this trust we free him to work within us in the ways which he so desires to work.

We are not meant to be like the grass the withers and fades (cf. Psa. 37:2). We are meant to be strong.

Blessed the men whose strength you are!
They go from strength to strength.

We are invited to the very permanence of God. All we need to do is drink deeply from the Word of God, because it is the Word which does not pass away.

The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever (cf. Isa. 40:8)

27 November 2014 - reasons for thanks

Why is thanksgiving even important? Isn't it just ego on the part of another to insist that we acknowledge them for what they do? Practically speaking, what is the point? Does it get to more than just feelings? 

Giving thanks encourages the person to whom thanks is given to do more good. But is that even a good motivation? And anyway, God doesn't need that motivation. So what is this all about? Why does Jesus even blame the nine lepers who don't return to give thanks?

Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” 
Then he said to him, “Stand up and go;
your faith has saved you.”

The one who returns is brought by the very act of his thanksgiving closer to the God who saves than the other nine who don't draw near. Even in human terms, giving thanks is more than just a feeling. It unites those who give with those who receive and motivates them both to further generosity and love.

We have a lot for which to be thankful. But we probably don't realize most of it. The leper is only able to return to give thanks because he, unlike his companions, realizes what he has received. But we have been "enriched in every way, with all discourse and all knowledge" and "are not lacking in any spiritual gift". It is unlikely that we have fully internalized such blessings or the difference they make in our lives. We will never exhaust the riches we have been given. Our thankfulness should be without limits. 

They discourse of the power of your terrible deeds
and declare your greatness.
They publish the fame of your abundant goodness
and joyfully sing of your justice.

God has indeed done wondrous things on earth. We are invited this morning to thank him for the few of those our feeble minds can hold in our attention at once. When we do we are drawn ever more into God's love for us. We come to trust more and more that his goodness toward us will deliver us in our day.

26 November 2014 - hidden track

“They will seize and persecute you,

...

It will lead to your giving testimony.

Fair enough. It is nice of Jesus to warn us in advance. So we should prepare ourselves, right? Of course we ought to think through all the things we'll need to say, the arguments we'll need to use, the things we'll need to do to prove Jesus true. Not so fast.

Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand,

He is telling us that we are going to be put on the spot. We're going to be called out. We're going to have to stand and be counted. And then he tells us that we don't need to get ready? We need to be ready to respond. But we don't need to be ready with that what of the response. We need a habit of not being ashamed of Jesus and his word so that we are able to say anything at all (cf. Luk. 9:26, Rom. 1:16). But we don't need to have a carefully composed stock answer ready to go.

I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking
that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.

Jesus knows how much we'd like to get it all down to a formula. But because he is real it is not so simple. Because he is the living God he gives us a word that is living and active (cf. Heb. 4:12). It is more than we can fit into formulas. It is more than something we can just commit to memory. There is a place for those things. Jesus teaches much that can be learned and memorized. But as to just what to say that will change hearts and reveal his Lordship, we must receive that at the moment it is needed. Only Jesus knows the hearts of those who hear our testimony. Only he knows the special invitations of love they all need. But if we just listen, if we don't fill our heads with the "right" things to say and listen, we will receive from him the words we need.

Rather than running off to the limited resources of our own intellects we are called to  persevere with Jesus in the moment. We are called to trust him completely. It may seem like too little too late. It may seem too precarious to work. But Jesus assures us that it is enough.

You will be hated by all because of my name,
but not a hair on your head will be destroyed.
By your perseverance you will secure your lives.

The only way to learn the new song of the wondrous deeds of the LORD is to receive it from him. We want to join in the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb rather than composing our own halting and fragmented songs. His song alone is the song of victory. 

So then, are we ready to join the song?

Great and wonderful are your works,
Lord God almighty.
Just and true are your ways,
O king of the nations.
Who will not fear you, Lord,
or glorify your name?
For you alone are holy.
All the nations will come
and worship before you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed.

25 November 2014 - rock solidity

How attached are we to business as usual? How much do we find happiness is passing beauty? Down here even the best of the good is temporary.

Jesus said, “All that you see here–
the days will come when there will not be left
a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.”

For the world in its present form is passing away (cf. 1 Cor. 7:31).

Yet the world and its enticement are passing away (cf. 1 Joh. 2:17).

It feels like there is no place solid to stand and we become fearful. We hear of wars and insurrections and are terrified. We get to the point where we are ready to follow anyone who offers a solution, secular, spiritual, or otherwise. We hear many people saying, 'I am he,' 'I am the one who can solve this problem.' We hear them saying, 'The time has come' and we really long to believe it. We are tired of this shifting sand on which the world stands.

This morning, how many costly stones need to remain stacked just so for our lives to go well? Is it like a game of Jenga where we see them taken one by one. Is our situation teetering precariously? Or has it been rebuilt and knocked down again repeatedly? We certainly don't feel much stability in life if we need the costly stones of circumstance to remain neatly stacked. But we are called to a different foundation.

We are called to build our lives on the rock of the Word of God (cf. Mat. 7:24). "After all, no one can lay any other foundation than the one that is already laid, and that is Jesus the Messiah" (cf. 1 Cor. 3:11). When we do we have peace even amid the trouble of the world. We have the peace of the one who has "overcome the world" (cf. Joh. 16:33).

The LORD is coming. Only he makes the world firm. Only his purpose lasts. We need to stand firm on the rock of his Word so that we are able to stand when we appear before him. Then, "when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand" (cf. Eph. 6:13).

When we aren't preoccupied with the shifting stands of the world we are able to prepare for those things that really matter instead of constantly trying to re-balance ourselves. The angels are coming with their sickles to reap the harvest. May they find us ripe with the fruits of the Spirit. They are coming to harvest this earth, and the earth's vines. We needn't fear.  After all, God gives the growth within us (cf. 1 Cor. 3:7). We need not fear the wine press of his fury. Jesus himself "delivers us from the coming wrath" (cf. 1 The. 1:10) if we only let him do so.

Before the LORD, for he comes;
for he comes to rule the earth.
He shall rule the world with justice 
and the peoples with his constancy.

24 Nov 2014 - two coins

When Jesus looked up he saw some wealthy people
putting their offerings into the treasury
and he noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins.

We know where Jesus is going with this because we are familiar with this story. But let's be honest. What Jesus sees in the widow's offering is not what we see. We can't help but think, 'That's nice, but it won't make a difference.'  We think we are called to commend the sentiment behind the offering while still considering the offering itself to be more or less useless. We need to realize that isn't what Jesus says about it.

He said, “I tell you truly,
this poor widow put in more than all the rest;

The currency of the Kingdom is self-giving.  The rate limiter of Kingdom growth is not an absence of funds. It is an absence of love. Our eyes are darkened. We cannot see how this widow's offering does more to bring the Kingdom than rich people donating large sums. Yet Jesus assures us of exactly that.

Why is this true? It isn't the rich who enter the kingdom. In fact it is harder for the rich. This is so different from our way of thinking that we start saying, "Who then can be saved" (cf. Mat. 19:23-25)? Yet, "Were one to offer all the wealth of his house for love, he would be utterly despised" (cf. Son. 8:7).

What actually counts is love. And as J-Lo reminds the masses, "Love doesn't cost a thing." Well, it doesn't cost anything besides all that we are. The two coins of love of God and love of neighbor seem the least able to move the world. In fact, they are the only things that move it.

We do not ascend the LORD's mountain on our merits. We do not ascend it because we have enough coins. We ascend it of how much we long to see his face. Clean hands and sinless hearts are not purchased. They are given. They come from desiring God more than "what is vain." We can then put whatever worldly wealth we do have to the best possible use. Whether God is calling us to put it in an offering plate, to use it to support our families, or even to treat ourselves to a nice meal out, we will be able to accept his priorities in whatever situation we find ourselves. When we are fully given over in love we learn a new song that we can sing in situations like this.

They were singing what seemed to be a new hymn before the throne,
before the four living creatures and the elders.
No one could learn this hymn except the hundred and forty-four thousand
who had been ransomed from the earth.

Unless he teaches us this song it remains incomprehensible to us. We don't know what to do when presented with more than one good choice. When we are given over in love we are made able to follow the lamb. Even when several of the options seem good and valid we know where to go.

These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes.

Let this song swell like "rushing water or a loud peal of thunder." We are afraid that we will encounter this choice between providing for ourselves and others. We afraid we will encounter the limits of our own resources. We need not fear. Jesus teaches us how to sing in situations like this if we just surrender to his guidance.

23 Nov 2014 - shepherd king

Most people are happy if they consider themselves sleek and strong. Perhaps we consider ourselves that way. Or, more likely, perhaps we spend a lot of the time wishing we were that way. The psalmist bemoans the fact that it always seems to be the wicked have have this sort of prosperity:

For they suffer no pain;
their bodies are healthy and sleek.
They are free of the burdens of life;
they are not afflicted like others (cf. Psa. 73:4-5)

Today we can be glad if we are not strong and strong because God tells us that "the sleek and the strong I will destroy, shepherding them rightly." The sleek and the strong always run the risk of too much self-sufficiency. "Thus pride adorns them as a necklace; violence clothes them as a robe" (cf. Psa. 73:6). This sort of attitude makes it really hard to trust in the shepherd to provide all we need. The LORD himself wants to pasture us and give us rest.

I myself will pasture my sheep;
I myself will give them rest, says the Lord GOD.

He wants to bring us all to the restful waters of baptism, spread the table of the Eucharist before us, and anoint us with the oil of the Holy Spirit. When the LORD guides us in this way we want for nothing. But if we are proud and self-sufficient the care of the Good Shepherd cannot be important to us. Then, instead of wanting for nothing, nothing is enough to satisfy us.

We can rejoice if we feel lost, if we have strayed, if we are hurt or sick, because the Good Shepherd himself wants to seek us, bring us back, bind us, and heal us. All things must ultimately be subjected to Jesus. If the sovereignties, authorities, and powers that oppose him are to be destroyed what do we imagine will happen to the smug sheep that refuse to let him be their shepherd? In "Christ shall all be brought to life" but what of those who refuse to come to him? What of those who refuse to "dwell in the house of the LORD for years to come"?

You set them, indeed, on a slippery road;
you hurl them down to ruin.
How suddenly they are devastated;
utterly undone by disaster!
They are like a dream after waking, Lord,
dismissed like shadows when you arise.

Jesus offers his love to all of us. Let us not be so sleek and strong that we imagine we don't need it. We can be assured this morning that Jesus knows and cares about all of our needs. Are we worried that we are perhaps a little too strong, a little too independent? Then let us share in the weakness of our fellow sheep. After all, this is just what Jesus does. He himself is so closely united to his sheep that he says:

'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did
for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.’

If we are having difficulty realizing our dependence of Jesus by ourselves we are invited to realize it together. In the mystery of his plan, the one to whom all things must be subjected, the one who shepherds the sheep, is also the very least and most afflicted of all the sheep. When we are tempted to self-sufficiency we find the antidote here. As our apparent strength is put at the service of our brothers and sisters we learn that it is much less strength than we thought. Indeed, on our own we can do nothing. The weakness and surrender of the Lamb of God is the only strength that matters. We realize that we depend on the shepherd just as much as the least of the sheep.

This morning Jesus offers to shepherd us. When we forget we need a shepherd he helps us to realize it. He makes himself so present because he loves us. He does not want to see us so sleek and strong that we miss out on all he has for us. In our fellow sheep we can see that weakness that is also in ourselves but that we fail to see. We realize, too, that we have no solution for this weakness within our own power.  But as long as we depend on Jesus for strength then only goodness and kindness follow us all the days of our lives.

And these will go off to eternal punishment,
but the righteous to eternal life."

22 Nov 2014 - paradigm store

Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection,
came forward and put this question to Jesus, saying,

...

likewise all the seven died childless. 
Finally the woman also died. 
Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be?

It hasn't entered the heart of the Sadducees what God has prepared for those who love him (cf. 1 Cor. 2:9). Their minds are set on earthly things (cf. Phi. 3:19). The only solutions they can imagine to the inequities of this life are sequential and chronological and therefore partial. They can only imagine this woman finding blessedness with an eighth husband who finally gives her children.

Yet the paradigm of heaven is not the paradigm of earth.

those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age
and to the resurrection of the dead
neither marry nor are given in marriage.
They can no longer die,
for they are like angels;
and they are the children of God
because they are the ones who will rise.

This is something that we need to understand. Blessedness isn't ultimately that one event that makes up for all the bad we suffer. It is more than the psalmist asks when he prays, "Make us glad as many days as you humbled us, for as many years as we have seen trouble" (cf. Psa. 90:15). If it were, we would never have witnesses like "the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth." The opposite of the sequential improvement the Sadducees expect is what happens when these two finish their testimony. 

When they have finished their testimony,
the beast that comes up from the abyss
will wage war against them and conquer them and kill them.

To the Sadducees this can only sound like failure. Their mission is proven false because the after they have finished they die and the inhabitants of the earth gloat over them. In the mind of the Sadducees a project of God can only end in victory. This isn't wrong, but their horizons are narrow. What is the point of testimony if the one who testifies is killed? How can that be valuable to anyone? What is the point of a marriage that does not bring the blessedness of children?

Yet in all these things God's people are more than conquerors (cf. Rom. 8:37). Our horizons are not narrow. Our eyes are on the things of heaven where Christ is seated at the right hand of God (cf. Col. 3:1-2). Christ is the prototype of apparent failure that is actual victory. In him, there is nothing the world can do to us. No apparent failure actually matters. This is because "you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God." The witnesses of our first reading are already dead to what the world considers success and failure. They are already alive with Christ even as they are martyred. The childless woman doesn't need things to finally go her way for once. The goodness of these goods is designed to point her toward the marriage between God and the Church. Even the goodness of earthly marriage must give way to life with Christ in heaven. Deprived of the earthly good, she can choose to embrace that life of heaven even now.

Earthly sufferings and failures are not the end. They are not simply followed by earthly blessings and successes. They give way to the only true success. They fade in the light of the only true blessedness.

But after the three and a half days,
a breath of life from God entered them.

How fixated are we on that one thing that will finally make it all OK? Are we too busy waiting for happiness according to our old paradigms that we can't even see that God has more for us than we dare to ask? This is the situation of the Sadducees. They have good reason to know that the resurrection of the dead is real.

That the dead will rise
even Moses made known

In what Moses writes they have a basis for understanding that it is more than just a better chronological continuity.

the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob;
and he is not God of the dead, but of the living,
for to him all are alive.” 

We are called to live for the world where are all alive to God. We are called to let all earthly love and obedience point us toward that fulfillment. Earthly suffering and failure can call us to raise our minds to the things of heaven. We already have that victory. Today we are called to live it. We are not called to improve one of our old songs.

O God, I will sing a new song to you;
with a ten stringed lyre I will chant your praise,

This is the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb (cf. Rev. 15:3). We are called to join Jesus in singing this song of his victory today.

21 Nov 2014 - King's speachless

So I went up to the angel and told him to give me the small scroll.
He said to me, “Take and swallow it.
It will turn your stomach sour,
but in your mouth it will taste as sweet as honey.”

Jesus knows what it is like to speak a word like this. He shakes up the comfort of "many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings."  Kings stand speechless before him (cf. Isa. 52:15). He "is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed" (cf. Luk. 2:34). So no wonder, then, many "were seeking to put him to death".

Yet even though he troubles the comfortable he also comforts the troubled. We see that "all the people were hanging on his words." This is the sweetness of the Word of God when Jesus speaks it. Of this, the psalmist tells us that "grace is poured upon your lips" (cf. Psa. 45:2). It is this part of the Word in which Jesus himself rejoices. He himself feels the sourness of judgment and wrath in his stomach.  He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked (cf. Eze. 18:23). But when his Word is the occasion of healing, mercy, and forgiveness it is sweet. It is sweetness so great that it is song. It is so sweet that God himself "will rejoice over you with singing."

This is the encounter he wants to give us when he teaches us in his temple. Yet we tend to fill that space with our old worldly habits. We tend to bring our buying and selling with us into the temple. With that, we make it a den of thieves. God is meant to have this space reserved to himself so he can speak words which are sweet to our hearts. But if we insist on dragging the refuse of the world along with us into this space we instead hear the sour words of judgment. The solution is simple enough to describe. We must treasure his promise above and beyond anything the world can offer.

The law of your mouth is to me more precious
than thousands of gold and silver pieces.

If we can only truly mean this we won't make a place that should be a house of prayer into a den of thieves. When we don't try to comfort ourselves with these false comforts Jesus does not have to afflict us. When we realize that we need comfort and that Jesus offers us that comfort we come to him for it. We come with empty hands longing for what only he can give. 

Jesus then empowers us "so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God" (cf. 2 Cor. 1:4). He then gives us the same sort of word to speak that he himself speaks. It has both sweetness and sourness to it. Yet it is only sour if people insist that it be. As for Jesus so to for us the sweetness is worth the risk.

Your decrees are my inheritance forever;
the joy of my heart they are.

20 November 2014 - the things that make for peace

“If this day you only knew what makes for peace–
but now it is hidden from your eyes.

How do we learn the things that make for peace? We really want to know. Not knowing them has consequences. Because the people at that time don't know them Jerusalem faces judgment and is destroyed in 70 AD. How do we keep our home under the blessing and protection of God? How do we live in peace and not judgment?

I, John, saw a scroll in the right hand of the one who sat on the throne.
It had writing on both sides and was sealed with seven seals.

This scroll is sealed. We can't open it to see what it contains. We can't learn from it the secrets of peace and judgment.

“Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?”
But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth
was able to open the scroll or to examine it.

No wonder John cries when no one can open the scroll. Jesus weeps over Jerusalem for the same reason. The things that make for peace are concealed from the people.

I shed many tears because no one was found worthy
to open the scroll or to examine it.

Yet there is hope. What Jerusalem failed to realize in 70 AD we are invited to realize this morning.

One of the elders said to me, “Do not weep.
The lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has triumphed,
enabling him to open the scroll with its seven seals.”

The scroll can be opened, but not by us. 

Who can open it? "a Lamb that seemed to have been slain."

He came and received the scroll from the right hand
of the one who sat on the throne.

The secrets of peace can be learned if we just turn to the one who is the source of peace. What are the things that make for peace? Jesus tells us, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives." We are weeping because we can't solve the troubles of the world but he assures us, "I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!"

When the gospel is proclaimed at mass we are invited to this encounter in a special way. That is why we sing our chorus of alleluias. It is for the same joy that those in heaven rejoice.

When he took it,
the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders
fell down before the Lamb.
Each of the elders held a harp and gold bowls filled with incense,
which are the prayers of the holy ones.
They sang a new hymn:

“Worthy are you to receive the scroll
and break open its seals,
for you were slain and with your Blood you purchased for God
those from every tribe and tongue, people and nation.
You made them a kingdom and priests for our God,
and they will reign on earth.”

We are made members of a kingdom which, unlike Jerusalem, will never be destroyed. We are made partakers of the only peace which can truly last. We share in this peace because we share in the very Lamb who is the source of peace. That is the reason for the last petition in the Agnus Dei. Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, grant us peace!

There's nothing to weep about any more. All that's left is to party. Let's rejoice in the joy of the LORD.

Let them praise his name in the festive dance,
let them sing praise to him with timbrel and harp.
For the LORD loves his people,
and he adorns the lowly with victory.

19 Nov 2014 - don't be disinterested

He called ten of his servants and gave them ten gold coins
and told them, ‘Engage in trade with these until I return.’

This isn't really what we want to hear, if we're honest. We always tend to assume that the Kingdom of God will appear here immediately, just like the audience of Jesus does this morning. He is nearing Jerusalem and everyone knows that is significant. Finally, a climax. Finally, all our oppressors are cast out. The Romans can no longer bother us. Finally, our tears are wiped away. The people aren't wrong that Jerusalem represents an important climax in salvation history. But things aren't ending. They are just beginning.

'Engage in trade with these until I return.'

The LORD gives us that which is more precious than fire-tried gold (cf. 1 Pet. 1:7). He gives us faith and insists that we do more with it than hide it in a handkerchief. He gives us gifts and asks that we use them. He is not unreasonable. He just wants us to act "in proportion to the faith".

Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us exercise them: if prophecy, in proportion to the faith; if ministry, in ministering; if one is a teacher, in teaching; if one exhorts, in exhortation; if one contributes, in generosity; if one is over others, with diligence; if one does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness (cf. Rom. 12:6-8).

The LORD wants to tell us:

You have been faithful in this very small matter;
take charge of ten cities.

Even putting the resources he gives us in the bank to collect interest counts for something. This is still an act of faith. This is exposing the gifts we are given to, shall we say, the market conditions. This act of faith is met with blessings. We ourselves do not create these blessings. Rather, they are interest. But some exposure is necessary. Foregoing some security is necessary. The resources are given to us. The blessings come when they are used. But to risk is our to choose. The LORD gives us that freedom. But if we do not risk, we will not gain. If we are unwilling to lose our lives we will not gain life eternal (cf. Mat. 16:25).

He replied, ‘I tell you,
to everyone who has, more will be given,
but from the one who has not,
even what he has will be taken away.

All we need to do is use this wealth we are given in proportion to our faith. Because of God's grace to use it at all yields increase. This is what the economy of the Kingdom of God looks like. We are being trained in citizenship. And maybe it is because this economy is so different from the economy of effort and prestige that the world uses that there are those who want no part of it.

His fellow citizens, however, despised him
and sent a delegation after him to announce,
'We do not want this man to be our king.'

That is a pretty substantial effort to take just to go and shout down the future king and complain. But if we sense that our rights to pride are at risk do we become similarly violent? If we are used to a certain amount of acknowledgement for what we do and the effort we put in can we stomach a new world where that doesn't matter nearly as much? If our accomplishments must give way to what the LORD does within us are we ready to accept it?

The LORD is helping us get ready. He is testing us in small ways so that we can live happily in a Kingdom where he is all in all (cf. 1 Cor. 15:28). He is helping us learn to live alongside angels.

Day and night they do not stop exclaiming:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty,
who was, and who is, and who is to come.”

Note that they are not stopping to take any thought of themselves.

We are called to join the twenty-four elders in worship before the "one who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever".  We are called to imitate what we see them do today:

They throw down their crowns before the throne, exclaiming:

“Worthy are you, Lord our God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things;
because of your will they came to be and were created.”

The rhythm of the heavenly liturgy calls us to self-forgetful worship before the throne. Let us embrace that rhythm. Let it penetrate even our daily service so that all that we do might be for the greater glory of God.

Praise the LORD in his sanctuary,
praise him in the firmament of his strength.
Praise him for his mighty deeds,
praise him for his sovereign majesty

18 Nov 2014 - the victor

At that time Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town.

Jesus is passing by again this morning. Again we face the possibility that we may just hear a commotion but not really see what the big deal is. What are we willing to do to see Jesus?

If we are the type who say "I am rich and affluent and have no need of anything" we'll miss him for sure. We don't realize that we are "wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked." We are confident enough of this wealth of ours that we won't go out of our way to find Jesus. If there is no crowd between us we might go see him. But often there is a crowd. Often, like Zacchaeus, we "could not see him because of the crowd". If we are "lukewarm, neither hot nor cold" we miss the chance of a life-changing encounter. He might just pass us by. But not Zacchaeus.

So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus,
who was about to pass that way.

As with Zacchaeus, we must be willing to climb the tree. We need to insist that no crowds are going to get between us and Jesus. But it is because of the heart of Jesus that this is more than just some celebrity gazing. It is because of the love Jesus has for Zacchaeus that this becomes a genuine encounter. This is because, no matter how much Zacchaeus wants to see Jesus, Jesus wants to see Zacchaeus still more.

When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said, 
“Zacchaeus, come down quickly,
for today I must stay at your house.” 

It isn't just Zacchaeus. Jesus wants to have an encounter with us even more than we do with him. We can't let the crowds that separate us discourage us. We can't fixate on the obstacles that seem to be in our way and so become lukewarm and lazy. He won't let that crowd get in the way of that meeting. We shouldn't either.

‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
If anyone hears my voice and opens the door,
then I will enter his house and dine with him,
and he with me.

He wants more than the glancing familiarity of a passerby. He says to both Zacchaeus and ourselves, "come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house."

When we realize how much Jesus wants to see us and how close he wants to be to us we are transformed. It is this realization, the realization that he is known and loved, that he is not lost in the crowd, that Zacchaeus "came down quickly and received him with joy." It is a realization which does more than give him a temporary elation. It transforms his whole approach to life:

"Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor,
and if I have extorted anything from anyone
I shall repay it four times over.""
And Jesus said to him,
"Today salvation has come to this house

Does the crowd seem too dense to bother? Does climbing the tree seem like too much work? Or does it, perhaps, seem too awkward? Is it not worth sticking out that much? This is Jesus passing by! We ought to care more than we do!

If we are trusting in our own resources too much to be bothered with this amazing opportunity we should listen to Jesus: "I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich". What we need, then, is faith, which is "more precious than gold that is perishable even though tested by fire" (cf. 1 Pet. 1:7). This ought to be more valuable to us than the world's supposed wealth. Yet if we are honest we find the opposite is often true.

Jesus calls us out on our complacency. He does this not to condemn us, but because he loves us.

Those whom I love, I reprove and chastise.
Be earnest, therefore, and repent.

It is because he wants such great things for us that he can't stand to see us so lukewarm that we miss them.

The victor will thus be dressed in white,
and I will never erase his name from the book of life
but will acknowledge his name in the presence of my Father
and of his angels.

He wants more for us than we can ask or imagine (cf. Eph. 3:20).

I will give the victor the right to sit with me on my throne,
as I myself first won the victory
and sit with my Father on his throne.

Sitting on the throne together with the Father and Jesus? Think about it! What throne is this? It is the throne of Godhead! The only reason we can sit here are made partakers of the divine nature (cf 2 Pet. 1:4). It is such an unfathomable blessing! The greatness of this gift cannot be fully known (cf. Eph. 3:19) or measured. It is an unreasonable excess of grace and love! We can't let it pass by just because of a crowd.

Whoever has ears ought to hear
what the Spirit says to the churches.

17 Nov 2014 - sight updates

"Jesus of Nazareth is passing by."

Jesus draws near to us many times even in any given day. Yet we are often blind to what is happening. We hear a commotion but don't grasp the significance of what is happening. We go to mass but don't realize that at mass we encounter "The one who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks in the midst of the seven gold lampstands".

Ideally, the celebration should be so dignified as to help us realize what is happening. The crowd should be helping to understand those on the sides of the road to understand what the commotion is.

But it turns out that it isn't just the man on the side of the road who is blind. We aren't helping one another to realize that Jesus is present because we don't really get it either. We acknowledge the truth of it, just like the crowd knows that Jesus is passing by, but we are blind to the deeper reality. We see a logical proposition: Jesus is here. We accept that. But we don't realize that we are dealing with "him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne."

Just as he asks the blind man, Jesus asks each of us, "What do you want me to do for you?"

This morning we must join the blind man in begging, "Lord, please let me see."

Jesus does not hesitate to reveal himself to us on deeper and deeper levels to those who hunger for him. 

He immediately received his sight
and followed him, giving glory to God.
When they saw this, all the people gave praise to God.

This is the secret of those who delight in the law of the LORD. If we do not do this we may still do good works. If we don't make this request of Jesus we may work very hard because we know we should.

I know your works, your labor, and your endurance,
and that you cannot tolerate the wicked;
you have tested those who call themselves Apostles but are not,
and discovered that they are impostors.
Moreover, you have endurance and have suffered for my name,
and you have not grown weary.

These are good things. The are not to be undervalued. And yet, the LORD wants more for us.

Yet I hold this against you:
you have lost the love you had at first.
Realize how far you have fallen.
Repent, and do the works you did at first.

We are called to love more deeply. We cannot do this except in response to Jesus. And we can only respond to him if we see more than just the superficial commotions that surround him. We need to see him. We need to see the one walking amidst the lampstands with the seven stars in his right hand.

Are we having trouble seeing him? Let's start with his word.

and blessed are those who listen to this prophetic message
and heed what is written in it, for the appointed time is near.

His word is a place. It is a place where we can genuinely encounter Jesus as a living other with whom we can have a relationship. But there is even more to his word than that. It is a double-edged sword (cf. Heb. 4:12). One edge is when we listen, the other is when we claim it by proclaiming it:

Blessed is the one who reads aloud

This is true in when the Word of God is proclaimed in the liturgy, but it is true for us as well. Let's speak his word aloud today into the situations that need it. When we feel like we are so blind and empty that we are begging on the roadside let us speak the words "Have sight; your faith has saved you", to ourselves, reminding ourselves that Jesus says that words to each of us.

When we do this we begin to experience what it really means to be close to Jesus.

He is like a tree
planted near running water,
That yields its fruit in due season,
and whose leaves never fade.

Jesus himself is the source of this running water, this water of life. Our ideas about Jesus can never fully capture the reality of who he is. We have to keep coming back to him so that he can show us in ever greater depth just who he is. Seeing this, we follow him, giving glory to God for healing our blindness.

16 Nov 2014 - holy, wholly un-hole-y

After a long time
the master of those servants came back
and settled accounts with them.

This will happen suddenly and surprise everyone. The way these "accounts" are now is the way the master finds them. There is no more time for investing or trading. When the cry goes up that the bridegroom is coming there is no more time to get oil for our lamps (cf. Mat. 25:1-13).

For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come
like a thief at night.

So, should we be afraid? Isn't that the whole point of a warning like this? Isn't it God saying, 'I'm coming and I better not find you slacking off', like some sort of Restaurant Stakeout show?

But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness,
for that day to overtake you like a thief. 

When the master returns there is no problem is the restaurant is in good order. And the master has given us all we need to ensure that it is.

"A man going on a journey
called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them.

He isn't expecting a dramatic rebranding. All he asks is that we put to use the resources with which we are entrusted. Even if the gifts he give us seem small our reward will be the same as those who receive much more as long as we all put them to good use. The only one who should be afraid of the master's return is the one who "went off and dug a hole in the ground
and buried his master's money." It is as though he was going to run the restaurant with his own resources only. How can the master be anything but offended if we bury the gifts he gives us?

This is especially true since even the smallest gifts the LORD gives us have a huge return on investment when we use them. Even if we are the "wife" who feels hidden away in the recesses of our home we can still do immensely important things to build the kingdom. We need to embrace the gifts the LORD gives us so that we can be "like a fruitful vine". We can't do this without his gifts because, as Jesus tells us,  "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." A woman who stays united to Jesus and bears much fruit deserves "a reward for her labors" and praise at the city gates. When the master settles accounts with her she will hear the same praise and receive the same reward as all the faithful:

Well done, my good and faithful servant. 
Since you were faithful in small matters,
I will give you great responsibilities. 
Come, share your master's joy.’

So she has much to teach us. She is humble, hard-working, and generous. She can practice these virtues because she fears the LORD and walks in his ways. Even if her gift seems small in the eyes of the world she does not bury it in shame.  This even more important than it seems. In fact, the blessing of the man who fears the LORD is made contingent on the woman's fidelity.

Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine
in the recesses of your home;
Your children like olive plants
around your table.
Behold, thus is the man blessed
who fears the LORD.

Even if we feel like we have only been entrusted with little we shouldn't let that justify laziness in using it. Even if it doesn't seem like enough and we're afraid we can't make a difference we're are called to put it to the best use we can.  If we are called to bear fruit in hidden ways and small matters let us nevertheless be faithful. If we are called to use our gifts in unglamorous ways let us still use them and not bury them. 

Are we buried with our talents this morning? Are we in hiding in the darkness out of fear or laziness? Jesus calls us forth from this burial into new life as children of the light.

When we heed the call we do not need to fear "sudden disaster".   We hear the master praise us at the city gates. Before the entire city he invites us to enter into the joy of his kingdom.

15 November 2014 - widow me this

Jesus told his disciples a parable
about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary. 

This is a hard lesson to learn. Why do we have to pray always? If God is all powerful why shouldn't asking once be enough? We start to think of God like the judge in the parable. He is indifferent and unwilling to help. Jesus knows that we have a tendency to think like this. He makes the judge a caricature of this tendency. It's like he's saying, 'I know you're thinking that my Father is like this, but stay with me while I explain.'

because this widow keeps bothering me
I shall deliver a just decision for her
lest she finally come and strike me.’” 

We may at times be so frustrated with our prayer that we sympathize with the widow. Yet we never force God into answering our prayers by annoying him into it. He doesn't grant our requests because he is afraid of being hit. In fact, God answers not because he is like the judge, but because he is unlike him. Our caricature about God is contrasted with his true heart.

Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones
who call out to him day and night? 
Will he be slow to answer them? 

God answers because he genuinely cares about our hearts. When widows ask God for a just decision he gives it because he loves them. It doesn't always come as soon as they'd like. But we can rest assured that God does want to "see to it that justice is done for them speedily." He wants to pour his blessings upon us more than we want to receive them. 

But sometimes there are hearts that still need work, ours and others. Prayer changes these hearts and opens them to receive. In prayer like this we surrender ourselves more completely to God. For example, sometimes we must keep asking to show our trust in God in spite of the circumstances. Sometimes the blessings we want now are not given so that we can receive something greater that God wants to give.

The ultimate blessing God has for us is himself. When we come to trust in his love for us we begin to have the sort of faith that moves mountains. Our petitions are no longer clouded by doubts about who God is.

But if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and he will be given it. But he should ask in faith, not doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed about by the wind (cf. Jam. 1:5-6).

Instead of doubt we trust the goodness of the one who makes all things work together for our good (cf. Rom. 8:28). Our requests to him fall in line with his plan for us more naturally the more we trust in him. As this happens we see more and more of them answered and our trust increases in a wonderful feed forward mechanism. Where before we were anxious we now have peace because we take Paul's advice: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."

We become like the missionaries in John's letter. We don't need anything from the pagans to make this mission work. We don't need their remedies to anxiety. Our motivation is the Name. Our strength is the prayer of our brothers and sisters.

Please help them in a way worthy of God to continue their journey.
For they have set out for the sake of the Name
and are accepting nothing from the pagans.

And we in turn are strength for them. Let's set out for the sake of the Name. And let us continue the journey in prayer that never loses heart. When we do we have peace knowing that God always gives us exactly what we need.

Light shines through the darkness for the upright;

14 Nov 2014 - rest queue

Are we so distracted that we miss our rescue?

God often calls his people to move to a new place as he does with Abraham. Sometimes it is even more urgent, as it is with lot. Sometimes he calls us to stay put. Noah is to remain shut up in the ark for forty days. These are not easy things. Noah has to leave the world to which he is accustomed behind and move into the ark even before the flood comes and makes the reason for this move obvious. Lot must leave without looking back at what he leaves behind. He therefore leaves unable to fully understand just what he is escaping.

We see a pattern emerge. In order not to miss God's attempt to save us from judgment we must not be so attached to this world that we are unwilling to move. Instead, our attachment must be such that we can move just because of his word and not only when we see the circumstances change.

We cannot return to what was left behind. To put it harshly, we can't be a dog that returns to its vomit (cf. Pro. 26:11). We can't cling to our old lives or we'll end up losing them. Things in the world may well continue as normal. There is the usual "eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, [and] building". It is so normal, so regular, as to be hypnotic. This conditions us to keep doing what we've always been doing. We seem to stick out so much when we ignore what the world considers normal and follow God's law instead. We need to know the truth:

Blessed are they who observe his decrees,
who seek him with all their heart.

The words of Jesus are our rescue. The Church is the ark formed by his words. The world tells us to come out and dance in the streets as the rain begins to fall. They tell us that there is no rescue and that no rescue is necessary.

Many deceivers have gone out into the world,
those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh;
such is the deceitful one and the antichrist.

Jesus comes to rescue us from the hands of our enemies (cf. Luk. 1:74). He comes to make us free (cf. Joh. 8:36). He rescues us from the body that is subject to death (cf. Rom. 7:24). He rescues us from the present evil age (cf. Gal. 1:4). He rescues us from the dominion of darkness and brings us into his own kingdom (cf. Col. 1:13).

When the world lies to us about this we need to hold onto these words of truth. When we get antsy in the ark we need to stay until the dove finds dry land. If we leave sooner the rescue will not be successful. Even though we may begin to crave novelty we need to hold fast to what we "heard from the beginning":

For this is love, that we walk according to his commandments;
this is the commandment, as you heard from the beginning,
in which you should walk.

This is how we do not lose what we worked for.  We don't want to be like someone that helped build the ark and then nevertheless was swept away in the flood. Even if things seem like business as usual we need to move when Jesus says to move and stay put when and where he says to stay put.

Let us not just acknowledge his words, let us prize them. Let us say, "Within my heart I treasure your promise". Let us pray, "Open my eyes, that I may consider the wonder of your law." If we pray this way the LORD will plant his word so deeply in us that the world will not be able to snatch it away (cf. Mat. 13:4).

It is worth it because "whoever remains in the teaching has the Father and the Son." There is nothing better.

13 Nov 2014 - light up the sky

Saint Francis Xavier Cabrini

“The days will come when you will long to see
one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it.

 Jesus isn't on our schedule.We should be on his instead. We rightfully long for the time when Jesus will come to set things right. We long to see swords turned to plowshares and spears into pruning hooks. We long for the blind to see, the hungry to be fed, and the captives and oppressed to be set free.

When we long to see one of his days but we do not see him we are tempted to run off and say "'Look, there he is' or 'Look, here he is.' toward natural solutions to the problems of the world. It is like believing that science could one day create an earthly paradise. It is like believing that medicine could make us happy, healthy, and immortal. It is as though human ingenuity could solve every problem. We may not believe lies so blatant as these. But we do believe them in some smaller ways. We are quick to prioritize the easily attainable natural remedies to worldly problems. We hope in the solutions they offer while our hope for heaven and the kingdom is vague and abstract.

This is a problem for us because we have a hard time believing that "the Kingdom of God is among you" and that it will one day come in fullness, "as lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other". If the Kingdom is already here, why do we have to wait and hope for more to come? Why not all at once? And so we work to try to bring it about all at once no matter what it takes. We don't really hope for the world to come, for the end times, for the reward of the righteous. On the other hand, if the Kingdom is yet to come, what can we do now? Maybe we should just eat, drink, and be merry. If the Kingdom is yet to come, why not indifference toward this present age? This indifference eventually leads us distract ourselves so much from this present age that our hope for the coming Kingdom grows dim.

How do we hold these two ideas about the kingdom at once? We need to realize that "if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you" (cf. Rom. 8:11) We are supposed to live now by the power that ultimately comes from the resurrection of the dead. And what does that mean, really? It doesn't mean that we get sick less or anything like that. It means that we are free from futility.We are no longer those "who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying" (cf. Heb. 2:15) Hope gives meaning to the hear and now. We are doing more than just working against some inevitable entropy and futility. We aren't just making art in the sand at low tide when we build the kingdom. The kingdom of God is among us. It is a kingdom which, though not yet come in fullness, will never pass away.

We learn to see things from a kingdom perspective rather than a worldly point of view. We take Paul's advice to "set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God." (cf. Col. 3:1) Because he takes his own advice Paul is able to see the Kingdom at work in the world. Instead of seeing Onesimus as a slave he seems him as a brother and fellow member of the kingdom.

Perhaps this is why he was away from you for a while,
that you might have him back forever,
no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a brother,
beloved especially to me, but even more so to you,
as a man and in the Lord.

Let us find our help in the God of Jacob. Because his Kingdom is both now and not yet we need to trust in his goodness. He sees our suffering. As much as we long for the fullness of the kingdom he longs for it still more. Jesus tells us that the Kingdom is among us. But he wants it to penetrate to the depths of our hearts. He wants it to be within us. This is a time of freedom when he will make our hearts like his own, if we let him.

The fatherless and the widow he sustains,
but the way of the wicked he thwarts.
The LORD shall reign forever;
your God, O Zion, through all generations. Alleluia.

12 Nov 2014 - bath of rebirth

They stood at a distance from him and raised their voice, saying,
“Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!”

We all need to come to Jesus for mercy. None of us can stand before him on our own merits or "because of any righteous deeds we had done" because all of us "were once foolish, disobedient, deluded, slaves to various desires and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful ourselves and hating one another." All have sinned a fall short of the glory of God (cf. Rom. 3:23). "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God" (cf. Eph. 2:8).

Instead, it is "because of his mercy" that "he saved us through the bath of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he richly poured out on us through Jesus Christ our savior".  We don't earn baptism or confirmation.  They are gifts of mercy "so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life."

Sometimes we fixate so strongly on certain commands that we miss the actual work of grace that Jesus does inside of us.  This is possibly what happens to the lepers.

And when he saw them, he said,
“Go show yourselves to the priests.”
As they were going they were cleansed. 

But it says that only one of them returns, "realizing he had been healed". The other nine are not faithless. They heed the voice of Jesus. They go to present themselves to the priests. They do this even though when they set out they are still not healed. However, we can almost imagine them so focused on the journey that they fail to notice as their bodies begin to change and heal along the way. They are all healed but only one returns to give thanks. Maybe the others are vaguely aware that something is different now, that healings has come. But they are not so aware of it as to be thankful.

Let's not miss the work of Jesus within us today. We follow his word not so that he can heal us. We follow his word because he does heal us and that empowers us to follow him. In terms of the reading today, we present ourselves to the priests not for healing but to show that we are healed. Indeed, we are called to live good lives:

Remind them to be under the control of magistrates and authorities,
to be obedient, to be open to every good enterprise.
They are to slander no one, to be peaceable, considerate,
exercising all graciousness toward everyone.

We are called to this not so that we can receive the Holy Spirit in Baptism and Confirmation. We are called to this because Baptism and Confirmation make it possible. We have received these sacraments, so we shouldn't just keep walking.  We should return to thank and glorify Jesus for his work in us. Only realizing that we have been healed will we be able to live in the freedom of that healing. Are we still "slaves to various desires and pleasures"? Maybe it's because we don't quite realize that we don't have to be slaves any longer. But "if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed" (cf. Joh. 8:36).

When we stay close to the shepherd we lack nothing. When we return to thank him we find that we continue to receive more than we can ever give him.

You spread the table before me
in the sight of my foes;
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.

This banquet, the Eucharist, is the thanksgiving that he himself gives us, that we may offer it to the Father.

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.

11 Nov 2014 - co-op

Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded?
So should it be with you.

No matter how good we are, no matter how many works of mercy we do, we aren't so great that God actually needs us. We don't put him in our debt by doing good works. He creates everything from nothing and sustains the world by his word of power (cf. Heb. 1:3). "He is before all things, and in him all things hold together" (cf. Col. 1:17). So of course we should say, "We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.'"

On the other hand, in a different place we read that he does have a labor shortage. Indeed, we see that "The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few" (cf. Luk. 10:2). And then we read that "we are God's coworkers" (cf. 2 Cor. 6:1). We begin to think there are things things that God can't get done without us. But that isn't right. 

There are, however, things which won't get done without us. There are people who won't hear the gospel if we do not speak. There are blessings which will remain locked unless we ask for them. But this is not because we are somehow necessary.

We are made coworkers not because he needs us, but because he elevates us to that dignity. This is another way to describe what Peter calls becoming "partakers of the divine nature" (cf. 2 Pet. 1:4). It is God allowing his children work with him to help us grow, "because" the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son" (cf. Heb. 12:6).

We need to realize that we aren't supposed to go out to the harvest on our own. Instead, we are told to "ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest" (cf. Luk. 10:2). We are to be channels of his grace by asking for it and by cooperating with it.

When the master in the parable says "Prepare something for me to eat" he is not doing so because he is thinking only of himself. He is asking in the same way that Jesus asks the Samaritan woman for water. Even though Jesus does receive water from the woman he is ultimately inviting her to drink of the living water that comes from him alone. When Jesus asks us to feed him, perhaps in the poor and the hungry, it is at once an invitation to feed upon him in the Eucharist if only we "knew the gift of God and who it is that asks" (cf. Joh. 4:10).

So, when we see ourselves as "unprofitable servants" it shouldn't be a woe is me negative self-image type of thing. It is meant to change the way we think of our work so that we can see it as a gift. We can then live it fully and not just like people counting the days until retirement.

Instead of living with the hope of eventual rest and self-satisfaction we live in the hope of the master coming home. We hope for his coming not so much so that he can fulfill our desires but so that we can finally offer all that we are to him. 

as we await the blessed hope,
the appearance of the glory of the great God
and of our savior Jesus Christ,

When we hope in him in this way he does bring us more than we can ask or imagine. We are now empty of desires which are too small for him and ready for all that he longs to give us.

Take delight in the LORD,
and he will grant you your heart’s requests.

10 Nov 2014 - mulberry it over

And the Apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.”

This is always a good prayer. We say it with the Apostles today. But what is it that makes them ask? Why do they realize their faith is weak?

If your brother sins, rebuke him;
and if he repents, forgive him.
And if he wrongs you seven times in one day 
and returns to you seven times saying, ‘I am sorry,’
you should forgive him.”

Forgiveness is one thing. This seems to be something else. It is almost like Jesus is asking them to be suckers. It is like the quote attributed to Einstein that "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results". We forgive always in hope that things will be different this time. But when we are consistently proven wrong by the other we are not excused from our duty to keep forgiving. We become less and less able to forgive on a human level. We have to rely on faith. We rely on supernatural hope. We rely on the charity that does not want to see a millstone around any neck, nor anyone thrown into the see.

We become like the author of Ecclesiastes, convinced that there is nothing new under the sun. But Christianity is precisely that. It is the story of grace finally breaking through. It is the story of repentance after a life of hardened sinning. It is change even after all human efforts at change fail. That is why we can't stop hoping. And that is why we can't stop forgiving.

This is beautiful because it means that we can change as well. We can even be free of the most habitual sins. But if we don't forgive others and allow ourselves to believe the worldly lie that other people don't change we will find ourselves believing that lie about ourselves, too.

But we are called to be "blameless" this morning. We are called to be "temperate, just, holy and self-controlled". The call to not be "irritable" or "aggressive" may seem impossible to one who is predisposed to those things. But with God all things are possible! Even the drunkard can experience freedom and renewal by God's power.

And after all both we are are brothers are "the people that longs to see your face." We all desire God, no matter how deeply that desire is buried inside of us. And we all need grace and forgiveness to have that desire fulfilled.

Who can ascend the mountain of the LORD?
or who may stand in his holy place?
He whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean,
who desires not what is vain.

Our brother who sins against us and we ourselves both need transformation if we are to be "blameless" and "sinless". In spite of all the circumstances set against us, "If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you." It doesn't matter how long those trees have been there. It doesn't matter how deep their roots are. It doesn't matter that we don't even have an axe. Our faith in Jesus will make them jump out of our way as we hold "fast to the true message as taught".

God makes impossible change possible. And so, again, we pray with the Apostles, "Increase our faith" confident that he will do it.

9 Nov 2014 - stream of consciousness

for the temple of God, which you are, is holy.

We are really important to Jesus. It is kind of intimidating actually. We are more important to him than we are to ourselves. He makes us holy. Would we even choose this for ourselves?

We are afraid to get too close to holiness. We rightly sense that it is set apart from the mundane, the ordinary, and the secular. It can have no contact with the profane. We see that holy things are misused at great peril.

If anyone destroys God’s temple,
God will destroy that person;

When holy things are diverted from their intended purpose the LORD does not sit idly by.

He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves,
as well as the money-changers seated there.
He made a whip out of cords
and drove them all out of the temple area

The temple is holy, the place where God dwells with man. And we are the living stones of that temple (cf. 1 Pet. 2:5). We are dwelling places for God because of the Holy Spirit he gives us. "Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God" (cf. 1 Cor. 6:19)?

But we forget this exulted status we have. We do forget our identity, our purpose. We are meant to be dwelling places of God in the Holy Spirit (cf. Eph. 2:22). Our lives are meant to glorify and point toward the one who dwells within us. They are meant to allow his light to shine forth. In reality, our temples are crowded with merchants and money-changers. We are crowded with the minutia and details which, while not in themselves evil, are serious problems when they distract us from our true purpose, living for the praise of His glory (cf. Eph. 1:12).

Jesus does not take this lightly.

“Take these out of here,
and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.”
His disciples recalled the words of Scripture,
Zeal for your house will consume me.

Just as water flows from the temple and gives life all along the river banks so too is life-giving water meant to flow from each of us. "Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them" (cf. Joh. 7:38).

If we're dry this morning, if we feel like deserts more than rivers, and if the branches of our trees are barren of fruit Jesus invites us to return to him, the source of the living water.

The waters of the river gladden the city of God, the holy dwelling of the Most High!

They flow from us when we believe because they first flow to us from Jesus himself. Jesus asks for water from us as he does the Samaritan woman. Yet with her and with us the request is predicated on us first coming to to receive the living water of which he is the only source.

Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water" (cf. Joh. 4:10). Only Jesus can give water like this because "whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life" (cf. Joh. 4:14). This water pours forth from his side on the cross. It is the Holy Spirit (cf. Joh. 7:39).

And so we come full circle. We drink this life-giving water in baptism and are filled with the Spirit of God. We are made temples of the living God. That means that water should flow forth from us. Nothing is lacking. Jesus is within us offering us the water. May Jesus by zealous for our hearts today. May he cast out from us all the things which distract us from living our true purpose.

There is a stream whose runlets gladden the city of God,
the holy dwelling of the Most High.
God is in its midst; it shall not be disturbed;
God will help it at the break of dawn.